Cheap but interesting restaurants in NYC resonably near East Village? (need answer fast)

Cafe Society
1

This Saturday I will be going to New York, for the first time in a couple of years, to see a movie. I’ll have a couple of hours afterwards to grab a late lunch, and since I’m not familiar with the city but I know it has a lot of interesting restaurants I’m looking for suggestions.

The movie theater is located on the edge of East Village near the 3rd avenue subway stop; I’m looking for a place reasonably nearby so I don’t have too much transit time (the movie gets out around 2 PM and I need to head back to the bus station by 4:30-ish). Any place with a long wait on a Saturday afternoon or which requires reservations is probably out…

I’d prefer something that’s not your standard diner or pizza shop sort of thing, but still casual and preferably on the cheap side (because I intend to blow my disposable income at BookOff before heading home and less lunch $ = more books). I particularly like any sort of regional, ethnic or international food; I was thinking about maybe heading into Chinatown, but I’ll eat anything and any suggestions are welcome.

2

There are two dumpling places in that area, Vanessa’s and Mimi Cheng’s. I would say Vanessa’s has more variety on the menu, Mimi’s is a more pleasant ambiance if you are sitting to snack and read for a while.

3

A true NY original is in that neighborhood: B&H Dairy. A bowl of soup always comes with 2 thick slices of challah bread… a meal all in itself right there. They survived that gas explosion that happened a while back, for which I am thankful.