The Michelin Guide announced their 2021 Bib Gourmand winners yesterday, including 131 restaurants in New York City—five of which are in our neighborhood! Michelin-starred establishments are mostly synonymous with fine dining and it’s best to assume your average one will be an expensive night out, but Bib Gourmands are restaurants where you should be able to have a starter, main course, and dessert for $40 and under.
Little Italy
Nyonya
The oldest restaurant on this list, with two decades on Grand and two outposts in Brooklyn, Nyonya is our personal favorite; you can’t go wrong with the roti prata as an appetizer, and they do a solid version of nasi lemak, Malaysia’s national dish.
199 Grand St
http://www.ilovenyonya.com/
Tomiño
Easily one of the top tapas restaurants in the city, Tomiño’s owners and chefs hail from the Galician region of Spain. We recommend the tortilla de Betanzos (a runny omelette with potatoes) and for those of you who love cephalopods, their pulpo á fiera is a treat.
192 Grand St
http://www.tominonyc.com/
Nolita
Thai Diner (new to list)
From the team behind the now-closed Michelin-starred Uncle Boon’s, which was never well-served by their basement location, comes a new restaurant on the corner of Kenmare. Make sure to order the khao phat puu, or crab fried rice—at $25 a serving, it can easily, happily feed two.
186 Mott St
http://www.thaidiner.com/
Rubirosa
This Italian-American red sauce restaurant—named after a notorious Dominican diplomat and playboy—has been a neighborhood classic since it opened a decade ago, with a 60-year-old pizza recipe from the owner’s Staten Island family pizzeria. Get a classic pizza your first time, then a vodka pizza the second.
235 Mulberry St
http://rubirosanyc.com/
SoHo
Pinch Chinese
As you’d expect from a restaurant opened by a former Din Tai Fung executive chef, Pinch Chinese has exquisite soup dumplings. Order at least one kind to start your meal off (we like the pork), then make sure to order the cumin ribs and Hong Kong-style wind-sand chicken.
177 Prince St
http://www.pinchchinese.com/