Dollar Grub Goes on Vacation

Eating 10 one-dollar slices of pizza nearly destroyed me. “I hurt so bad,” I told my photographer Sam. We’d just completed our last Dollar Grub adventure, exploring the greasy world of discount pizza, and my stomach felt like a war zone. “I need a break from cheap food.”

Those are words I never imagined I’d utter. Over the past three-plus years, I’d filled my iron stomach with pig ears and medicinal liquor, dodgy beef empanadas and cut-rate ice cream cones. Nothing fazed me. But with bargain-basement pizza, I’d reached my breaking point. Perhaps I could take a sabbatical from inexpensive eats, or maybe a…vacation?

“Dollar Grub needs a vacation!” I told my editor. He agreed, likely feeling guilty about sending me on my pizza mission. Thus, last week I brought my appetite to New York City’s twin capitals of sunny, sandy relaxation: Coney Island and Rockaway Beach. My one-dollar limit was temporarily lifted, and I was no longer confined to eating fried dough in its many, many forms. From skyscraping tortas to luscious to crunchy arepas to cheeseburgers that, in the best way possible, recalled McDonald’s, here’s how Dollar Grub spent its summer vacation.

NOTE: Metromix has since folded and deleted all of my stories. Alas! Will try to find a way to get them back.