Born and raised in Red Hook, but I had a morning gig near Union Square this week and the bodega by the train wanted $8 and change for a BEC on a hard roll. Eight and change! I know inflation hit, but the roll was the same shrinkwrapped kaiser and the bacon was two thin strips. Used to be you could find a three-fifty or four-dollar job if you weren't in a tourist zone.

I keep hearing there are still holds under $5, maybe Queens, maybe deep Brooklyn, but below 14th? Feels like a myth. Where are you actually getting a breakfast sandwich in Manhattan for under five, with tax, and not counting a dry muffin? And don't tell me the bodega by your old apartment that closed in 2019.

Hi, still learning the city. Moved from New Jersey last fall and the first bodega I went to in Downtown Brooklyn charged me $7 and change for an egg and cheese on a roll and the cheese wasn't even melted. I thought I was just ordering wrong because I didn't say saltpepperketchup first. Do you ask for that at the register or the grill? Also is bacon supposed to be extra or included in a BEC? Under $5 still sounds fake to me but I want to believe.

suburban_to_bk, $7 for unmelted cheese is a sign you're in a dud spot, not normal. SPK is just standard speak, but the real tell is whether they're cooking the egg on the grill right then or pulling a folded egg off a hot plate. If you see pre-wrapped sandwiches sitting in the glass, keep walking.

Under $5 below 14th is rare now. I still hit the tire-shop-adjacent bodega on Hudson south of Christopher, cash only. Egg and cheese on a roll is like four-fifty-ish, maybe a little over with tax. No phone, no delivery apps, and they're sometimes out of rolls by 11.

Good thread. I've been tracking this partly because it's become a good proxy for neighborhood turnover. A few notes:

• The under-$5 BEC in Manhattan below 14th isn't extinct, but it's almost always egg-and-cheese only, no meat. Adding bacon usually pushes it to $6 or worse.
• The roll matters more than the dollar. A real hard roll or a kaiser that isn't cakey can make a mid-$5 sandwich feel like a deal; a stale foil-wrapped roll at $4 and change is still a loss.
• In Astoria, there are a couple of holdouts on the avenues off the train where E&C on a hard roll is still around four and change to five cash, but they run out of rolls by 10. On weekends they're slower to fire the grill, so I don't bother before 8:30.
• Lower East Side still has a few Latin-run luncheonettes that do an egg sandwich with a barely-there markup, but they aren't advertising.
• Don't sleep on the white paper deli ticket places around 9th Ave in the 40s. Not below 14th, but if you're crossing town for work, the extra block beats the $8 artisan BEC.

Biggest caveat: delivery apps make everything look $11. You have to go in person, say saltpepperketchup, and check that the egg hits the grill after you order. If it's already folded, you're paying for assembly, not cooking.

astoria_arch, that line about the folded egg is the whole thing. I'd rather pay $6 for a fresh fried egg than $4 for the pre-made hockey puck.

In Flatbush, the corner spot near the Foodtown on Church does E&C for under $5 if you don't let them upsell you to "premium" cheese. They also do a chopped cheese that's still mostly actual beef. Rare today.

WestVillage_W, that Hudson cash-only bodega saves my mornings when I'm in the West Village. Just don't ask for turkey there. They look at you like you asked for a smoothie.

Flatbush_F, I made the trip to the Church Ave spot this morning because my girl was out that way. Got the E&C on a hard roll with SPK. Came in under five out the door. Felt like a time machine. Didn't see the chopped cheese, but the grill guy was slinging, so I'll go back.

For everyone still digging, this is basically the daytime version of the weeknight dive booth hunt — same problem, you want the real thing before it's gone. If you're doing the after-dark version, we ran down some spots here: Weeknight dive booth hunt: which Manhattan spots still let you talk before the jukebox gets bad?

Only rule I'd add: don't ask a bodega for regular coffee if the pot's been sitting since 6 a.m. Pay the extra at the deli next door or bring your own.

One more for the map, since I do early-morning rides from Bed-Stuy over the Williamsburg Bridge and I'm picky about morning fuel. The holdouts aren't distributed by borough; they're distributed by lease age. You want the bodega with a faded beer poster, no website, and a guy who's been on the same milk crate for 15 years. Those spots are more likely to sell E&C for four and change cash because their rent was stabilized or paid off. The new-build bodegas with digital menus and pressed juice are going to be $8 before tax, even for E&C.

Two caveats to what's above: first, "under five" gets a lot easier if you order the sandwich without bacon and tell them to use a normal kaiser, not a roll they're warming in a toaster-oven abomination. Second, some of the old-school spots keep a lower price but shrink the eggs. If you see them crack two eggs for every sandwich, that's your signal. If they pour from a carton, fine, but it's not the same.

My current rotation: the laundromat-corner bodega on Lorimer just off the bridge does E&C on a hard roll for five flat and throws in coffee if you bring your own cup, but only until 9:30 a.m. RedHook_R, the Church Ave one you hit is legit; same family has had that place since before the towers went up. WestVillage_W, I've stood at that Hudson spot and watched them not melt the cheese. Giving them the look fixes it. To suburban_to_bk: if you see a stack of freshly delivered hard rolls on the counter, stay. If the roll bag is empty at 8 a.m., go.