- My name is Prez, and I work at Thrillist.
Around these parts I'm known as the 5-Dollar Lunch Guy.
Every episode, I'm gonna put you guys
onto the very finest New York grub for $5 or less.
(bell ringing)
Dude, are you serious right now?
Russian?
Really?
So, here's the thing about Russian food.
I know less than nothing about Russian food.
I mean, I know there's Russian dressing,
and I know there's a huge community on Coney Island,
but am I really gonna go to Coney for a five-buck lunch?
I think not.
- Hey, wait.
Did you say Coney Island?
- Yeah.
- You totally don't have to go that far.
There's actually a place three blocks up from here.
It's called Teremok.
- Only three blocks?
- Yeah, I normally get the blinis,
it's like a Russian-style crepe, and they're fabulous.
- That sounds amazing, guys.
Three blocks away, easy, thank you so much!
- Yeah, no problem. Good luck.
(guy yelling)
- So these are the rules of "Operation 5 Buck Lunch."
It's gotta be good, 'cause nobody wants bad food for lunch.
No big chains, 'cause that's just too easy.
It's gotta be $5 or less.
And whatever I don't use today,
rolls over into the next episode.
I hope you guys are ready for the most epic journey
in "5-Buck Lunch" history.
We're going all of three blocks for lunch.
"Operation 5 Buck Lunch" Russian food is a go,
but first, do you know anything about Russian food?
- I don't.
- Do you know anything about Russian food?
- I don't. - Really?
- Yeah.
- Have you ever had a blini?
- A blini? No.
- Have you ever had a blini?
- No, I have not.
Well actually, I'm Polish, and we have crepes
and we call them "nalesniki."
The way my grandma makes them is,
you put sugar in the batter--
- Ooooh. - and so
you could eat it without anything in it.
It's just, you roll it up, and it's sweet.
- That's perfect and she makes it the best, clearly, right?
- Yes.
- OK, so you don't want to shout out anybody else's?
- No.
- Yeah I have had that. Actually, my ex-girlfriend,
who I just broke up with -- what's up (bleeps)
- Hey.
- she used to work in this Russian cafe
and she used to (bleep) all the time about the blini.
- Oh nice, well.
- And I tried it once.
- One, two, three, hey.
So speaking to the people,
I'm glad it's not just me who knows nothing
about Russian food, but what I did learn is that
within most cultures they have some sort of crepe-like,
blini-like dish, whether you're Puerto Rican,
or you're Romanian, or you're Polish.
But we're here for the one and only Russian-style Teremok.
Let's go.
(man moaning)
And we take the selfie.
Hello.
- Hello and welcome to Teremok.
- So my homegirl put me on to this place,
and she says you guys have amazing blinis.
What is a blini?
- A blini is sort of like a crepe --
it's sort of like this right here.
We roll it and then we put the filling in the middle,
and then we roll it up, sort of like a burrito
and put it in a wrap.
- I mean, I only have five bucks,
so I'd definitely love to try one. What do you have?
- So the cheapest one will be chicken and apple,
that would be $5.39.
- Lucky for us, I still have a $1.10 left
from the last episode, so I'm definitely gonna
hit that one up.
- Enjoy, your pickup straight done there.
- Still got leftover: we winning.
Thank you so much. - Bon appétit.
- Thank you so much -- come on.
Oh yes, I am pumped.
So guys, I know I didn't give you your fun fact yet,
but you're about to get it right now.
- Fun fact, fun fact.
- Yo, can we get a graphic for this for real,
like, I feel like I need a fun fact graphic.
(bleep)
So, I was talking to the manger and he was telling me
that blinis were popularized in the United States
by Eastern European Jewish immigrants who served them
with cheese and oil -- something very simple --
and they served them during the holidays.
Let's get into it.
Oh, straightaway, that smell gets much stronger.
Wait, wait.
First, a selfie.
(camera shutter clicking)
This reminds me of, like, when you eat a burrito,
except more flippity-floppity and with meat
and, like, this cream.
Anyways, let's go.
Mmm, oh ho ho ho, yeah.
This is the romantic part.
It's nothing crazy, it's just three ingredients,
but together they're amazing.
You have the blini, of course,
this beautiful pillow of magical goodness.
You have the slow-cooked chicken, which is cooked perfectly,
it's not too dry and it's definitely amazing as well.
And the most amazing part --
definitely said that three times:
They're amazing.
Amazing.
Most amazing part.
Three amazings!
You have the apple cream sauce.
This is, smells, and tastes fantastic.
(restaurant chatter)
(paper crumbling)
That's really good,
I could definitely eat this two or three more times
but I only got five plus bucks so,
what are you gonna do.
Mission accomplished, let's take this outside.
Shout-out to Teremok.
That was fantastic.
Blinis are definitely my new joint.
Today was a success, we hit every single one of our points.
It's not a big chain, at least in New York.
We got to use our rollover change.
And most importantly, it was delicious.
I'm happy, can't go wrong.
I will see you lata, as we say in Russia,
(speaking foreign language)
Peace!
All right guys, if you guys wanna see me eat more food
that's not from the fridge,
let us know where to go next time in the comments.
Also follow our Instagram @5dollarlunchguy.
Other than that, follow, like, share, subscribe
and I'll see you guys later. Peace!
No comments:
Post a Comment