New York City: 5 best restaurants for affordable brunch

by Amy Chen on

Brunch in New York City is a classic weekend experience, but ordering $20 eggs benedict at Jean-Georges’ Nougatine or $18 brioche French toast at Pastis doesn’t fit into everyone’s travel budget. Here are five affordable brunch alternatives to help start your day off right.

1. Le Pain Quotidien, Central Park

I know Le Pain Quotidien is a chain, but it’s not like its Belgian Waffle dusted with powdered sugar ($4.95) is settling for an Egg McMuffin. There’s even a Waffle Window at the Central Park location, which opened in May near Sheep Meadow. The Central Park location will be open until November and then re-open in the spring.

2. Cafeteria (Chelsea)

An oldie but goodie, Cafeteria delivers solid brunch options at reasonable prices. The Silver Dollar Pancakes ($10) come with fresh berries and sweet Chantilly cream. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, this Chelsea favorite also draws a late-night crowd.3. Mile End Delicatessen (Boerum Hill, Brooklyn)

Communal tables are part of the fun at Mile End, a tiny restaurant that opened in January. Located just a few blocks from an A/C subway stop, there’s a take-out window for people who don’t have the patience to wait or for those who just want to pick up an iced Stumptown Coffee ($2.50). Be warned: the restaurant often runs out of its signature smoked meat by 3 p.m., but that’s also when the place tends to clear out and you can easily grab a seat at the counter. The Breakfast Sandwich ($6) looks deceptively simple, but the bread, egg, and cheese are just an excuse to devour a slab of the Meat Hook Canadian bacon. The restaurant switches to a dinner menu at 5:30 p.m.

4. Alice’s Tea Cup (Manhattan)

Alice’s Tea Cup is as much about experiencing the over-the-top girlie vibe as the food. Expect lots of little girls having tea with their mothers (fairy wings are standard), gaggles of bridal showers, and the like. Even with two locations on the Upper East Side and one on the Upper West Side, prepare to put your name down on a waiting list (or leave your phone number and come back). At Alice’s Tea Cup Chapter II location, choose from pancakes ($7), crepes (from $8), and more. Other decadent options include finger sandwiches, gigantic scones, and cookies served on a three-tiered stand. You can also skip the line and order the scones ($3) to go. Pumpkin, chocolate chip, blueberry — it’s tough to pick just one.

5. Aurora Ristorante (SoHo & Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

The prix-fixe brunch menu at Aurora has great value. For $15, you can get coffee, a brunch entree (normally $10), and either a bellini, mimosa, Bloody Mary (regularly $8 for breakfast cocktails) or fresh orange juice. I’m a fan of the apple compote-stuffed brioche French toast with candied walnuts and mascarpone.

Got any other budget-friendly brunch spots in New York City? Feel free to share.

[Photos by Amy Chen]

Top five social media destinations

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Do you live your life in 140 characters are less? Have you almost lost your life several times because you had to get that shot of a crazy cab driver uploaded to Facebook? If this is anything like you, here are five cities you’re just going to love.

NetProspex has ranked the cities in the United States by social media activity, and the results are not at all surprising. Using the NetProspex Social Index (PDF), which the company developed, it was able to rank activity across a number of social media platforms, including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Here are the details on the methodology:

The data was mined from their database of business contacts. There are three components to the score. First there is social connectedness: the number of employees with at least one social media profile. Second there is social friendliness and reach: the average number of connections per employee across major social networks. Third is social activity: the average number of tweets, number of followers, and number of users following.

So, who wins? Take a look below:
1. San Francisco: home of Twitter and long-time tech city, is this really surprising?

2. San Jose: okay, like San Francisco but not as cool … pretty easy to see this one coming

3. New York: 8 million people with nothing better to do and plenty to TwitPic

4. Austin: who knew the country’s sexiest city would also be one of its most socially connected? Hot people flock together and like to stay in touch

5. Boston: another tech center, especially the metro area, and there really is nothing better to do up there …

[Thanks @zimmermitch, photo by Laurie DePrete]

10 ways Gadling readers save money when they travel

by Annie Scott on


Sometimes, when you travel, it can feel like you’re bleeding money. Often, the problem starts even before you go, as you stock up on the right gear for the trip and make sure you have all your (expensive, not-covered-by-insurance) shots.

There are endless ways you can thwart this problem, and we wanted to know what readers like you do to save money. We asked our Facebook fans to give us their tips, and the tips we got were, as we expected, totally freaking awesome.

Here are our top 10 ways Gadling readers save money when they travel:

1. “We try to find a hotel that offers breakfast, Then we split our main meal of the day!” — Shelby

2. “I don’t stay at $300+/night hotels. Unless its a resort vacation, I’m not going to be in the hotel other than to shower and sleep. As long as its a nice stay with good reviews and good location, I’m all set.” — Saadia

3. “By spending more time in fewer places!” — Craig4. “I try to find an affordable place with a kitchenette, or, at the very least, a mini fridge. You can save a lot of money when you don’t have to pay $10/glass for a decent wine, and when you can make a simple lunch with what you pick up at the grocery instead of buying a $15 salad at a sit-down restaurant!” — Kristen

5. “We leave the kids with the grandparents!” — Karen

6. “Ask for ‘Tap’ water (when in countries with decent water systems) at restaurants.” — Dale

7. “Do your homework – the more advance research, the better. Local innkeepers, merchants and restaurateurs seem to be more appreciative and more candid with recommendations when they see you took the trouble to learn something about them/their town beforehand.”

8. ” I do tons of research before leaving and order tourist information packets. Usually we end up with a few coupons and talking to the tourist office workers garners a few tips. I also check out igougo.com to see what others have found in the area.” — Megan

9. “Dress respectfully but not too touristy. It’s hard to get a response to “what’s not too expensive?” while carrying a fancy camera, purse, bags of souvenirs, or otherwise look like the tourist with money to spend.” — Lillian (again)

10. “Walk as much as you can, keeps you fit as well … public transport makes you feel like a local … but the MAIN TIP i can give is NOT SPENDING when I’m at home … SAVE, SAVE, SAVE … I’d rather have one great holiday a year, or once every couple of years, so I can enjoy it and do the things I like and want.” — Yvonne

Got a better tip? Want to join in the conversation? Visit the Gadling Facebook page!

[Photo by Annie Scott.]

Three ways to use social media for cheap travel

by Tom Johansmeyer on

When the internet came on the scene (the commercial iteration) in the mid-1990s, the traveling public got excited over the prospect of making buying easier – and pretty soon after, we started thinking about deals. Plenty of websites arose to satisfy our urge for cheaper travel. Then, social media arrived, and we became even greedier.

No, I’m not suggesting that we change – not at all. What’s wrong with wanting to get as much as you can for as little as possible? Do you overpay at the grocery store just to be a good guy? Exactly.

So, let’s talk about exploiting these opportunities. There are plenty of deals floating around on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. You just need to know how to score them. Here are three ways to put a few more bucks back into your pocket:1. Know where to look: are you a fan of your usual airline or hotel chain on Facebook? Do you follow it on Twitter? Start now. Just like the e-mail alerts you’ve been getting for years, you’ll get information you can use to keep your wallet fat.

2. Get the timing right: some social media deals exist on a schedule, like JetBlue‘s “Cheeps” on Twitter, which are last-minute and incredibly cheap. These tweets come out at 10 AM or so on Tuesdays. Not everyone makes it this easy, though. Some are totally random, in order to keep your eyes on their brand as much as possible. So, balance timing with vigilance.

3. Score some extras: you can use these sites for customer service, as well, with @Delta and @HyattConcierge among the companies using social media for this purpose. Also, check out the hotel or airline you’re about to use. You may find that it just happens to be active on Twitter or Facebook (such as @Colonnade). While you don’t get any formal advantage, talking to the people on the ground always leads to a better experience.

Traveling women are Facebook addicts

by Tom Johansmeyer on

A new study of female travelers indicates that close to half can’t let go of Facebook when they’re on the road. Unsurprisingly, Facebook is the social network of choice for women on the go.

Ninety-three percent of women who have had an overnight trip in the past month, according to Women on Their Way, have Facebook accounts, and 68 percent of them use it for travel purposes. What do they like to do most? Share multimedia! Fifty-seven percent engage in that activity. Status updates and commentary about the trip are next (38 percent), followed by Facebook Places check-ins (13 percent).

While these activities can happen before or after the trip has come to a close, 46 percent of respondents said they use Facebook while actually traveling, and 77 percent connect to the social media platform via a laptop.

So, if you see some hottie in the hotel bar and want to know if she’s interested in doing something regrettable … well, it helps to be “friends” first.


[photo by Andrew Feinberg via Flickr]