One thing that can get a little testy about traveling is knowing where to eat. Thank God this wasn’t my first trip to New York, and I knew of a great restaurant to go to right after we landed in the city.
So, not only will I tell you guys about that restaurant, but I’m going to talk about all of the restaurants that served me amazing food while in New York.
The second time I went to New York, I happened to go out to eat with my friend Cayla Jean to this amazing Italian restaurant. That was over 2 years ago, and needless to say, it made that much of an impression on me that I had to go back again during this trip.
Since our room wouldn’t be ready for a few hours, we walked a few blocks from our hotel to Carmine’s. This italian restaurant has 2 dollar signs on Yelp, but their portions are for 2 people which makes it still a good place to go if you don’t want to spend a lot of lute.
We had the Rigatoni with Broccoli and Sausage ($29.95), and 2 sides of meatballs ($19.95). We were starving and being really greedy this time which is why our meal was a little higher. (meal total $69.85 before taxes and fees).
Carmine’s offers free bread with butter and oil. If I was you, I’d ask for just the tomato & basil bread, because it was BOMB!
I am like a child when it comes to picking a restaurant or something to eat. I have to see pictures to know what I am getting myself into…is anyone else like that? Well, I bring that up because I use Yelp all the time when I want to know where to eat. L’Adresse had by far the best pictures of their food that I just had to check this place out.
Quick fact about me. If you want to pull my heart strings…get me some calamari lol. I don’t know what it is about deep fried squid that gets my spidy senses tingling. For my starter, I had the Crispy Calamari ($18.00). The chili lime vinaigrette they serve with this was hella spicy, so they brought a milder “ranch like” substitute…I don’t know the name lol.
For my entree, I had the Fish sandwich ($25). Honey you should look this up because it is very different looking. My very first question when I saw this burger was “is it going to turn my teeth black?” The answer is no, but you will definitely need to make sure to floss afterwards or your teeth will look black adjacent. The burger comes with regular fries that I asked to substitute for the truffle fries which was about $2-$3 extra…and worth it.
When you originally get the burger it may not be as seasoned as you would like, but I don’t mind doctoring up my food. Add a bit of salt and pepper to that bad boy and you’re set. I added some ketchup to the buns, and it was amazing. My entire meal before taxes was $46.
Other than the food, the atmosphere of L’Adresse is everything. The waitresses, staff, and owner were so nice and accommodating. And the owner’s wardrobe (a woman) was snatched!!!
Now we went to Ruby’s on false pretenses. This was mainly due to us being extremely hungry and not doing all of our research lol. Ruby’s has marvelous brunch options based on the pictures we could see, but their brunch hours end at 4:30…we got to Ruby’s at 4:35.
Being that it is New York, we could have looked for more brunch places, but Ruby’s menu already looked amazing. I didn’t have an appetizer this time which I am very surprised at. For my entree, I went with the shrimp pasta ($16) which was extremely full of flavor. I didn’t have to add any seasoning to this one. It was very full filling, and gave me every bit of itis I needed in the moment.
The restaurant itself is very small, but so cute and rich with culture. It literally is the size of a 2 car garage in depth with the garage door and everything. The way the place was decorated with beautiful cabinetry makes it such a cute place to have lunch. I’ve bookmarked this cute place on Yelp, because it is a must for a satisfying & cheap meal while in New York.
I am upset at myself for not taking a picture of this place and the food we got from here. This might be the last restaurant in this post, but it is by far the best on this list in my humble opinion.
Look, I’m a southern girl so I am all about the comfort food, and Empanada Mama is the best I’ve had in New York. It’s to the point where I will dictate where I stay just to be in walking distance of this little place.
This was the most affordable meal we had in New York, and one of the most satisfying as well. I blessed myself with 3 different wheat flour empanadas, the shredded chicken, the cuban, and the viagra. Don’t ask me why they called it the viagra.
The light and flaky crust of each empanada was out of this world. With the shredded chicken being my favorite out of the 3, I would definitely advise coming to this place for a great affordable meal. No reservation is needed, and it wasn’t that long of a wait to get our food to go.
Each empanada was $3.99 which brought our meal before tax to around $12.
If you frequent New York, please tell us were else we need to eat. I have added these restaurants to the bookmark section of my yelp app, but I am always down for trying out more in New York.
