Dumpling Lunch

Ladies and Gentlemen - the greatest cheap lunch on earth.

Seriously.

Ten Fried Dumplings (pork and chive) from Tasty Dumpling (54 Mulberry St., btw. Bayard and Mosco): 2.00

One Golden Pancake, from Tasty Dumpling: .50

One Small Hot and Sour Soup from Chanoodle (79 Mulberry St., btw. Bayard and Canal): 1.50

Total cost of lunch: four measly bucks.

First, the dumplings: thin crusty/chewy sheaths of wheaty dough stretched over a small, pungently chive-and-ginger flavored meatball. Containers on the tables contain a soy/vinegar mix and a thin, garlicky hot sauce (they're Sriracha bottles, but the sauce is something else). Douse the dumplings, and munch blissfully.

It should also be noted that Tasty Dumpling vends excellent steamed veggie dumplings to the tune of 8 for 2.00.

The Golden Pancake is sort of an example of what would happen if a scallion pancake mated with a buttermilk biscuit and dipped the result in sesame seeds. It’s dense, chewy and a great way to settle disputes between saucy dumplings and sour soup, whose flavors (delicious though they may be) can clash if left unchecked. Plus it’s real cheap, real filling, and real homey.

And, of course, Chanoodle’s soup is poetry in a plastic tub. Damn. It’s indescribable. Tasty Dumpling makes a Hot and Sour Soup as well, and it’s pretty good, but with Chanoodle just down the street, why not go for the gold? Chanoodle’s soup is in its own league. It is the best soup ever.

So there you have it. If you’ve got four bucks, you can drive cold and hunger out Chinatown-style.