$85/day dining budget

My daughter and I have been planning a trip to NY. We did a good job getting our flights, our hotel, and our broadway tickets, but the food thing is really stressfull.

Our breakfast if free at the hotel but we will eat the rest of our meals out. I have budgeted $85 per day for lunch and dinner. Is this budget realistic? We don%26#39;t require anything fancy but we don%26#39;t want to eat hot dogs for four days either. Any suggestions on good ';hole in the wall'; places that concentrate more on food quality than on ';designer'; prices?

We are willing to try any type of cuisine and plan to travel around the city most days so location isn%26#39;t really a factor.

$85/day dining budget

Where are staying, so that we can recommend some places in that area.

This is very doable. There are lots of places to eat that are not expensive, but like anywhere, you have to know where to go.

Do a search on this forum under ';cheap eats'; and you will get lots of choices. Chinatown is great for inexpensive food, same with the East Village. There are tons of places there with great food. Try these sites.

www.newyorkmetro.com/restaurants/cheapeats/

鈥itysearch.com/bestof/winners/cheap_eats

Also, www.menupages.com is a great source, just click on an area and it lists restaurants with menus %26amp; prices. There are also great prix-fixed meals in the theatre district where the food is very good and reasonably priced.

$85/day dining budget

So you see, Befiandt, thanks to NYCGirl, there is no need whatsoever to stress about the food. You and your daughter can dine like royalty in New York for $85 per day in toto. And you will probably have a much better time than royalty as you experience New York%26#39;s attractions.

Agree it%26#39;s very doable, especially if you don%26#39;t drink much. Alcohol (and drinks in general) add a lot to a bill. Since you%26#39;re getting free b/f, pick one big meal a day and a snack for the other and you should be fine. Plenty of places with prix fixe deals for lunch and/or dinner too. Agree you should tell us where you%26#39;re staying or give us an idea of your itinerary so we can suggest nearby places. Silly to travel too far.

We are staying at the Hotel QT on W. 45th Street. We will also be hitting some of the shopping hot spots for my 18yo ';retro'; girl. Century 21 is on the list as well.

Puh-leaze - where does one begin? You will definitely be satsified on that budget! No worries!

Check out Cheapo New York for general money saving tips:

www.cheapotravel.com/ny/

Middle Eastern, Mexican, Thai, Turkish, Chinese and Indian food are what we live on here, while blowing 80% of our paychecks on rent/housing. Vietnamese places are the new ';best kept secret'; for cheap dining. You should not pay more than $15 per dinner entree (if that) for these cuisines. Places that charge $15 and up for Pad Thai should get Dept. of Health citations.

Search any of these places by name at

www.menupages.com

Also, ww.newyork.citysearch.com can let you search by more features (such as ';late night dining';)

Check out Mamoun%26#39;s Falafel or Olive Vine in the Village.

I enjoy El Cantinero for Mexican, 86 University Place, (11/12 streets)

A great Italian palce (with a Japanese-sounding name) is Sapore at 55 Greenwich St. around Charles Street.

There are a bunch of satsifactory budget Italian places on or near East 3rd street (Bona Fides, Cucina di Pesce, Fruti di Mare, etc.)

If you want to ';splurge'; on Italian, check out Le Zie on 7th AVe. and 20th St. Worth it.

Lemongrass Thai has gone downhill, but it%26#39;s cheap. Varied locations. There%26#39;s also good Thai - Pongsri, Wondee or Thai Basil - on 9th Ave in Hell%26#39;s Kitchen area.

Check out the Indian/Southeast Asian choices on Lexington in the high 20s. If you want Indian near 6th Street, go to Haveli.

There%26#39;s also pomme frites stands popping up here and there for snacking.

You can split a sandwich at Katz%26#39;, Junior%26#39;s or 2nd Ave. Deli and be full until breakfast.

Check out the Chelsea Bar and Grill (both in Chelsea or Hell%26#39;s Kitchen) for great pub burgers, etc. Chelsea also has Flight 151 (pub), Mary Ann%26#39;s (Mexican), etc., etc.

And, of course, PIZZA.

When all else fails, go to a 24-hour Korean deli for a salad bar by the pound, prefereably, before 2 pm. Don%26#39;t select hard boiled eggs - very heavy.

Here%26#39;s menupages%26#39; list for the West 40%26#39;s. (I%26#39;ve sorted it by price, low to high)

menupages.com/restaurants.asp鈥?/a>

Forgot: Burritoville is great for Mexican. Blockheads Mexican is overpriced, IMHO.

obviously you already have a lot of terrific suggestions. I%26#39;ve copied this thread to add to my ';library';, and here are a couple of other%26#39;s from my library, sorry if I repeat !!

NYC Dining NYC Bargain Restaurants

My wife and I had a 3 course meal of delicious italian food this weekend; the early bird special (until 6:30). Bread, salad, soup, choice of pasta dishes, chicken dishes or salmon. Also a pretty decent glass of wine was included. The food was excellent, service was great and we sat outside. Are you ready for the final bill including tax?????

$23.50

Frutti di Mari - check it out.

NYC Dining Voy recs budget dining

I%26#39;m a little disappointed in you Alarrick. You read all 16 pages (which is in and of itself impressive) yet you don%26#39;t even mention one place other than Mars 2112 that piques your interest. Surely something else leapt out at you??

You know I am kinda teasin%26#39; you... kinda

That said, here are some ideas. First, two Web sites are your friends, other than this one of course, menupages.com and opentable.com. Menupages will give you menues/prices/locations and you can make reservations at some on opentable.com. Two great resources.

To save a few $$ and dine well:

1. Only have one splurge meal a day. If it%26#39;s going to be luinch or dinner, consider a quick bagel or (gasp) breakfast at Mickey D%26#39;s or Sbarro%26#39;s in Times Square...or whatever, just don%26#39;t make it a full sit-down affair.

2. Make your splurge meal--lunch. Jean Georges and Asiate (french/japanese), two world class restaurants, have prix fix lunches. I have just been informed however, that the $20 prix fixe lunch at Jean Georges is not as good as ordering off the menu for lunch. Apparently you can order plates at $12 app/entree and $8 for dessert (which truly should not be missed). So for $32 per person you can dine like a king at Jean Georges for lunch. Asiate%26#39;s lunch prix fixe is $35 per person...but what a view of Central Park you will have! Dining at lunch at either of these will save you at least one to two hundred dollars per person...no kidding. And think of what you can tell the other teachers back home...

3. Many restaurants in the theater district offer a prix fix pre-theater dinner special from a limited choice menu. Of interest to you may be 21 Club or Le Madeleine. For the quick pre-theater I opt for Le Madeleine, very nicely prepared fresh french food (I dare you to say that 3 times fast) and you will not miss your curtain. Nice folks there. On another pre-theater occasion you might enjoy 21 Club. They will be lovely to your daughter.

4. Dessert and drinks after the theater. The View atop the Marriott Marquis will give you the view. Drinks will be pricey but should be decent.

5. Pizza. John%26#39;s is in the theater district it%26#39;s pretty darn good.

6. Museum of Natural History area for dinner, that area is called the upper west side. A few possibilites might be Ouest, Cafe Luxembourg or Nice Matin. Keep in mind the admission price to Museum is SUGGESTED only. You can pay even one penny apiece and that%26#39;s fine. Really. Trust me.

7. Brunch on Saturday? Nope. It%26#39;s a Sunday thing. When in Soho consider Balthazar which is wonderful and FUN! Reservations highly advised. Another spot in that area that Ruffian recommends is called Le Jardin Bistro. It has an outside garden and sounds very nice also.

8. Chinatown, my chinatown. New Green Bao is good all around, Big Wing Wong for roast duck, ribs, chicken, Jing Fong or Golden Unicorn for Dim Sum, Congee Village is closer to the lower East Side, but it is also good all around, and don%26#39;t forget mango, almond cookie, ginger or green tea ice cream at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

Feel free to ask more specifics. Re: mexican....it ain%26#39;t the greatest cusine in NYC, but a joint called Hell%26#39;s Kitchen in (surprise!) the Hell%26#39;s Kitchen area has some good stuff.

For a meal where you can drink nice affordable good quality grape with good food to match-- two ideas... Artisanal and Landmarc.

Bon Appetit.

NYC Dining NYC Cheap Eats $5

Food Writer Robert Sietsema recently recommended his favorite CHEAP EATS places in NYC. Many you can sneak away with $5 per person. Here are some of them. All these are in Manhttan.

Hummus Place, hummus (chick pea dip) 109 St. Mark%26#39;s Place

Taam Tov (diamond District), Uzbek, Israeli, 46th W. 47th

Tulcingo Del Vallee Grocery, poblano moles 665 Tenth Ave

Khushie, Indian, 139 Essex Street

Momofuku, ramen noodles, dumplings, pork buns, 163 First Ave

New Bai Wei Gourmet Food, 5 dishes plus rice is only $2.75, 51 Division Street

Chanoodle, Roast duck, fried rice, fried clams, 79 Mulberry Street

San Francisco De Asis, pippian con polo and moles, 1779 Lexington (East Harlem)

Shake Shack, Burgers, dogs, frozen custrad, 23rd %26amp; Madison Ave

La Marmite, Senagelse cuisine, 2264 Eighth Ave

Danny Ng, Cantonese chinese 34 Pell St.

Overseas Asian Restaurant, 49 Canal St.

Ennju, Japanese 20 E. 17th St.

Carl%26#39;s Steaks, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches 507 Third Ave.

La Taza De Oro, Puerto Rican 96 Eightth Ave

AQ Cafe, Swedish, at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave.

Korean Temple Cuisine, Korean, 81 St. Marks Place

Roti Plus, Trinidadian Roti, 235 Eighth Ave.

Larry D:

';Khushie, Indian, 139 Essex Street ';

I find that really amusing, since I never think of the Lower East Side as a place for Indian food. Espec since, FYI, the name of the restaurant sounds a lot like a word for a racial slur in Hebrew.

Hiya Queens,

I shoulda added a disclaimer, its not my list, never been there. I%26#39;m just culling the info !! That one%26#39;s from Robert Sietsema, to which I say, who is Robert Sietsema ??

So, you going to give Khushie%26#39;s a try or not ? Its under $5 you know !

Regards...

Re #7 -- Brunch is a Saturday and Sunday thing.