It’s no secret that the times are tough, and finding cheap eats is more important than ever, especially down in a certain..district. Luckily, there are plenty of places near Wall Street to grab lunch or a snack without (further) breaking the bank.

Any Time Café

If you’re looking to save a few bucks on your lunch hour, skip the buffet (everything is priced by weight) and hit up the sandwich bar. The classic sandwiches won’t set you back more than five dollars apiece, and the gourmet versions don’t go higher than six. If you’d prefer to hide in your office until the financial crisis is over, Any Time Café also delivers.

Killarney Rose

Always a favorite spot in the Financial District for after-work drinks, Killarney Rose is ideal for taking the edge off. They also offer your standard bar menu at reasonable prices in a relaxed, unpretentious environment-exactly what the doctor ordered in these stressful times.

“Pho 99 with beef and tripe from Pho 99 in Buffalo.
” Thanks Buffalo correspondent.

“Sautéed grouper from Fish (280 Bleecker).” It was good, adjectives unnecessary.

“I had Budweiser and Chili Nachos from the Paris yesterday afternoon. The beer was cold, the nachos VERY cheesy. The chili had this intense beef flavor, like it was almost grilled or something….very tasty.”

 Amy's: so much more than pastries...iced coffee as well!

“Iced coffee from Amy’s Bread.” Caffeinated, refreshing, expertly brewed. How can you miss?

“The Pondicherry dosa from NY Dosas, a fabulous little street cart on the edge of Washington Square Park that sells inexpensive yet delicious and healthy South Indian food. The Pondicherry is a crepe made from chickpeas, filled with spiced potatoes and veggies, with coconut chutney and a little cup of lentil soup.” One meal that got our week-long vegan through the tough times.

“Really enjoyed Braai—the veggie and meat skewers were cooked perfectly and I have a newfound love for ostrich. Malva pudding was top notch as well.”

“Had a pretty kickass dinner at Peasant on Elizabeth Street. Bresaola with artichokes and ricotta salata to start, then butterflied roasted squab over root vegetables (mmm), plus flourless chocolate cake on the house…oh, and complimentary bread and ricotta–really good. And wine, can’t forget the wine.”

-Elisabeth Norton

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See what we ate last week! 

Dinedaily on a full serving of fresh news every morning.  Why?  Becauseit’s cheaper than your morning latte and more informative than youraverage nutritional label.

To Meat or Not To Meat... But Mostly to Meat.  MEAT!

• Tomorrow's World Vegetarian Day, kicking off an entire month of herbivore awareness. Hence, it makes sense to pack in as much meat-related content as we can today.

• Oh, Spam!  Mystery meat you are and mystery meat you shall remain.  Thanks, USDA.

• L.A. carnivores, mark the date: October 6th, Phillipe's shall be celebrating its 100th birthday by selling all of their roast beef French dip sandwiches for ten pennies.  But please don't come with a sackful of pennies.  Because that would be rude.  And heavy.  So, very heavy. 

• Drama ensues at KFC.  Post-hospital, attacked customer reports, "I got a battering from the Colonel."  One wonders if the assault and battering was lovingly seasoned with 11 herbs and spices.

• Two raw steaks fall in love, tango and meet their fatal end in this morbid romance.  Ah, l'amour!
  

 Photo courtesy of ashcook

-Alice Shin

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Paul Newman was a man who meant many things to many people.  For those of an earlier generation, he was a thespian of no common celebrity—he was Butch Cassidy.  But for me Paul Newman was always the guy on the bottles of salad dressing at the supermarket, smiling amidst the pictures of fresh produce, letting you know that it was “okay” to buy the more expensive Newman’s Own brand because it was FRESH.  That intangible feeling that I felt over ten years ago in aisle 7 now has not only a name, but also a movement—organics.

Paul Newman was a foodie, there’s no denying it.  The Newman’s Own empire began twenty-five years ago with a single salad dressing, the very one that Paul had created in his kitchen, bottled up, and presented as a Christmas gift to a friend.  The organic idea came a bit later, around 1993, with his daughter Nell’s persuasion. Newman’s Own Organics encompassed products from dog food to coffee and has since become an important breadwinner for the Newman’s brand.

Paul’s vision for fine-dining organics was realized in 2006,with the opening of “The Dressing Room,” an all-organic restaurant in Westport,CT. His partner and executive chef is none other than Michel Nischan, the James Beard Award winner who has steadily become synonymous with the organic movement and is accredited with its increased celebrity. Michel remembers of Paul: “His simplicity was so profound and humbling.To be on the same page as Paul for even a brief moment is indescribable. And he really knew his hamburgers!”

For Paul, the creation of an internationally recognized product was a way to unite his passions for quality food and humanitarian work.  All proceeds of the Newman’s Own brand are donated to a variety of global charities, including  “Hole in the Wall,”camps designed for terminally ill children. Newman’s aid has totaled $200 million to date, and his company assures that it will continue to honor these efforts. Paul Newman’s loss will be profoundly felt, though his memory is easily conjured; if he’s not your choice for a late night movie, he’s more than likely filling your popcorn bowl! 

-Natalie Fasano

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As of Saturday night at midnight, Project Vegan was officially over. I decided to mark the occasion with a slice of pizza-why not, right? After downing that greasy, cheese-laden slice, I felt pretty gross. Maybe vegan week had more of an influence on me than I thought.

Like I’ve said before, I wasn’t a big meat eater when I first started the project, so I wasn’t giving up a whole lot there. Now that I’ve discovered tempeh, I’m even less inclined to buy meat. Seafood is another story, but the research that I did about seafood farming prior to going vegan at least convinced me to try to eat wild rather than farm-raised. As predicted, I missed pudding more than anything else. I had a pudding yesterday, which was delicious, but now I think I’m going to miss my vegan cookies, which aren’t sold in my neighborhood.

While we’re on the subject, a final gripe about going vegan. As vegan-friendly as New York City is, living in a neighborhood where there are very few restaurants, let alone vegan ones, makes it very difficult to maintain that lifestyle. The general lack of healthy food options in my less-than-gentrified neighborhood, not to mention what those options would cost, is an issue on its own, one that I won’t get into here. Thanks to Brooklyn’s Natural, though, I can still buy tempeh, veggie burgers and a few other vegan goodies that I’ve grown to love over the past seven days.

So, I think it’s safe to say that while vegan week was certainly a success, I’m not sure I would be able to maintain the lifestyle entirely. Still, my obsessive label-reading made me much more aware of what’s in my food, and I’m hopefully going to make some better decisions based on that knowledge. And this brings me to the most unlikely dietary casualty of vegan week: my peanut butter. As I mentioned at the start of the project, my peanut butter was the one source of refined sugar that I wasn’t planning to give up. A few days ago, I mentioned that I had the opportunity to try some of the vegan-friendly variety from Peanut Butter & Co. and very much enjoyed it. Later, I had the chance to compare the ingredient label for a jar of smooth peanut butter from Peanut Butter & Co. (pictured) to my jar of the store-brand stuff. The Peanut Butter & Co. list (peanuts and salt) was far superior to the one on my jar (I can’t spell most of it), and only cost about thirty cents more. Now that’s a switch I can make.

-Elise Stern

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Photo Courtesy of http://www.ilovepeanutbutter.com. 

Check out all editions of The Vegan Diaries:

Prologue

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five