For our second instalment of Meet the Bloggers, I wanted to get an insight into the eating habits of one of the world's best culinary cities. So I challenged three of New York's most prominent food blogs to take me on a cheap date. The brief was simple: "Let's go somewhere a little off the beaten track, somewhere with a bit of a story, good food, maximum budget $15".
Blogger 1: Amanda Kludt, Eater
Eater is arguably New York's prime site about the restaurant scene, flagging up new ventures months before they open and sifting through Manhattan's media for reviews and gourmet gossip. For our meeting, editor Amanda Kludt has picked Fette Sau (354 Metropolitan Avenue, no bookings) in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn district on everybody's lips since former mayor Rudy Giuliani's rate hikes swept scores of young creatives out of Manhattan.
For Amanda, the key is localism. "People in New York get really excited about the big openings and the celebrity chefs, but it's almost as much of a big deal when someone opens up a great new neighbourhood spot like this. It's owned by the same people who run the Spuyten Duyvil, a popular local bar across the street, so when people heard that they were opening a restaurant everyone was interested."
Fette Sau was a glorified barbecue set in a converted garage, with oak benches, a white-tiled backbar and murals on the walls depicting various cuts of meat. Young, laid-back locals queued at the grill ordering meat by the pound. Pork options were shoulder, belly, ribs, chops, and cheeks of organic Berkshire breed. I opted for the beef: brisket pillowed in gloriously crispy fat and flank steak dipped in tangy barbecue sauce, washed down with Brooklyn Brown from draught taps adorned with meat cleavers. Our selection just pipped the $15-a-head mark, but we barely finished two-thirds of it. It tasted wonderful.
The verdict? A refreshingly low-brow choice considering Eater's usually high-end oeuvre. Deduct a few marks for the secret clearly being out - competition for bench space was annoyingly fierce. 8/10
Blogger 2: Josh Ozersky, Grub Street
In the New York foodie world, Grub Street is an arch rival to Eater, covering much the same beat under the auspices of the hugely popular New York Magazine.
I met Josh at New York Magazine's offices in Tribeca, and he whisked me across the road to the Just Delicious deli on the corner of Watts and Varick. Ostensibly, it was a standard New York Deli; a king-sized corner store with plenty of confectionery and a hot food buffet. Nothing special, I thought, but that was Josh's point.
"Delis are the lifeblood of New York city. The hot buffets are always better than they should be: the food looks terrible but tastes great. Here you've got lasagne, pepper steak, spaghetti and meatballs, rich stews. Plenty of fat, good mouth-feel, always with an extra kind of moistness and richness and succulence, and a good serving won't cost more than $2." He was right. I returned for a second helping of the pepper steak in gravy: simple, invariably unhealthy and very moreish.
"Just Delicious isn't the best in town, but there are some gems around: Carnegie Deli just south of Central Park (854 7th Avenue) is the Federal Reserve of delis - flawless and reliable. The prices are astronomical and the sandwiches verge on conceptual art, but it deserves the hype. But Katz's (205 East Houston St) trumps it. It's the best. The sanctum sanctorum of delis. Let all the rest fade into the sea; if Katz's survives, the soul of New York lives. The hand-sliced pastrami is a work of art."
The verdict? Josh came at the challenge from an unexpected angle, but that was his point. Delis are New York's ubiquitous staples ... ignore them at your peril. 7/10
Blogger 3: Zach Brooks from MidTown Lunch
For every big blog on the web, there are dozens of personal blogs jostling for limelight. Midtown Lunch is helmed by Zach Brooks, an office worker who runs the site as a side-project, scouring the office and tourist-saturated streets of Midtown for interesting eating options in one of New York's so-called gourmet backwaters. Unlike Josh Ozersky, Zach is sick of delis.
"It's just laziness. For lunchtime, people round here just want to go downstairs to the nearest deli for a boring salad or sandwich. They don't realise it, but this area is one of the best places to find authentic ethnic food in the city - there is a huge population of South Asian, Latin and Japanese workers here, and with them comes great food."
We headed to one of Zach's favourite finds, El Sabroso at 265 West 37th St; a canteen serving home-made Latin food to go in the freight entrance of a large office block. We entered through a heavy metal door and proceeded down a small corridor leading to a freight elevator. The hallway was framed by grill radiators and a handful of newspaper cut-outs of South American football teams. The far corner was sectioned off as a kind of bar, beyond which aromatic smells wafted from steaming pots and tinny salsa played from a battered radio.
The menu (written in Spanish, with English in brackets) featured chicken and hen stew, oxtail and tripe broths, but was fairly redundant. Spanish workers popped to and from the bar en route to and from the elevator, picking up lunch to go - no selection, just a serving of what was cooking. It was street food without the street. Zach and I took roasted chicken and bean stew, served with rice and a dollop of chilli sauce. Most punters ordered food and then whizzed off, but we sat on the single stool on the room's flank. It was delicious, and felt slightly clandestine eating in such a setting. At $3.50, it was a steal.
The verdict? Zach socked it to the big guns! El Sabroso is what foodie blog content is all about - really good food with a cultural angle, off the beaten track, and with a quirky situational twist. The winner! 9/10
Getting there
STA Travel (statravel.co.uk; 0871 230 8512) have flights to New York from £277 with Virgin Atlantic (with no age restriction) or from £251 with British Airways for youths and students.
Five nights at the Chelsea International Hostel cost from £86 and a New York city pass costs £48 or £36 for youths and students.
· If you run a travel blog and want to show Benji around your hometown, email benji.lanyado@guardian.co.uk
