Eating Well for Less in NYC

Here's a geographic diversion from my usual focus on Boulder, but it sticks with the theme of eating really good food without breaking the bank. And there's a very tenuous Boulder connection I can make, if you'll keep reading. Friends of ours recently returned from a short New York City visit and reported that in these recessionary times, they were able to enjoy well known restaurants and food from top chefs at relatively cheap prices. "Relative" is the operative word here, since Manhattan's finer dining prices are famously stratospheric. But our friends reported great dining without resorting to their backup plan of hitting the sidewalk food cart vendors (some of whom of course have fantastic ethnic offerings at dirt cheap prices). For the famous chef experience, they recommended Daniel Boulud's new foray into downtown, DBGB Kitchen and Bar, where they said the sausages were out of this world. Great times to be eating, when top chefs get into sausages. Another favorite was Sfoglia on the upper East Side (with another on Nantucket), where they feasted on a cardoon gratin and pasta, with an extraordinarily reasonable tab. Another success was Back Forty, the more casual and less expensive newer sister of the well-reviewed Savoy in Soho. My friend reports the $19 grilled Catskill trout was a steal. Finally, to sneak in the tenuous Boulder connection, they enjoyed lunch at 24 Prince, where chef Nikki Cascone was a participant in season 4 of Top Chef. With Boulder's fine representation in season 5, culminating with Hosea Rosenberg of Jax Fish House winning it, I'm drawing a faint Boulder relationship here. They reported that, although 24 Prince had a wonderfully extensive lunch menu, everyone in the whole place seemed to be ordering the mac and cheese. No wonder, since the mac and cheese was made with smoked gouda and topped with crispy pancetta bits. How could anyone resist?