Great food, cheap prices

Finding cheap food: It started out of necessity for television producer Danny Lyu, but now has become something much more — it's evolved into "a delicious, edible obsession."

Cheapeatery.com is a database created by Lyu devoted to cheap eats in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Essentially a search engine for food, the website promises visitors that they will "Never spend over $10 again!" with 2,227 different cheap eateries to choose from (as of press time).

"I used to be broke," Lyu said. "I mean eating-Ramen-noodles-and-saving-the-soup-for-dinner broke."

Lyu found that existing publications — like the annual Cheap Eats issues of New York Magazine and Time Out New York — didn't really meet his needs, so he began to collect menus and set up his site in 2006.

He chose the price point of $10 on the reasoning that "paying anything over $10 for lunch would be ridiculous." Moreover, Lyu wanted the maximum price of a meal to be cheaper than any other form of entertainment.

Growing up in Southern California and in the restaurant business, Lyu believes that a cheap meal doesn't skimp on quality. Rather, it's the opposite.

Cheap eateries "are typically of the mom-and-pop variety and their business is the most important thing to them … These small business owners know that in order to survive, they have to serve up the best food and make their customers happy."

And with nearly 19,000 restaurants in the city, there is never a need to have the same meal twice. The sheer multitude of establishments — and the dreamers who come hoping to make it big — is, according to Lyu, what makes the restaurant business in New York Darwinism at its finest.

To generate the best content for his users, Lyu approaches CheapEatery with the same level of focus and attention as he does with his television shows.

"The audience is the most important thing to me, so if they don't care about what I'm creating, then what's the point?" Lyu said. "I didn't create CheapEatery to stroke my own ego. I did it to help people save money and find great cheap eats."

While the search engine has more entries than the Cheap Eats sections of Time Out New York and New York magazine, it is a bit harder to navigate. The functions are divided into simple search and advanced search. The simple search allows you to pick a meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner or brunch), while the advanced mode includes an editor's sidebar that features options such as "trendy" and "BYOB." Perhaps the easiest way to navigate is to use the search option on the home page — you simply pick a neighborhood and eatery.

Entries are displayed as they would be in Google Maps: restaurants' listings on one side and a map on the other. Each individual page has all vital stats.

To expand the current offerings of his website, Lyu soon will begin a month-long trek through the city to find every hidden gem.

With food guides and top 10 lists becoming ever more ubiquitous, CheapEatery has found its niche.

Terrie Lin is a staff writer.