Hey what about those hot dog vendors in the streets....you know the ones with the carts you always see in the movies. I have always wondered about those as all the big city police shows always show the cops eating from those vendors. Do they really have these guys along the streets and if so does anyone really eat from these?
Hot dog vendors? In Manhattan where there are office buildings, you won't go more than a block or 2 without hitting one. Some grill their dogs, but most are "dirty water dogs" (boiled) - get it with Mustard and Onions or 'kraut - a Kinish goes well with them
The crowds - if you go to Times Square, you will see wall to wall cars and people, and you'll know the NYers - they are the ones shaking their heads, getting annoyed, trying to get around the people who are stopped looking around (the tourists). Other parts can get that crowded, but other parts are less. I will say that you will almost never see a street in Manhattan below say the 90s without at least 6-10 pedestrains on it.
Jaywalking is a NYC "art" - if there is a hole between 2 cars, people will walk through it, heck, standing on the white/yellow line between 2 lanes of moving traffic is common. You will swear we are crazy (we probably are)
Now the joke - look lost, and like a tourist, and someone will probably offer to help! We work FAST (the term NY Minute exists for a reason), but we will give folks a break, particularly if we can tell they are from out of town. Driving, for instance - it's controlled chaos, but, and example - you are pulling out into traffic, you put the nose out slightly (so folks can tell you want to pull in) and within a couple of cars, some will tap the brakes to slow down enough to leave you a hole to pull into - you better take it, because they won't stop, and they won't give you a second chance!
Price of Pizza? About $2 - $2.50/slice (plain slice - toppings etc extra) - figure 1-2 slices for lunch. A hot dog from a cart? Around $1.50. The reason they are popular is, they are cheap, and you can eat them while walking/waiting on line
Times Square is interesting - there are some big office buildings, but at the same time, I'd say 2/3rds of the people you see in/around TS are tourists coming to see Times Square!! (most of the ground floor businesses there cater purely to tourists - the locals will walk 1-2 blocks down a side street to get their food etc)
Unfortunately, International Soup Kitchen (aka the Soup Nazi) closed a few years back. The soup really was quite good, very expensive, and he wasn't quite as strict as the show made out - but he would make sure you moved all the way to the left, and you had to be ready to order. It was for a good reason, he usually had between 20-75 people waiting to order at lunch time, he had to MOVE people
Breakfast? The best budget breakfast - you will see coffee/doughnut carts all over midtown/downtown, stop, order your coffee and your muffin/pastery, or better, a bagel (unless you've had a NY bagel, you really have not had bagels). A large coffee (20oz) and a Bagel with butter will typically run about $2 (25 cents more for Cream cheese). A couple of hours later, there will probably be a hot dog cart in the same spot. The amazing things about these coffee carts? Go to the same cart the first 3-4 days, at the same time, and order the same thing. From then on, you'll probably be able to look at the guy and just nod, or say "the usual" - and he'll KNOW what you want (this from a guy who probably serves 100 people an hour!)
