Want some truly great, unusual, inexpensive food in NYC?

All of these are near major hospitals - and yes, there's a story to that, but I'll tell it another time.

A) Not one but TWO great food trucks on E. 99th/Madison, around the corner from Mt Sinai

1) POTATO HOUSE

Jacket potatoes! At last!! Great prices, amazing variety of toppings. Generous & soothing, and the guys working there are honeys. It's a good thing it's across the park, or I would be there every day.

2) EZRA'S

omg where to begin? Just look at that menu. Seems to be Sephardic Israeli Georgian Yemenite Bulgarian

I had a great time talking to the kids - see photos for more.

B) Mom's Homesick Japanese Restaurant, aka

RAMEN KU-RAKU

Up at Columbia-Presbyterian, B'way/W. 166th Street.

3952 Broadway, New York, NY 10032

Worth the trip!

So much more than ramen - I suspect they just tagged it that because it's what popular here these days. The food we got isn't even on their online menu - might be seasonal: Mine, boiled soba noodles overlaid with chicken & various veg; you mix it all together with the sauce at the bottom. Delia got a raw salmon over rice that tasted exactly like what her Japanese mama used to make: one bite of that rice, and I was back in her kitchen.

The staff were very sweet, and we got into a long conversation with the owner(?) about the pleasures of Ochazuke: "Midnight snack!" she said; and, yeah, she uses the little mix packets - but then "I make my own topping., always." not on the menu . . . yet. We did hint!)

I'm afraid we sucked them down so fast that no pictures were taken. But it is a charming place with some hot swordsmen on the walls.