10 low-budget restaurants that are worth a detour to St. Mark’s Place

Perhaps no street has its fingers on the pulse of Downtown New York better than St. Mark's Place.

For decades, it has been the point of entrance not only to the East Village but to a youthful lifestyle where fads are on display more readily than anywhere else. Entire generations have washed down the street like a flash flood: Beats, jazz cats, hippies, punks, Japanese expats, rappers, street kids, sidewalk preachers and people with extensive tattoos.

Every group has left its mark. Just around the corner on Second Avenue, kosher spot B&H Dairy reminds you the area was once a Yiddish-language theater district, while Kenka, a kitschy dive aimed at homesick Japanese kids, is on the block between Third and Second avenues. During various eras of St. Mark’s Place, you might have spotted W.H. Auden (who lived at 77 St. Mark's Place), Charlie Parker, Allen Ginsberg, John Coltrane, Madonna, Andy Warhol or the Beastie Boys strolling down the street.

There are many restaurants along its three-block length — 63 by my count — running from Third Avenue’s Cooper Square to Avenue A’s Tompkins Square. Many are tried-and-true old-timers: Mamoun’s Falafel, Café Mogador and Crif Dogs spring to mind. Many are cheaper grab-and-go places.

This rundown will concentrate on newer places you might not know about, most less than a year or two old, starting at bucolic Tompkins Square and building to a crescendo at Cooper Square.

Danny & Coop’s

This transplanted Philadelphian serves only one thing: Its version of the classic cheesesteak ($18) is stupendous — enough for two to share — with melted cheese and caramelized onions clinging to every browned curl of meat. The “Coop” of the name is co-owner and Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper, who can very occasionally be seen working the flat top griddle. 151 Avenue A.

Alison

Alison is the newly opened branch of a Harlem cafe, their first expansion, that serves a broadly interpreted version of comfort food at popular prices, including cod croquettes, burgers, shakshuka, lamb kofta and king salmon ($12 to $24 entrees). It offers snacks, lunch, dinner, brunch and an all-day special featuring a bottle of sauvignon blanc and a dozen oysters for $55, the perfect pit stop for a group. 110 St. Mark's Place.

Spice Brothers

This blue-and-yellow storefront with its bright neon sign catapults the shawarma sandwich to new heights, with the application of multiple Sephardic sauces and a generous hand with the shaved meat. The Spice Brothers chicken pita ($16) is the one to get, slathered with tahini, harissa (hot paste) and amba (a tart mango relish). 110 St. Mark's Place.

HighLife

Many new burger joints (Butter, St. Mark's Burgers & Dogs, Holy Cow Burgers) hoping to become chains have populated the landscape lately in the East Village, with most recalling California’s In-N-Out Burger, with a modest patty, lush lettuce, tomatoes, raw onions, pickles and a mayo-driven dressing. The HighLife burger ($7.50) does so more successfully than the others. The beef patty is seared without being overcooked, the dressing in the Thousand Island vein. The fries soaked in chili con queso are an added bonus. 135 First Ave.

Electric Burrito

So many of the good eats on St. Mark’s are an attempt to channel a fad from somewhere else. (Looking at you, Kolachi and No Fork.) In this case, the inspiration for Electric Burrito was San Diego breakfast and lunch burritos. My favorite, the chorizo ($14.29), falls in the former category, and folds eggs, beans, Mexican sausage, cheese and French fries into the outsize flour tortilla. 81 St. Mark’s Place.

Osakana

This has to be one of the most unusual eateries in town. It’s partly a workshop, where sushi experts teach novices how to break down a fish. But it also offers an extensive menu of sushi and sashimi of scintillating freshness at bargain prices, in a wide variety of species. The cheapest chirashi (a rice bowl with slices of raw fish) is $20. Carryout only — you may find yourself eating while standing up on the sidewalk. 42½ St. Mark’s Place.

Cello’s Pizzeria

Much has been happening in the world of New York’s neighborhood pizzerias — ultra-thin-crusted wedges with big weepy balls of burrata, pavement-thick square slices with fruit and pickles — and this new pizza parlor incorporates recent innovations. The slices ($4 to $5) are thinner-crusted, baked to the point of being slightly charred, and utilize lots of basil leaves, with surprise ingredients like chicory, jalapeños and burrata. Plenty of seating is another plus. 36 St. Mark’s Place.

Loong Noodles

Loong Noodles is part of the Chinese food revolution in town, where instead of getting stir fries over rice tailored for a Western audience, we get the kinds of noodles and dumplings that people in China eat every day. The bowls can be funky or fiery, contain offal or not, but there are plenty of options, with most bowls priced at $13. Beef rice noodle soup — with plenty of bok choy — makes a good intro. 28 St. Mark's Place.

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao

A branch of a famous Flushing restaurant founded in 2006 that has recently expanded across the city, Nan Xiang specializes in the wildly popular xiao long bao (aka “soup dumplings"), gravy-filled purses that originated in Shanghai. Here find them in a kaleidoscope of colors, with fillings featuring pork, crab, scallop, abalone, sea cucumber and vegetables ($12 to $17 for six). 15 St. Mark's Place.

Dumplings N’ Dips

The name doesn’t hint at the uniqueness of this dumpling house, which treats classic Thai dishes as dumpling stuffings ($8.50 to $17 for four). At Dumplings N’ Dips, Chicken pad Thai and vegetarian massaman curry are standouts, but you might also go for octopus, with a tiny tentacle curling on top of each one. 5 St. Mark’s Place.