PrintELE Local: My Quarrels with NY Mag Cheap Eats
New York Magazine has just published its 101 Best Cheap Eats in NYC. Like NY Mag's Top 101 restaurants, it is a brilliant marketing move by Adam Moss & Co. Full disclosure: I know and like NY Mag cheap eats writers Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld. We frequently chat at parties, but have never broken bread together.
What I love about these kinds of lists are the arguments that inevitably ensue about who was left out and the rankings themselves. The rankings are totally arbitrary and are there solely to spark conversation. What regular folks can quarrel with is what places made the list and what places didn't. And that's where I have quite a few problems with Rob and Robin's list.
For example, how their list could be compiled without either Celeste or Bianca being on it is unfathomable to me. I have eaten at Celeste three times in the last month, and I defy anyone to tell me a better cheap Italian restaurant in NY. Entrees are $13-15 for cryin' out loud, as my dad would have said.
Let's move to Chinese food. Grand Szechuan Eastern is clearly one of the best Sichuan restaurants in this country, and yet it's nowhere to be found on NY Mag's list.
I'll have more to say in other posts, but I love these lists and being able to argue about them.
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7 Comments:
One to add, Vinnies on the Amsterdam Ave known for their pizza but their food is great. Their Chicken Parm for $10 can't be beat served with pasta. Their other dishes are great and the prices can't be beat.
Nycatfan at 9:44AM on 07/26/06
Hi Ed. I have never been to Celeste or Bianca, but I'm now curious to check them both out. My new favorite cheap Italian/pizzeria is Bella Vita, located right next door to The New York Times. Try it. I think you'll have a new favorite on your list!
Thanks,
Shari
sharib at 11:34AM on 07/27/06
Am I the only selfish person here who feels a little sad when their favorite "cheap eat" gets written up and then ruined by the hoardes? I appreciate what a windfall this must be to a tiny place like Caracas on E. 7th street, but geez...now there is NO WAY I'm going to be able to get my arepas fix on a Saturday afternoon!
orinky at 11:59AM on 07/27/06
just another 2 cents worth: vinnie's has gone way downhill & it's filthy + what's with the unfinished look? foreclosure? arguement with their contractor? etc...?
i repeat AGAIN - do NOT go to ZUCCO's - # 89 on ny mag's "cheap eats"!
once that name appeared, the authors & the mag continue to lose whatever credibility "they think" they have; besides, ny mag, its stories, reviews, etc are for amateurs & tourists!
baruch at 2:11PM on 08/01/06
I have been to Nick's, in Forest Hills, two times now, and I wouldn't even put it in the top twenty, let alone the top five. Believe me, if I really agreed with this assessment, I would be more than happy to have one of the top 5 NY Pizza joints right in my neighborhood. Not that it's a top ten finalist, but I would encourage y'all to check out a little zig zag caddycorner joint in Kew Gardens called Danis. They make a tastey, crisp oregano-laced slice with a twinge of sweetness that goes down nice with any number of whacked out beers that face you on as you sit at the counter. Yet more proof that pizza is not dead in Queens. I'm also not too crazy about the East Village Arepa place. Cheap as it is, I find it overpriced. I hear great things about the Arepa Lady under the Roosevelt Avenue El, though. Corona way. Something tells me the real thing still awaits. Then again, who is my palette to argue with yours, NY Magazine?
Polecat at 7:32PM on 08/07/06
Anyone who is referred to by any other person in the world as "the Arepa Lady under the Roosevelt Avenue El" is herewith deserving of immediate attention and potentially a novelistic and/or cinematic treatment. Am I the only one riveted and amazed that such a person can exist? What must New York City look like from her daily experience? What would she think about a bunch of people discussing the merits of oregano-laden slices of pizza over the internet? Are there really this many parallel worlds within our own city? Of course, there must be, and many, many more.
Arepa Lady under the Roosevelt Avenue El for President!
moth23 at 2:12AM on 08/10/06
Right you are, Moth 23 of the Chowhound byways. I've also heard amazing things about some guy who doles Korean street food out of a cart somewhere on the Lower East Side. Having eaten tons of streetfood in Seoul, I'm dying to find this guy. We need more Korean street food in NYC: sweet round pastries shaped like small hubcaps that I like to call "machisoyo burgers", sweet corn, an outer space type version of corn dogs wherein the dog is covered with fries that shoot out in every direction like a fast food version of Sideshow Bob, and, yes, even dixie cups full of worms. We need more food that we avoid looking at while we're eating in NYC.
For that matter, how can any list of cheap eateries in this town be complete without at least giving mention to Mei Lei Wah coffee shop, purveyors of the legendary combination bun filled with chewy goodness, and a cup of coffee bound to set your heart-a-beatin' like a superball in a malfunctioning airvac.
Polecat at 6:44AM on 08/10/06