In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City. Don’t miss the delicious baked goods and empanadas at this bakery! It’s worth the trip uptown.
The selection of baked goods at 5 Star Estrella Bakery is extensive.
I have been to 5 Star Estrella Bakery Corporation about ten times since my project, “MywalkinManhattan” has taken me to this part of the city. Washington Heights has all sorts of bodega’s and deli’s on every corner of the neighborhood but this one stands out. Everything here is very reasonable and delicious (See my reviews on TripAdvisor).
I have to admit that the baked goods can be a little hard later in the afternoon but the taste is still wonderful. I have had their vanilla and chocolate doughnuts and they are big, puffy rings with a thick layer of icing ($1.25). In the early morning, they have a soft pillowy consistency and in the afternoon, they can be a little harder but still good.
They have wonderful Pastellitos (similar to empanadas) filled…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City.
Now the pizzeria is known as 109th Street Pizzeria
The pizza here is delicious.
*Since the pandemic, Make & Bake Pizza has changed names and owners and is now known as 109th Street Pizzeria. The restaurant has also been renovated since my last review.
I came across Make & Bake Pizzeria when I was visiting East Harlem for my walking project, “MywalkinManhattan” and I needed a snack. I had already visited Moe’s Grocery a few doors down for a ‘Chopped Cheese’ and I needed a slice of pizza.
I followed the school kids from the two schools across the street into the pizzeria and they really seemed to like the pizza here. Because the kids are from the housing projects that surround the school and this part of Second and Third Avenues, the prices at the restaurants in the area are very reasonable. Here the prices are more than reasonable, they are cheap.
A slice of cheese pizza here is $1.00, a soda and water are $1.00…
Zabar’s is one of the most interesting grocery stores in New York City. Back in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, it was the only place to go for certain gourmet items, baked goods and a variety of vegetables. Their cheeses were some of the best in the city and when you needed fresh pasta, it was here or Manganario’s which went out of business about five years ago.
While other stores have gotten fancier or more expensive in their wares and grocery items, Zabar’s stays tried and true to its roots and is still a place for the average person to come and do their grocery shopping while buying high quality at a fair price. New York City has never been cheap.
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City. The Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich on an Everything Bagel is just excellent!
Sometimes you are looking for the perfect little ‘hole in the wall’ restaurant and it just jumps out at you. This is how I found out about West Side Cafe & Pizza. I was looking for a snack and came a across a restaurant that offered well-priced pizza slices. It also offers a whole lot more.
I went into West Side Cafe & Pizza for a slice of pizza. The place around the corner from it had the slices at $3.25 for a slice of cheese and when I walked in here, the slice was $2.50, more on the level of a regular slice.
Even though the slice was warmed over, the sauce was flavorful…
I have been to Malachy’s (See reviews on TripAdvisor) several times when visiting the Upper West Side and just happen to come across it one night when walking down West 72nd Street, a shopping and restaurant row for this section of the West Side. The bar has been around forever and run by the same family.
It really is the “Cheers” of the Upper West Side. Everyone here seems to know one another and as I have sat at the bar, I can see that I was getting ‘sized up’ by some of the regulars, who the bartender really well. I must have made the cut because everyone has been really nice to me every time I have gone there for lunch or dinner. Admittingly, I am not really a drinker so the only…
Tao Hong Bakery is a tiny hole in the wall bakery across the street from Sara Delano Roosevelt Park and next to both Chi Dumpling House (79 Chrystie Street) and Wah Fung Number One Fast Food Restaurant (81 Chrystie Street), which makes a nice place for a progressive restaurant experience. You can go to the first two for your appetizer and main dish and then enter Tao Hong Bakery for your dessert. The best part of the experience is that all the desserts are fresh and I watch them bring them out a little at a time (See reviews on TripAdvisor).
The cases are stocked with all sorts of sweet and savory baked items including Hot Dog Buns ($1.00), Pineapple Buns ($1.00) and Raisin Buns ($1.00). All have a distinct sweetness…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful restaurants that are reasonable in New York City. Lions, Tigers & Squares closed in June 2025 and has since been replaced by another pizzeria.
This new pizzeria opened in the heart of Chelsea in Manhattan that specializes in ‘Detroit style’ pizza, which is a type of Sicilian pizza that is baked in a deep dish with the cheese baked right into the sides of the pizza producing a caramelized edge to the pizza. Having gone to college at Michigan State University, I was introduced this this type of pizza at a restaurant named “Dooley’s” in the mid-Eighties. It’s nice to see it come to New York City.
Lion’s & Tiger’s (Named after two sports teams in Michigan) & Squares, a very clever ring in the fact that the pizza is cooked in a square pan in a pizza oven. These wonderful deep-dish pizzas are offered with a limited amount of toppings such as pepperoni, sausage…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City.
G’s Coffee Shop is a great little place for breakfast and lunch when you are touring the Dyckman Farmhouse and The Met Cloisters. The food is very reasonable and the service is very friendly.
The menu is very extensive and reasonable
The burgers here are amazing!
So are the breakfasts. This is the Sausage and Egg Breakfast Burrito
I came across G’s Coffee Shop (Steve & Gus Coffee Shop as the sign says) when I was taking a tour of the near by Cloisters Museum in Fort Tyron Park and then explored the park. After I finished at the museum and walking the park, I was starved and explored around the neighborhood to find a place to eat. Having walked the neighborhood for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com” a few years earlier, I had passed many restaurants on 207th Street that had opened and closed over the years and I came to G’s Coffee Shop which I had not noticed on my last few trips to the neighborhood.
Sitting down to eat at this small hole in the wall diner, I found that it was a…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful restaurants that are reasonable in New York City. The burgers and sandwiches here are great.
My favorite is the Cheeseburger Deluxe meal
The Cheeseburger Deluxe with Fries and a Mexican Coke
Yum!
The prices and the service can’t be beat in this small Upper East Side restaurant.
I had passed Burger One a few times when visiting the Upper East Side and this little ‘hole in the wall’ restaurant was very busy feeding the locals who came in for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their prices are amazing reasonable for all items (especially in a place like the Upper East Side) and they have a nice selection of items for all meals.
The first time I went to Burger One was the first day of walking the Avenues of the Upper East Side (See review on TripAdvisor). The place was humming along with people ordering their lunches and dinners and their delivery guy dashing in and out of the place.
I ordered a Cheeseburger Deluxe (which is a 8 ounce freshly scooped burger)…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful restaurants that are reasonable in New York City.
Corrado Bread & Pastry’s outdoor cafe.
The case line of sandwiches and pastries
The Chicken Salad on a Brioche bun
*Bloggers Note: Corrado’s Bakery closed in early June of this year and is now being replaced by another coffee shop. The Upper East Side loses another great little restaurant.
I came across Corrado Bread & Pastry shop when I was walking around the Upper East Side for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com” and looked in the window to see a large display of pastries and sandwiches and decided I needed a dessert and walked in. What a delicious variety of foods so beautifully displayed and so colorfully placed like jewels in a case. The best part is that everything I tried was delicious and their prices are very fair for the neighborhood.
This indoor/outdoor cafe is a block from the main campus of Hunter College and caters to everyone from the college students up for coffee and pastries between classes…
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