- My name is Prez, and I work at Thrillist.
Around these parts, I'm known as the $5 Lunch Guy.
Every episode, I'm going to put you guys onto
the very finest New York grub for $5 or less.
Yo, what's up?
Too early.
OK, I see what this is.
Ha, you're clever.
Oh, dive bar -- sick.
I can do that -- let's go.
Hey, so if there's one thing I know, it's a dive bar.
Now, while most are only good at getting you (beep),
some have some of the best bites in the city.
Whether it's ziti at Legends in Queens,
or the chicken sandwiches at Dan's in Brooklyn.
But today, we're going to Rudy's in Hell's Kitchen,
where you can get a free hot dog with a drink combo.
You can't lose.
"Operation 5 Buck Lunch": Dive Bars -- it's five bucks somewhere.
Let's go.
So these are the rules of "Operation 5 Buck Lunch."
It's gotta be good, 'cause no one wants bad food for lunch.
No big chains, 'cause that's just too easy.
It's gotta be $5 or less.
And whatever I don't use today
rolls over to the next episode.
So, what do you know about dive bars?
- Grungy, kinda...
(subway announcement drowns out speech)
but cozy kind of spots.
- Uh huh, that's good.
- Kind of a (beep) bar.
Like, not like the best bar, but like it's fun,
because it's so like, gross.
- Probably usually like a neighborhood bar.
Somewhere local.
But that serves really good, cheap food.
- Most dive bars, what kind of food do they have?
- Burgers, fries.
- Fries, onion rings, burgers, like finger food.
- Wings, probably about it.
- So, normally you wouldn't catch me dead on 42nd Street,
much less being so close to Times Square.
It's brig: there's tourists everywhere, you can barely move.
But Rudy's is a real gem, and I love you guys,
so I'm gonna do you a solid.
So there are a few stories about how
Hell's Kitchen got its name.
It's said that back in the early days of New York,
the gangs of the area were so tough
they were thought to be too tough
to even swab Hell's Kitchen.
And allegedly the name stuck.
(Prez whoops)
Yo, so Rudy's is one of the oldest dive bars in New York
and is one of the first to get its license back
after Prohibition ended in 1933.
Also, it's said that Al Capone used to roll
through here on occasion.
Now that that's that, let's go eat some free hot dogs.
Hey, how you doing?
What is your name?
- Yolanda.
- Yolanda, Prez, nice to meet you.
How you doing? - Do you have ID?
- Oh, absolutely.
Do I look like a baby?
Can I get an All-American?
- Yes.
Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
I mean, we've been here for all of five minutes.
Everybody's friendly.
- Enjoy sweetheart.
- Look at this beautiful thing.
They giving you hot dogs, you know, chatting up the locals.
You get a beer and you get a hot dog
and you get a shot for five bucks.
Straight up.
No tax, none of the extra stuff.
Of course, you wanna tip your bartender.
Always tip your bartender.
All of this for five bucks in New York.
Come on.
You're winning.
Am I allowed to drink this on camera?
Yeah, why not -- mmm.
Nice.
Chase it down with your beer.
And hit the hot dog, bro.
You know, something about this hot dog.
Straight-up grilled hot dog.
It's not sloppy, it tastes good.
It got my favorite thing on it: ketchup.
It's got a bit of a snap to it.
Match made in heaven, man.
Hot dog, beer, hot dog, beer, shot.
It's not a dirty water dog, you know, it's not sloppy.
It has a crunch to it, you know.
It's nicely brown.
And with the beer?
It's a one-two punch man, you can't
(speech muffled by food)
I'm enjoying my life.
It's so refreshing to see a place that's been around
for so long do everything right, still.
I mean, we're not too far from Times Square,
we're by the belly of the beast,
where things are expensive and all these people
are moving around, you can't see anything.
But this place does it right man.
Want to see a magic trick?
- Yeah.
- OK.
Drink responsibly.
In terms of all the lunches that we've had on this show,
high five.
So I got a beer, a shot and a hotdog, how much do I owe you?
- $5.
- That's it? - That's it.
- For all of that? - For all of that.
- Wow, thank you so much.
I will be back, I will be back.
I mean, for everything we ate, it's beautiful.
It's a good day.
Woo!
Hey man, stop looking at me like that.
We're cool, we're cool.
Hey, guys, today's mission: dive bars.
Now everybody we spoke to has their own opinion on
which one is the best, what they love to eat,
but I couldn't pass up the best deal in New York.
You get two hot dogs, a shot and a drink for five bucks.
And you get to hang out with Marinbon pig.
In my opinion, that is an absolute success.
It's in budget, it's not a big chain, and it's damn good.
I'm gonna need you to meet me back at the office.
I gotta talk to a guy about a beer.
I'll talk to you later.
Bye.
(camera clicks)