I am going to New York tomorrow for a week. What area is the best place for food?

The East Village has many, many good inexpensive ethnic restaurants; Hell's Kitchen - Eighth Avenue, Ninth Avenue, Tenth Avenue (the restaurants on Broadway and Seventh Avenue are mostly geared to tourists - tourist restaurants generally cost more than where the locals eat - they know that their patrons are going home to another city and won't be back, so they don't have to be as fussy about what they serve); Chelsea has some wonderful restaurants, too.

Some very inexpensive suggestions:

Great hotdogs at Gray's Papaya - several locations - Greenwich Village on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 8th Street, and one on the Upper West Side on the corner of Broadway and 72nd Street. For $2.99 you get two delicious hotdogs and a fresh tropical juice drink - one hotdog is $1. It's self-service, so you save money on a tip (if you go to self-service restaurants or get take-out you don't have to tip.) If you are going with someone else, go to Katz's Deli on the Lower East Side - sandwiches are huge - big enough to share (again, sit in the self service section - the uptown delis will charge you for sharing.) Try a Cuban sandwich - roast pork, ham, cheese, pickles on pressed, toasted Cuban bread (Chelsea-Havana on Eighth Avenue and 20th Street makes a great Cuban - $4 for the small one and $5 for the big one). Try a Vietnamese hero sandwich called a bahn mi - Nicky's Sandwich Shop in the East Village on East 2nd Street and Avenue A -$4 or $5. The East Village has so many really inexpensive ethnic restaurants - you can eat lunch for $5 at one of the Philippine restaurants. There are several small places called Tortilla Fresca - you can get something very tasty for $2.

If you stay in a hotel with a fridge and a microwave, you get large take-out orders that will feed you for a few meals - big savings. Don't eat at places like McDonald's - there are much better and cheaper places to eat in New York. Eat pizza - it's cheap, filling and good. You can get a great burger for $5 at the Burger Place in Le Parker Meridian Hotel on 57th near Sixth Avenue (small, crowded self-service - all they have is burgers, fries, shakes). Other places for good burgers: The Corner Bistro In Greenwich Village on West 4th and Horatio - a great burger for $5 (very crowded)

http://cornerbistro.citysearch.com/page/...

Another cheap excellent burger is at Island Burger & Shakes on Ninth Avenue and 51st Street - ( burgers - $6. chicken sandwiches - good toppings. soups, chili, sandwiches - and good shakes

When you are in the East Village, get an order of fries (that's all they sell) at Pommes Frites on Second Avenue and 7th Street - you'll recognize it, by the giant paper cone of fries outside. These are really good - you can choose different toppings. A bowl of chili is filling and cheap. You can get a huge bowl of soup at Bos, a Chinese noodle shop on Eighth Avenue and 55th Street.

Lunch generally costs less than dinner, so you can save money by having your big meal at lunch rather than dinner. You can get some delicious food for $6 in Chinatown for lunch

It really does depend on what you like to eat - there are thousands of good restaurants in New York! I have two bits of advice - one, buy the Lonely Planet's guide to New York City. It's incredibly comprehensive and not just for restaurants - accommodation, the arts, places to visit, where to shop and so on - I found it indispensable. Second, I have this little rule when I travel (to make me a little more adventurous). The rule is that I can only eat food that is special to the country I'm in at the time. So, when I was in New York, I hunted down Texas barbecue, tex mex, southern cooking style places - even hot dog specialists and the 'best' deli in New York!! It was fun and I got to taste things that I would never eat at home (in Australia). After a few days I found I had to stretch the rule a bit to include cuisines that had been adapted by Americans, there's only so much fried chicken and hush puppies one can eat!!

New York City is higly compact. This is not a place like Houston or LA where everything is all spread out - just imagine taking one of those cities and then putting it all on a 12 mile island. There are loads of businesses and people in every corner possible.

There is easy access to good food every where.

Get your self a zagat guide and look through it. Pick the places that appeal to you most.

New York has fabulous food. It depends on your budget and what you like to eat. Walk around the city and see what appeals to you.

There are great breakfast places, expensive dinner restaurants, great Sushi restaurants. There is something for every palate.

Try the oven-brick pizza parlors in Greenwich Village. The most crisp, flavor pack pizza you will ever eat. There are a few of them along Third and Bleecker Streets.

I think the Upper West Side is the best. Lots of variety, and many places have outdoor seating which is nice this time of year.

If funds are high and you can blow the dough, the meatpacking district has some very cool spots (Pastis), etc. You will often see celebs and its a great place to people watch, even to have a few drinks and appetizers.

If you get here and want Thai food go to S.E.A in Williamsburg (at N6th st and Bedford, L train to Bedford)

If you want good sushi go to Akane (at e 39th st, 6 train to 42-Grand Central Station)

If you want good soul food Sylvia's is good (at 125th st and lenox ave, 2 or 3 train to 125th st)

I dunno what else you may like to eat but www.citysearch.com (search under New York City) is a great website.

What type of food? Where?

Try the link below - without more info from you - this link may help.

since you've got so many great answers, I'll just give you my favorite place in the world to eat while I was there..

five roses pizza, lower east side

173 1st ave. between 10th & 11th

212-228-2840

and the lady who runs it is super friendly and great =)