Guess what I got for christmas, a trip to NYC with my 2 teenage sons in June!! It%26#39;s a group trip with quite a bit of free time staying near Times Square. I just started researching so I%26#39;ll be back with alot more questions but just for a start here%26#39;s a few I have.
We%26#39;re already paying mega bucks for this trip so we want to go cheap on eating. I%26#39;m thinking mostly deli%26#39;s, cafe%26#39;s and street venders. Will we find alot of those with decent but cheap food? Also what exactly is ';the works'; on a hotdog, I don%26#39;t want to look like a tourist ordering?
How cautious do we have to be? I usually carry a small backpack purse. Would that be ok or should I only use it for water, jackets, chapstick, etc? Would a very small purse be better just to hold cash %26amp; cc%26#39;s that I can carry like a regular purse across my body in front or best bet to keep it in front pockets only?
Thanks for your help, Jen
Stupid question
Hello Jenriss yes you will find plenty of deli%26#39;s and diners all around with cheap good food. Street vendors%26#39; food is ok for the novelty of it but not the most nutritious. Expect to pay between $1.50-$2.50 for a hot dog depending on location (inhigh tourist areas the vendors charge more than say in a business district). Usually the works includes relish, ketchup, mustard and saurkraut.
Do what you want with your pocket book. Good idea is diagonally across your shoulder or keep your wallet in your front pockets, yes.
I%26#39;m sure you will get plenty more advice on this question, and don%26#39;t worry about klooking like a tourist, you won%26#39;t be singled out there are so many tourists around, don%26#39;t worry.
Stupid question
For hotdogs, you should hit Gray Papaya. At certain ones, you get two hotdogs and a drink for $2.75. (The one near Times Square at 37th and 8th Ave is one). ';The works'; is sauerkraut, onions, ketchup , and mustard. Make sure you see a posted price or ask for the price ahead of time, as some of the street vendors are known to charge extra if they think you don%26#39;t know what you are doing.
I think though you can eat a little better. Chinatown is a great source of really good cheap eateries. Pizza and Mexican are other ones. For more ideas, see:
www.newyorkmetro.com/restaurants/cheapeats/
Also see, menupages.com
Have a good time.
I don%26#39;t like backpacks, especially if you%26#39;re traveling on the subway. They get in other people%26#39;s way. If you must, use it for non valuables.
Here%26#39;s a website that has info on all things ';cheap'; from eating to shopping.
nymetro.com/cheap
Carmine%26#39;s in a favorite Italian that serves ';family style'; meaning huge portions that you share. Sounds like a good bet with 2 hungry teen boys. Trattoria Trecolori is a well priced Italian in that area. John%26#39;s pizzeria has great pizza in a converted church. The Film Center Cafe on 9th ave. has good food in a fun atmosphere. Burgers and sandwiches are well priced as is their weekend brunch.
9th ave. in the 40s-50s has lots of good, inexpensive ethnic restaurants.
Have fun!
If you have two typical, growing, always hungry teenage boys, take them to Churrascaria Plataforma on 49th between 8th and 9th. It%26#39;s all-you-can eat meat, meat and MORE meat! They have great sides and a salad bar, too, but they give you a little card, and the meat keeps coming until you turn the card over to the red side. It%26#39;s an interesting experience, and with young boys, you just may get your money%26#39;s worth!
Jen,
Food is expensive in New York, particularly around the Times Square area. The best way I can describe it is for moderatly priced restaurants, add $5 to the cost of what you might pay where you are from. For example, a $7 burger at a moderate restaurant back home will cost you $12 in New York. A $9 plate of nice pasta will cost you $14. I%26#39;m sure this isn%26#39;t exact science, but it is a benchmark to compare from.
Of course, you can eat at the fast food chains. The prices there are only slightly higher to back home. But, who wants to eat at a McDonald%26#39;s when you are in NYC?
My wife, son, and I just returned from a trip. We ate at the moderate restaurants each evening and spent around $60 (including one or two alcoholic beverages). We stayed away from the better restaurants for the same reasons you intend to.
Eating opportunities abound in NYC. If you%26#39;ve got money, you won%26#39;t go hungry.
As for hot dogs, Grey%26#39;s Papaya is a good choice and the works on my dog would also include onions!!!
I carry my passport/money in a neck wallet, very secure and invisible tucked inside your shirt or top.
Do your research, you%26#39;ll be just fine.
Poppa
You can eat cheaply enough in Chinatown, and your family will probably enjoy the novelty. Also be aware that if you get out of midtown, restaurant prices drop sharply -- it is usually much cheaper to eat in a local place on the Upper West Side, or in Hell%26#39;s Kitchen, or in Brooklyn Heights, than it is near Times Square.
About that backpack -- I strongly advise (and this is a New York City cop speaking) against using a backpack as a purse. Most of my career I have worked on the subway system -- which you should be using as your main mode of transportation -- and I can tell you that backpacks used as purses are a pickpocket%26#39;s delight. When you are in a pack of people on a crowded train, or in an elevator, or shopping in a store, are you fully aware of what is going on BEHIND your back? I cannot tell you how many reports I have filled out over the last twenty years of women who say they used their wallets in plain view of everyone, put it in their backpacks in easy reach of the world and out of their own sight -- and now that the wallet is missing, they are amazed and can%26#39;t imagine what happened!! The NYPD%26#39;s Transit Bureau even had a program where we handed out cheap metal snap/clasps to women we saw on trains who were using backpacks as purses, so they could secure the flap a little more securely and not invite theft. There is almost no crime on the subway -- but what there is, is almost exclusively stealthy thefts committed by pickpockets and bagopeners such as you will find in any dense crowd in any city of the world.
Even if you carry your money somewhere other than your backpack, and just use your backpack for water, snacks, or clothes, do be aware that New York is crowded, and that when you are wearing a backpack you are sticking out in back further than your body does! It is very irritating, and annoyingly common, to be smacked in the face on a train by a backpack worn by a tourist who does not realize how far the thing is protruding when she turns this way and that...
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