If there's one thing that New York stands out for, that would be the incredible variety of food and cuisine and restaurants. You have a posh Russian restaurant run by Aristocrats which serves caviar and vodka in a palace like setting with a library filled with rare books.

You have street food where you can fill your stomach for a couple of dollars, and the choices are eclectic. You have Little Italy with a stunning range of sumptous food, and Greenwich Village and Bleecker Steet with its pizzas and bakeries and specialty food stores, you have Astoria in Queens which has everything you need if you're from Greece or South Asia, there's Chinatown with its dumplings and rice bowls and pulled pork sandwiches. Then there's the fast food stands - burgers, pizzas, hot dogs - there's absolutely no comparison to these outlets anywhere in the nation.

Sorry about that. That's what you get for asking about food and New York. Point I was trying to make is that first you decide what kinda food you want. Then you ask about 10 restaurants which serve the food or cuisine of your choice. Otherwise, its like comparing apples and oranges.

Photo by liz_noise via flickr (creative commons). I mean, if you ask me what I'd eat if I was a bit short, I'd say breakfast at Tom's Diner in Brooklyn, lunch at Nathan's Famous in Coney Island or at Gray's Papaya ($3.50 for 2 hot dogs and a papaya drink) or Crif Dogs on St. Mark's Place, and dinner either at Corner Bistro, or Dumpling house in Chinatown, or soul food at Amy Ruth's or some other diners in Harlem.

Heck, if I were really, really hard up, I'd head straight for Williamsburg. There's lots of places there like the Alligator Lounge, where you get a free pizza with every drink.

But then, many of you might consider some of these places unsafe to even visit, let alone eat your meals. So you see, its all a question of where you're at. Sure, we all like to save money. But there's levels here. So the above places, you might say, are for those who're completely broke.

Then there's the places for people (like families or groups) who're on a limited budget, and you'd like to save your money for spending on the things to do in New York, and shopping and stuff. For them, there's decent restaurants all over the City, which, at the very least, offer a clean environment, palatable food and cannot be said to be tourist traps.

If you fall under this category, you should be looking up the Max restaurant's Italian fare in the East Village, and Prune which will definitely offer you something you've never tasted before, or Lombardi's in Little Italy which offers a bit of history as New York's first Pizzeria.

Then there are those of you who're filthy rich (relatively speaking...), but still want to hoard your money like Uncle Scrooge. For them, there's some restaurants in and around certain posh hotels in Manhattan, which nevertheless serve cheap food and offer takeaways for the people who work downtown and can't go out of their way for lunch. These places are kinda upscale, but still reasonable, considering the location and the environment.

This list would include both Norma's Breakfast Diner and the Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien, or Bouley near the Tribeca Grand. If you have to be in Times Square, then Bangkok House or Becco. If you're a Sushi fan, then maybe the Ono at the Hotel Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District.

In summary, I kinda lost track of the fact that I was supposed to list 10 restaurants in NYC which won't break the bank, for which I apologize. But hey, when you have more choice, the customer always wins. So print out this page, fold it up, and keep it handy when you visit NYC.