Let’s eat

It’s easy to find stories about celebrity sightings at restaurants run by celebrity chefs, but average New Yorkers don’t have time to wait two hours for a table.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are 672 different occupations in New York City.  We talked to a group whose iconic jobs help to define the city: The Central Park carriage driver. The NYPD security guard. The Broadway dancer, and more.

Most of these people make less than  $50,000, and they hustle to get by in New York, even as they make it easier for the rest of us: They help the subway run on time, make you look your best, serve your beverage of choice, and keep your body fit and your streets clean. They often travel across the city to work and still find time to enjoy dinner, whether it’s at 2 p.m. or 2 a.m. They make the extra effort to sit down to a meal, share a conversation, and take more than a New York minute to taste their food.

So welcome back to the city’s table, where anything goes: for this second edition, we sat down with 13 New Yorkers to see who’s doing what for dinner.

Dinner to go, via horsepower

A diabetic carriage driver grabs a meal on the go.

 

Work all night, cook all day

CNN overnight worker Victoria Haffner puts a lot of effort into gourmet meals — day and night.

 

Getting back into the home-cooked meal

Mike Alexandre barely finds time to cook for himself, but hits the gym four to five times a week to make up for his lack of exercise during the day.

Cabbie preserves homemade Sunday supper

Papa Khouma, 27, is a cab driver. Every Sunday the young Senegalese cabbie goes grocery shopping for his only big homemade dinner of the week, Mafe.

 

In the family business, juggling garbage and family

Joe Pesi is a Queens-based garbageman whose unpredictable work hours make it hard to have dinner with his family. He eats a lot of meals on the go.

 

From the palette to the plate

Freelance makeup artist Amanda Thesen can wield a blush brush or spatula with equal finesse.

Broadway actor slurps ramen before shows

Cary Tedder is a Broadway performer with a demanding schedule. When getting dinner near the theater, he chooses a bowl of ramen.

 

Squeezing in a bite at the bar

As a Brooklyn-based bartender transitions from writing drum fills to refilling drinks, he hardly has time to eat.

 

Keeping Caribbean Flavors Alive in The Bronx

A family in The Bronx tries to eat healthy while making sure their son doesn’t lose sight of his Caribbean roots.

 

A nutritional spin on dinner

Danny Kopel, a prolific SoulCycle instructor, refuels for dinner.

 

How to keep an open mind at dinnertime

A Queens teacher develops her own curriculum for a study of world cuisine.

 

 

For an artist, four different kinds of fish

As the only fish eater in her house, Ingrid Alvarez rarely cooks it, settling, instead, for a night out at her favorite sushi restaurant.

 

Barista makes ‘bomb’ coffee

Angelica Nunez is one of an army of odd-shift workers who keep the city going. See when this young woman with dreams of her own gets time for dinner.

 

For more stories, check last year’s edition.