Having previously covered an excellent Moroccan restaurant in Bay Ridge, great BBQ in Park Slope, and a quirky wine bar in Manhattan, I now want to turn to something that could almost be called "fast food"...but in this case fast doesn't have to mean god-awful.

Roll and Dough Chinese restaurant near NYU 135 W. 3rd St., near 6th Ave.) is right around the corner from my last reviewed restaurant: The Bourgeois Pig. Owner Elizabeth Ting brings authentic Chinese (specifically Fujianese) fast food to Manhattan. Specializing in a huge variety of steamed and baked buns (Bao), bings (a sesame-seed studded stuffed pastry), and rice rolls (they call them "Hunger may wait rolls") for cheap prices, Roll and Dough is a great place for a delicious, cheap, fast meal.

Fillings include pork, pork and scallion, chicken, spicy pork, spicy beef, taro, banana and red bean paste. My favorite is the spicy beef, though the standard pork bao (steamed or baked) is great as well. The spicy pork and the pork and scallion bings are good, but slightly too oily...which isn't always a bad thing! I prefer the bao and rice rolls with meat fillings, and the bing with sweet red bean paste inside. Their hot and sour soup is pretty good as well, though not as good as the bao, bing and roll selection. Entrees are served as well, but I am a big fan of dim sum, so I have stuck with those.

Service is very good. They are both nice and fast, a rare combination in NYC where speed of service usually means the servers are surly and throw the food at you (as at Katz's deli, a wonderful place, but not known for friendly service).

Take out from the counter or sit down to eat. Prices range from $1.50-$2.00 per item, though NYU students get each item for $1, so if you are a student, bring your ID and pig out!

With most American fast food places being not so cheap anymore and with extremely vile food, it is nice to find a place with GOOD food that is also fast and dirt-cheap. Ranking as one of the best deals in NYC, I recommend Roll and Dough for a satisfying, quick lunch.

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