Join the under $50 club
Readers of this newsletter know that I love Mariscos El Submarino. I’ve enjoyed meals at almost every location of this small chain — minus the one in New Jersey — and have celebrated several birthdays in its supersize backyards. Every single time, the best part was paying. Order an excess of sloshing aguachiles, octopus tacos or shrimp burgers and the bill always come out at around $50 per person, as if by fate. After one of these meals last fall, a friend and I went searching for other restaurants that offer a round of drinks, two entrees and an appetizer or dessert for the cost of a Mamdani-secured World Cup Ticket. We called it the Under $50 Club, adjusting Eric Asimov’s old “$25 and Under” column for inflation. More than affordability, these restaurants offer peace of mind. You can order freely, knowing a monetary jump scare isn’t waiting on the other side of your meal.
Dine like it’s 2002In 2001, Kazusa Jibiki, an art-school graduate, was working for the fashion designer Marc Jacobs, when she met Brian McNally, an owner of the Odeon at the time. Ms. Jibiki, an admirer, confessed she had always wanted to open her own little cafe — and he encouraged her to do it. Lovely Day arrived the following year, taking over a doorless cabbage shop on Elizabeth Street in NoLIta. One benefit of opening when a subway ride cost $1.50 is that her restaurant, a diner with graffiti scrawled all over the awning, abides by different economic laws. The Tokyo Mules are $15, the pad kee mao — called hobo noodles — are $17 with chicken, beef or tofu, and the flank steak with a side of scallion mashed potatoes costs an inoffensive $25. (It’s a few dollars cheaper at lunch.) Ms. Jibiki knows it doesn’t add up: “We probably need to raise the prices,” she told me this month. Wait, no! Sorry I asked. 196 Elizabeth Street (Spring Street), NoLIta, Manhattan
Sticker shock (the good kind)Stephanie Tang worked in the fashion industry until December, but there was always a nagging voice in the back of her head: chicken. She comes from a long line of chicken roasters, beginning with her grandfather, the Chinese Peruvian immigrant Yuen Jam Tan. In 1973, Mr. Tan opened Peking BBQ in Woodside, Queens — it’s still there — specializing in the pride of Peru: pollo a la brasa. Last year, Ms. Tang left her job in fashion to open Johnny’s, a few blocks from where she lives in Williamsburg. There’s no denying the restaurant concept has been modernized. Look no further than the back bar, spilling over with natural wine and seasonal frozen cocktails, or her sesame Caesar salad, crunchy with saltines. Still, she’s taking cues from her family. The recipes for her pollo a la brasa and pork ribs — also blasted in the rotisserie roaster, over three hours — are unchanged. And they each cost less than $30 as a full meal with fried rice. Order strategically, and Johnny’s could be a contender for the Under $25 Club. 642 Lorimer Street (Jackson Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Need affordable dinner, statThe buttered pretzel leaves little room for drinks on the table. Steigl Goldbrau lager teeters over the rim of a frosted, half-liter stein like a crashing wave. And a 1966 two-stroke Puch motorcycle looms over the back dining room. Readers in Prospect Park South already know I’m talking about Werkstatt, the Austrian restaurant run out of a former mechanic’s garage by the once-upon-a-time fine dining chef Thomas Ferlesch and his wife, Robin Wertheimer. The name means “workshop” in German, but Ms. Wertheimer suggested an alternate translation: “Werkstatt means too much food.” These are big plates meant for hogging. The price of the bratwurst burger stuffed with melty Gruyère, $22, includes shoestring fries, and the chicken paprikash comes with a tall hill of nubby spaetzle, which almost always result in leftovers. But none compare with Mr. Ferlesch’s wienerschnitzel, the subject of a four-star review from Mimi Sheraton at his now-closed restaurant Vienna ’79. Pounded into Rorschach shapes and gently fried, each order comes with two bready cutlets and a bevy of sides. 509 Coney Island Avenue (Turner Place), Prospect Park South, Brooklyn One More ThingLast week’s newsletter misstated the offerings at Bar Chucho in Two Bridges. The burger contains beef garum, not fish sauce, and the restaurant serves a cocktail named Malverde, not Malaverde. Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Have New York City restaurant questions? Send us a note here. Follow NYT Food on TikTok and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
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