- I told my dad when I die
that I would like to be buried
in macaroni and on my
tombstone put "Rest in Pasta."
- I'm Cody Reiss and I'm your
New York City host for "5 Buck Lunch."
My love of food has taken me
to more than 35 countries.
I've worked as a cook,
farmer, and cheese maker.
Now, I'm in NYC in search of the tastiest
and cheapest food my ducats can buy.
Join me as I take you to
the dankest lunch spots
for five bucks or less.
Oh, damn, I just flew
back from Milan, Italy,
I don't know if you've
ever heard of a show
called "$5 Fashion," but you'll see it soon.
Anyways, the food there,
holy freaking dang moly dude.
Is it possible to find
an affordable version
of that delicious food you find in Italy
right here in New York City?
I mean really for five bucks?
The perfect Italian snack
does exist, and it's a panino.
You might be thinking,"A-that's a-called a panini!"
But it's actually called
a panino; panini's plural,
panino's singular -- Mr. Feeny, me oh my.
The thing that kinda sets
it apart is the bread.
It's focaccia, it's ciabatta,
they can come in all forms.
They're usually grilled or pressed,
all of the best things in life.
Let's go see what we can find, huh?
First of all, what do
you think of my style
what I got going on here?
- We're in the Lower East
Side, you just gotta do you.
- Kinda my life motto is doing me, 24/7.
- Eclectic.
- That seems very kind of you.
Family members and ex-girlfriends tell me
I don't have good fashion.
If you had some tips for me.
- Maybe different shoes.
- Different shoes?
- I love the way you
look, it's a great look.
Brown shoes, can't go wrong.
- I know.
Someone told me my shoes didn't look good.
- Maybe different shoes.
- If you were an Italian dish,
what kind of Italian dish would you be?
- It's funny you say that.
Actually, my dad tells me
I'm going to turn into pasta
because it's all I eat.
- If you were gonna compare
my style to an Italian dish,
what kind of dish would I be?
- Antipasti.
- Antipasti, please go on.
- Each element have a
flavor on its own, I think.
- Probably a ravioli.
There's a lot of good stuff inside.
- Cheese.
- Some people like fashion,
other people do not like fashion so much.
I don't really care.
It's panino time and I'm going downtown.
Let's go.
Oh my gosh, here we are at Gaia,
and it couldn't come a moment too soon.
I'm so hungry I could
even eat my own (beep).
We're right in the middle
of the East Village here.
And look at this place.
It's a groovy little shop,
it's tucked underneath the stairs.
So let's go inside, see what my five bucks
and my soft little teeth can get us.
Hello.
- Ciao!
- Ciao, how's it going?
- Going good, how about you?
- It is going fantastic.
Tell us a little bit about
the philosophy of Gaia.
The goal of the restaurant.
- Gaia it means "Earth."
- Earth, and it's also your name.
- And it's also my name, but
it is not dedicated to me.
The same way earth produce beautiful
and very healthy food,
we try to do the same.
Earth gives products for
free, doesn't charge you
for a tree of apple or a tree of pear.
So we try not to charge you a lot.
- I have five dollars today.
What could I get with five dollars?
- For five dollars, you can get
a wonderful panino what is called sano.
- A sano, OK.
- Then you have potatoes,
tomatoes, and parmesan.
- Oh my gosh.
- And then you have
the pappa al pomodoro,
that is the bread tomato soup.
- I'm gonna get the panini, the panino.
- Bravo, exactamente.
- Cool, so how much is that?
- It's five.
- It's five exactly?
Here's five dollars,
thank you so very much.
- Thank you so very much.
- I appreciate it, so
lovely talking to you.
- My pleasure.
Here you are.
- Thank you.
Now I think one of the
defining characteristics
of a panino is the bread.
My sweet baby Gaia makes this
focaccia every single day.
This sandwich is called sano, by the way.
Sano, of course, meaning healthy.
Inside it's got a frittata,
nice eggs filled with arugula and tomato.
It's got fresh arugula and tomato.
It's got a beautiful pesto sauce.
It's got some Parmesan cheese on there.
So I'm gonna take a nice
little bite of this guy.
Oh that's pretty sick, actually.
It's got everything you need.
It's got protein, it's
got veggies, it's fresh,
it's crunchy, it's soft,
it's oily, it's salty.
It's this, like, little taste of Italy all here 
in New York City.
I think that's about time,
I'm gonna scarf this down,
unless you guys wanna see me eat
this whole sandwich in slow motion.
Anyone?
Just joking.
It doesn't matter what you eat
as long as it's molto bene.
If you were here and you had more money.
Let's say you had 13 little tiny ducats,
what I would get is I would
get this burratina right here.
It's burrata, little
sauteed mushrooms sauteed
in white wine with parsley.
It's got some focaccia.
If you liked this episode,
maybe you saved some money,
you're investing it in a Roth IRA,
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Congratulations, really smart decision.
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Like, comment, et cetera.
Check out our previous episode, all right?
It's about the best tacos in DC.
You're gonna love it.
