Woorijip

Nestled among the barbecue houses of Koreatown is a great place for a quick, cheap meal: Woorijip. This small grocery-buffet offers many items which fit the bill for my Lunch Under $5 category. I stopped in the other night and came away with seaweed soup that tasted like the ocean, tricolor rice cakes, zucchini pancakes, glutinous rice with sweet red beans, delicious soy-boiled eggs, and a broiled eel bowl. Many other dishes caught my eye - a $5.50 plate of pork belly slices, a $3.50 bowl of kimchi fried rice topped with an egg, abalone porridge, and fried smelts. Not everything seemed appealing - ham and cheese sushi, anyone? But with such a large selection of low-priced dishes, I could buy and try to my heart's content. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea; their take-out bags and tables were stacked with containers.

Woorijip: 12 West 32nd St., (212) 244-1115. No rice cakes on Saturdays.