New York customs

There are over 25.000 restaurants, cafes, fast food shops, pubs, bars and food stands in New York and more and more come into existence every day. New Yorkers like good food, so these 25.000 make their dreams come true. You can eat in New York every night for fifty years and never visit the same caf or restaurant twice! And you can enjoy any type of cuisine from all over the world – Italian, Brazilian, Japanese, Portuguese, French, Thai, Irish, Turkish, Russian... Enjoy also the outdoor terraces and live
music in the lobby.

In order to eat simple and healthy meal or pasta, visit Italian restaurant. Necessarily try something exotic in Japanese local. If you will feel hunger violently, look fast into steakhouse.

New Yorkers often eat at the ‘deli’ or the delicatessen, where they can get wonderful sandwiches. There are a lot of ‘fast food’ restaurants, when you can buy something to eat quickly. Many food stands or hot and cold buffets offer you burgers, donuts, hot dogs, pretzels, croissants, ice-cream and drinks like coca-cola.

In most of the finest restaurants, a meal consists of appetizer, entre, dessert and coffee.
In all of New York’s restaurants, apart from quick service/fast food restaurants, after taking a place waiter serves you a free bread and butter or quiche (a kind of pie with meat or vegetables).
Children are served half-portions in most of the restaurants.

Prices:
You won’t have a problem with choosing the restaurant with reasonably prices. In many cheap restaurants or bars you can have a sufficient/adequate- meal for 5 $. For a dinner in trendy locals you would have to pay 20 – 60 $. The ‘prix fixe’ is available in many places. This is a special menu, cheaper than the meals ‘a la carte’.

Tips:
There is no right or wrong when it comes to tipping, just common sense. Tipping is an option, not a must. Tip amount in caf is 10%; in more elegant placements – 25%. Usually it is the best to tip 15% of the bill. But use your own judgment when deciding to tip or not to tip. The Tip Chart can be useful.
Remember, that at restaurants, the wait staff is usually paid less than minimum wage. If you have a problem with your service, discuss it with the manager.

Time of eating:
Breakfast is served between 7:00 and 11:00 a.m. You can eat lunch between 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The biggest crowd, however, is at about 1:00 p.m. Dinner is served from 5:30 p.m. till late evening hours. Most of the locals are closed at 11:00 p.m. Some of the caf are 24-hour opened.

What’s worth eating?
Culinary art is various. It is possible to eat each sophisticated dish here. New York’s locals feature=offer delicious and unique culinary adventures in beautiful locations. The variety and richness of this offer is as big as different the tastes are.
• Hot dog
• Pancakes (sweet cakes with the maple syrup and fruits)
• Brunch (late breakfast - toast, bacon, fries, eggs and coffee)
• French toast (fried slices of bread in smashed eggs, with syrup, served for breakfast)
• Egg Cream (a drink with milk, chocolate syrup and soda)
• Bagel (usually served with a smoked salmon and melt cheese)
• Corned Beef on Rye (served with rye-bread, mustard and pickled cucumber)
• Giant Pretzel (often sold on the street)
• Clam Chowder (a clam soup, with tomatoes, decorated with crackers)
• Soul Food ( ribs, corn-floured rolls, cabbage, “black – eyed” bean, seasoning= =species)
• Pizza (traditional Italian dish)
• Burgers (dark and slightly bitter from char-grilling on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside)
• Sandwiches and salads tossed to order
• Seafood (Sushi, Shrimp cocktail, Lobsters …)
• Dim Sum ( noodles with fish, meat or vegetable flavour)
• Waldorf Salad (served in the 30s in the Waldorf Hotel, consists of apples, nuts and salad)
• Cappuccino and Cookies
• Apple Pie a la Mode (with ice-cream)
• New York Cheesecake (Traditional cheese-cake with or without fruits)