Where have all the $1 eats gone?
Hi everyone, it’s the new kid. Starting this week, I’ll be taking over for Nikita Richardson as one of the writers on this newsletter. How’d I land the best job in the world? A little over a year ago, I left my job at Eater New York, where I covered restaurants from a super-local, nerd’s-eye view for five years. I started freelance reporting for The Times, and quickly found a niche writing about 20-year-old Taco Bell menu items and 13-year-old drink critics. Then I aged several years this spring by eating more than 200 slices of pizza to update our best pizza list. As I stood in line for Neapolitan pies and road tripped through Staten Island, I was also searching for a dollar slice. I know, I know, not exactly the height of culinary prowess. But this is New York — and more-than-decent, affordable pizza is one of our most famous food. It comes as no surprise that most of them have vanished; after all, New York City restaurants can’t necessarily abide by the stalwart economics of Arizona Iced Tea or the Costco hot dog. They’re up against credit card fees, punishing rents and other factors that have all but wiped out dollar food. And it’s not just slices. Still, I had a hunch that at least some $1 deals have endured.
The last of the $1 slices?If you consult Google Maps, the 99-cent pizzeria appears to still be going strong, with search results scattered across the city. But when I’d show up I almost always found that the menus had been taped over with new prices. As it turns out, $1.50 Pizza is the new 99¢ Pizza. One of the few holdouts is the East Village location of 99¢ Pizza, just down the block from Joe’s Pizza, where, by the way, a plain slice costs $4. Every time I’ve visited 99¢, no matter the hour, there are college students and helmeted delivery workers hanging around the entrance, happily refueling with buffalo chicken and pepperoni pizza. Obviously, the best part is that the puffy cheese slices still cost a buck. Though they’re really more of a vessel, put on this earth to be showered in garlic powder, dried oregano and red flakes. OK, fine. I drenched mine in hot sauce, too. 246 East 14th Street (Second Avenue), Manhattan
When in doubt, try the bodegaThen there’s Smashiess, one of several neighborhood delis to have found fans just by being itself. (The owner, Roddy Duran, occasionally hosts a five-minute burger eating challenge that requires participants to fill out a waiver.) During the pandemic, he began selling $1 grilled ham and cheese sandwiches to the deli’s neighbors and workers at the nearby Mount Sinai Hospital. It fuses deli ham and melty American cheese together with a swipe of warm mayo, all in a bodega roll flattened on a grill to the thickness of a Cubano. The sandwich quickly caught the attention of TikTok, but I first learned about it from Marco Lombardi, a native New Yorker who The New York Post likened to “a human truffle hound when it comes to finding cheap eats.” The best part about dollar deals, he reminded me over the phone, is that you often have change to spare. I spent mine on one of Mr. Duran’s cups of coffee — a splurge at $1.25. 153 East 103rd Street (Lexington Avenue), Manhattan
One giant dumpling for mankindOne of my earliest memories of visiting New York as a teenager was handing a dollar bill to a cashier at Prosperity Dumpling (R.I.P.) in Chinatown and getting five whole dumplings back. (The price was right there on the menu, but still, I was shocked.) A decade later, the next best choice is Shanghai You Garden, a Shanghainese restaurant with a second location in Bayside, Queens, and a third on Long Island. Crucially, the original in Flushing has a steam table on its sidewalk, selling affordable dim sum, like solo slices of Beijing duck ($2.50) and — bingo — heaping steamed buns for a dollar. It’s one dumpling, not five. But to the restaurant’s credit, they’re the size of whiffle balls, substantially stuffed with shepherd’s purse, a classic Shanghainese wonton filling that always reminds me of collard greens. According to the menu, Shanghai You also sells barbecue pork buns for a dollar, but you’ll have to take their word for it: By the time I arrived at 4 p.m., the steel steamers were picked clean. 135-33 40th Road (Main Street), Queens Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Have New York City restaurant questions? Send us a note at here. Follow NYT Food on TikTok and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
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