Viva Herbal

This past week my old roommates and I decided to get together to catch up over dinner. Sounds simple, but picking a restaurant can be quite tricky with us. Two are vegetarians, one is a sometimes vegan, and one keeps kosher. This typically lands us with kosher pizza, which can get tiring. We decided on Viva Herbal, which specializes in vegan and kosher pizzas, pastas, and calzones. Despite the variety of the menu, we all settled on pizza, ordering the Picante (soy sausage, roast red pepper, mozzarella cheese)



the Bella (pesto sauce, mozzarella, sauteed spinach, onions and feta)


and the Santa Rosa (tomato sauce, sundried tomato, mushroom, roasted garlic, calamata olives, miso tofu).

Everything was amazing- and absolutely loaded with toppings. My personal favorite was the Bella-all of the flavors went together incredibly well, and the pesto sauce was a refreshing change from the typical tomato. We each got 2 slices, but 1 would have been more than enough. While I really enjoyed my meal, I wouldn't recommend it as a place for meeting up with people. There is very little seating, and the noise from the kitchen makes it difficult to talk. If you're looking for a healthy quick meal solo though, make sure to check Viva Herbal out!
Address: 179 2nd Ave, New York NY10003 (btw 11th and 12th)
Phone:(212) 420-8801
Average Price: $3 per slice
Grade: A

Tuck Shop

Like Dumpling Man, Tuck Shop is an East Village cheap eats staple. Nothing there is over $6, and people flock from all parts of town to try the savory Australian fare. The restaurant specializes in pies and sausage rolls, with fillings that lean more towards Australian flavors (such as the Pork and Sage Rolls or the Traditional Meat Pie) as well as more worldly combination (such as the Thai Green Chook Curry Pie or the Vegetable Pie with Pico de Gallo) The restaurant itself is nothing fancy; there is only one table facing the street while all other seating is at the bar, which faces the refrigerator, oven, and sink. I sat at the bar, and ordered the Thai Green Chook Curry Pie ($5) and the Pork and Sage Roll ($3) per the recommendation of the helpful counter man.

I was surprised to see him pull the dishes right off of a heating rack behind the bar, but I don't know what else I expected , the place is definitely too small to have a kitchen! I was a little apprehensive about how fresh the pie and roll would be, but this worry vanished the second I bit into the Thai Green Chook Curry Pie!

The crust was crispy, flaky, and thick, and the second I cut into it piping hot gravy poured out onto the plate. The filling was better than I could ever have imagined. The combination of leeks, chicken, kafir lime leaves, galangal, coconut milk, thai basil and chilies was absolute perfection- it was savory, but not so much so that it overpowered the lighter sweeter flavors. Pair it with the sweet chili sauce offered up at the bar, and you couldn't ask for a better $5 meal!
The Pork and Sage Roll was a slightly different story.

After the pie, I was expecting something amazing, and this definitely fell short. The pork was well cooked, but the sage was too strong and aromatic for me to enjoy the dish. Also, without the recommended ketchup it was too dry for me to even finish.
Moral of the story: stay clear of the average tasting rolls and order twice as many of the delectable pies!
Address: 115 Saint Mark's Pl , New York 10009 btw 1st Ave and Ave A( other location 68 E 1st St btw 1st and 2nd Ave)
Phone:212-979-5200
Average Price:$4
Grade: A-

Dumpling Man

Anytime cheap food in New York City is brought up, you're sure to hear mention of Dumpling Man. Somehow, it's taken me over a year to check it out, even though I lived mere blocks away! Now let me start off by saying, I am not the world biggest dumpling fan. I'll eat them if they're there, but I don't typically go out of my way in their pursuit. Because of this, I had no idea what to order, even after looking over the menu. There were about 5 varieties of meat dumplings, and about 5 vegetarian as well. The man behind the counter saw my confusion, and recommended the special meat dumpling of the day, the pork soup dumpling. The description said that it was a pork dumpling that was also stuffed with ginger, and cooked in chicken stock. I ordered four dumplings, and my total came out to be a little more than $4. Not bad! I envisioned my dumplings actually arriving in the chicken stock, but when they arrived about 5 minutes later, it turned out they had just been boiled in it. This led to the outside dough having a visibly soggy texture, which I wasn't thrilled with. (sorry about the poor photo quality, it was really dim inside the restaurant)

I took my first bite- and was a little confused. The dough part of the dumpling was too thick and soggy, the pork inside had the consistency of wet cat food, and there was no ginger to speak of. Somehow though, it managed to taste alright! I tried it with Sriracha sauce, the "dumpling sauce", and the vinegar sauce. The Sriracha was too spicy for me, but I liked the dumping sauce and the vinegar-they were a nice tart balance to the sweetness of the pork and dough. Halfway through, I discovered the ginger-which was only a few measly strips. While I wasn't super excited by my experience at The Dumpling Man, it wasn't awful and it really filled me up.
Address:100 St Marks Pl New York, NY 10009
Phone number:(212) 505-2121
Average Price: $4-6 piece, $6-10 piece
Grade: C