I gotta agree with my grandmother on this one: cooking for yourself is a waste of time. My culinary education pretty much stalled after my one breakfast sandwich attempt, which turned out ok, but my home-cooked sandwich could not equal the greasebombs I was savoring at rock n’ roll dive Deli Haus (RIP), gracefully crafted by sweating short-order cooks with inked forearms, served with a side of German fries, and a Guinness float, and the Kinks, or the Misfits, or the Clash on the cranky sound system.

These days, I’m a little more health-conscious. So if (like me) you don’t grocery shop, and your cupboards stay bare except for an emergency box of Ginger Lemon Cremes and the occasional orphaned ketchup packet, you can certainly find stuff to eat in the city, but you need a friendly everyday place that’ll feed you without making you fat or broke.

This, in a nutshell, is Bite‘s raison d’etre–reasonably-priced food, fresh ingredients, fast takeout service, and a low-key atmosphere in which, on a weekday night, you don’t feel like an asshole grabbing a table for yourself and a reading a magazine from the wall. The food mainly sticks to the soup-and sandwich variety, and relies on Middle Eastern and Italian flavors. Standouts are the eggplant pesto panini with fresh mozzarella ($7), the Middle Eastern vegan sandwich with hummus, tomato, eggplant, and roasted pepper tapanade, served on a baguette ($6.50); or the Nutella ciabatta with banana ($4). I frequently hit up the soup-and-half-sandwich combo ($7), with a decently-sized side salad ($3.50).

On my first visit, the suspiciously friendly counterperson chatted me through the menu, and then shocked me by casually remarking, “Hey, since it’s your first time, here’s a piece of cake.” On arriving home, I thoroughly examined the poundcake-looking thing for some sign of staleness, then gave up and took a bite–a moist, buttery bite of free cake from my new favorite sandwich place. That’s how they hook ya, I guess.

Bite has seating in the location at 211 E 14th St. at Third Avenue
Mon-Sat 8am-12pm, Sun 11am-9pm

There’s also a charmingly wedge-shaped takeout counter at Lafayette & Bleecker St.
Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-8pm