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New York meals up to $20

Hi, I will be in New York with my wife an 2 "kids" ( 21, 25 ) for 2 weeks !! March 15-29 . We love to eat in places that serve with the food a lot of vegetables ( cooked and unkooked ) We love greek salds , italian salads , any kind of salads that is from vegetables , we also love to have pasta , bread , meat , cheeken . to make it short : simple home food base on a lot of vegetables - we would love to have lunch or dinner in restuarants with a bugget about $20 each . Thank you for your help .

It's Greek to Me on 7th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A Caravan of Dreams--Vegetarian--6th Street First and A (some dishes above your budget, some not I think)-- great food & atmosphere Pasta--Focacceria First Avenue between 7th & 8th Streets (8th=St Mark's Place) (vegetables ordered extra, but not expensive) Veselka 9th St and Second Avenue--24 hour Ukrainian plus--main dishes available with very nice steamed vegatables as a side dish, without extra cost. Very easily in your budget. Defintely homey--all of these are.

Check out any of the greek diners in astoria. It's a short ride on the N train from Manhattan.

Check the Fodors restaurant list for a place called City Bakery. In addition to terrific baked goods, it's a salad bar restaurant with a really good selection of various roasted vegetables and such. We really enjoyed it.

I don't know where you are from, but you don't desribed anything NY knows as simple home food. ;-) For $20 you can do all right for lunch but you'll be harder pressed to find dinners at other than something like a local Chinese or other buffet. I don't know the *exact* address but there's a very, very nice reasonable priced mediteranean buffet on either 34th or 35th just on the north west side of 5th ave. Great priced food for the area.

I would suggest both Chinatown, and for a different slant, Koreatown (which is on 32nd Street between B'way and 5th Ave). Chinatown is dirt cheap, while koreatown is within your budget.

go to noodletown for their squid and mai fun noodles...also fun (not great food but fun) chumley's pub

Thank you all for your replys , I'll be glad if you have some more , If you have any info about salds bars please inform me . Thank you Zeev

Salad bars are everywhere in Korean 24 hour food shops. Very cheap. Some have tables where you can eat there, others have only take-out food. Charged for by the pound. Write us the location where you will want to eat and someone who lives there can probably tell you a decent salad bar around there. Otherwise, few (or no) restaurants in Manhattan have the kinds of salad bars you find elsewhere in the US. Without recommendations--see how the place looks and smells. Sniff for the smell of roach spray, a bad sign in my opinion.

there's also chains like chop't and tossed that do these very substantial salads. Zen Palate (various locations) is good vegetarian food with a asian influence. Republic on Union Sq for chinese-type noodle dishes.

Zeev: There are two huge buffet bars on 10th Ave. All kinds of hot and cold food. Prices are by the pound. The name of the one on 34th Street is called Mongolian Deli. The one I really like is on 33rd and 10th called The Grand Deli. You can eat at tables right there. Enjoy!

How about the Soup Nazi?

Also for very cheap italian that's decent, Cucina de Pesce on east 4th between 1st & 2nd av). They have an early bird deal for $9.95 for soup, salad, main dish (pasta/fish/chicken choices), class of wine and coffee or tea. The food is pretty good and the atmosphere is very friendly. Their regular prices are excellent as well. All around the east village there are tons of great inexpensive restaurants. On east 6th st between 1st & 2nd av the are some good indian but that's not exactly what i would call 'simple home cooking'. Another cheap place is the Pink Tea Cup in the VIllage (look up addresses on zagat.com). Also French Roast ((various locations) has decent moderate priced food.

Thank you all for the info.

Beware of pricing on the salad bars in the so-called "gourmet" markets. The price per pound can often result in buying a salad bar meal for $10-14 that could easily be purchased for less in a sit down restaurant. There are loads of good restaurants in NYC that are cheap but carry cash - some of the better deals may be at places that do not accept credit cards. A good place to look is 8th and 9th Avenue between low 40's and high 50's (especially 9th Ave) - lots of great ethnic restaurants with healthy food and moderate prices. Everything from Greek to Morroccan, Afghani, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian.... and the list goes on. A few of my VERY moderately priced faves include Frutti de Mare, great and reallyt cheap Italian at 4th Street and 2nd Ave and also The Pink Tea Cup. The latter is the oldest soul food restaurant in Greenwich Village. It's on Grove near the west end of Bleecker past 7th Ave South. Zen Palate may have some tasty vegeatrain dishes but I've perused their menu and think that with a beverage and a tip you may easily exceed the $20 target. As mentioned, the Indian restaurants may offer good and cheap vegeatrian options and there are also a number of Polish diners on the lower East side that have good meals cheap (albeit a bit heavy). I'd lean toward Vietnamese for getting fresh dishes that are light, not oily and have lots of fresh vegetables. One of my favorites is Saigon (or Little Saigon?). It's at the corner of 49th and 9th.

topping for Brian E.