(4 out of 5 hot dogs)

 Loading ...

Bruscheterria
92 Rivington (Ludlow and Orchard)
Time: Monday to Friday, 11:30-4:00
Price: $12:50 for antipasto, entrée and glass and wine

After a $25 Asian Body Rub, I was feeling invigorated and decided to scope out lunch specials on the LES.   I saw several potentials, but Bruscheterria was the first one that included alcohol, and it being Thursday, I decided to roll with it.  Bruschetteria was an adorable little café, almost empty except for 2 girls on their laptops drinking coffee (free WiFi perhaps?).   I started with the artichoke and Italian cheese bruschetta (pronounced with a rolled ‘r’ and a hard ‘c’ a la Giada De Laurentiis).  It was like the classic artichoke dip your one friend brings to every dinner party, except more refined.  For my entrée, I had the spinach, roast beet, and goat cheese salad with pumpkin seeds and vinaigrette, which was fresh and flavorful.  Apparently they also have a happy hour deal, a carafe of wine and bruschetta for $12, so I’ll have to check that out for a ReBlog!

(4 out of 5 hot dogs)

 Loading ...

What do you do if the thought of a $6 Thai lunch special gives you an ulcer, and $1 Pizza even is too expensive?  Check out the 30 Bucks a Week Blog.  Tina and Phil, a Brooklyn couple, has made it their mission to live on $30 a week ($15 each!), they share their experiences, recipes and even the receipts to prove how much each grocery trip costs.  Everything is vegetarian, and some of the recipes look great (Portobello burgers with oven fries?) This blog takes ‘Rachael Ray’s $30 a Day’ out in the schoolyard and gives it an atomic wedgie!

(4 out of 5 hot dogs)

 Loading ...

I returned last week from my 10 day free trip to Israel, a land where hummus flows like water.  Actually, more freely than water  (There is a major drought, but apparently no shortage of mashed up chick peas.)  I didn’t have any milk or honey in the land of milk and honey, but I had a slew of delicacies that are hard to come by on this side of the Atlantic.

Ronen’s Yemenite Food Bar
Gallery Street, Sefad, Israel

Sefad is the center of Kaballah in the world.  After visiting, I still have no idea what  Kaballah is, but I did get to eat a really awesome snack for 20 shekels ($5).  In his stand, a Yemenite cooks lachuchs to order: made in a pan like a crepe, filled with vegetables and spices, and then rolled up and wrapped in paper.  The Yemenite told me that lachuch was the first bread in the world, but after some minutes of research on Wikipedia, I was unable to verify, so the verdict is still out. Anyway, I couldn’t help but feel more spiritual as I took a bite, because I am 90% sure that Madonna has eaten from the same stand.

Abouelafia Shawarma
Yeffet 4, Tel Aviv Jaffa, Israel

A Israeli Shawarma is like something you’d get at a Halal cart in NYC, except better.  A lafa (flatbread) is filled with chopped up lamb meat, and then whatever else you want.  I’m talking pickles, cabbage, hummus, tomatoes, FRENCH FRIES, and more.  At this restaurant, I got a Shawarma plus a drink and unlimited sides for 25 Shekels ($6.50).  Most Falafel/ Shawarma stands have a whole table of free sides sitting out for to add to your meal: fried bread, cauliflower, mushrooms, cucumbers, pepper, etc.  If you are really cheap, you could go in and eat a whole meal of sides while “waiting to order,” and then shalom out of there.

חיישה שגפמ
The Boardwalk, Eilat, Israel

After a night of drinking but not getting drunk in the resort town of Eilat, I needed something to nosh on, but there wasn’t a pizza joint in sight!  So I ordered a boureka for 15 shekels ($4).  A boureka is a triangle puff pastry covered with sesame seeds and filled with various ingredients.  Mine came with feta cheese and tomato sauce, and then was sliced open and a hard-boiled egg was added.  Basically, a freshly assembled Hot Pocket minus the microwave: a perfect food to follow up one, two, or ten l’chaims.

(3 out of 5 hot dogs)

 Loading ...

Sandwich Man
111 North 2^nd St
Harrisburg, PA

On a recent road trip, I learned on Yelp via my blackberry of an alleged taco truck in Harrisburg.  When we neared the address, there was no such vehicle in sight, and it was clear we were in one of the capital’s seedier neighborhoods.  After asking for directions at a pharmacy and an adult toy store, it became clear that the taco truck had gone south for the winter, and the next best thing was the Sandwich Man across town.  At this runner-up lunch destination, I ordered a tuna melt for $3.95 (which had substantial tuna, but wasn’t quite melted and had unsolicited hard-boiled egg), and a fresh soft pretzel for  $0.75.  You could also buy beers, from a $1 High Life to a $2.50 locally brewed Appalachian beer.  It was an adequate meal, but the memory of a lost taco truck on that brisk Pennsylvania afternoon will always haunt my taste buds…

(5 out of 5 hot dogs)

 Loading ...

Doghouse Saloon
152 Orchard (Rivington and Stanton)
Time: All the time
Price: Seriously awesome drink specials, free hotdogs

Beer chugging contests, skanky hoes, projectile vomiting.  Oh, the memories….  People say you can’t go back to college.  But they’d be WRONG.  You totally can!  Just stop by the Doghouse Saloon for crazy drink specials any night of the week.  I went with some friends on a blistery Tuesday evening, to find an empty bar just begging for debauchery.  The specials were this:  $1 PBR, $3 Stoli drinks and $5 Jager bombs.  Because of an unfortunate gin and red bull experience, I had to abstain from the Jager bombs, but in the spirit of bombing things, I asked the bartender how much for an Irish Car Bomb, and he said “I don’t know…$6?”  Whaaat??  You can’t even get just the Guinness for $6.  And this is only the beginning of the awesomeness of this bar.  You can buy pitchers and play a friendly game of beer pong or flip cup at the table out in front.  There is a pool table and skeeball upstairs.  There are baskets of potato chips and pretzels everywhere. AND they give away free hotdogs.  The part of my brain that tells me to never eat hotdogs had a battle with the part of my brain that tells me never to turn down free food, and lost big time.  I woke up at 8 am the next day reeking of Nattie ice, with the taste of processed meat and Baily’s curdling in my mouth, and dragged myself to work.  Did I have any regrets?  Maybe.  Would I make the same mistake again?  Absolutely! Isn’t that what College being an adult in NYC is all about?

(3 out of 5 hot dogs)

 Loading ...

Restaurant Week
Time: January 25- February 7
Price: Lunch $24.07, Dinner $35 (Excluding Saturdays)

ITJS is back from winter break, and is looking forward to a 2010 loaded with princes’ food at paupers’ prices.  Thank God Restaurant Week is right around the bend, this year featuring 260 pretty-expensive restaurants serving not-quite-as-expensive set meals. So put on your bib, start polishing your fork and knife, and make yourself a reservation today!