Truly Cheap Eats: And She Called It "Everything Ball"

While wandering Chinatown during the Lunar New Year parade on Sunday, I made an awesome discovery. I call it "Everything Ball."

In need of a snack, I stumbled upon Nice One Bakery (47 Bayard). Wondering why I'd never actually noticed the awesomeness of the store's name--and why I'd never gone in--I popped in to check out its wares. When my eyes fell upon a giant fried mystery ball, the likes of which I had never seen, I knew I had to have it, whatever it was. The woman behind the counter told me it had roast pork and sausage inside, and I was more than sold.

Turns out, it was much more than pork and sausage. I believe the outside layer was potato (?), the next was seasoned rice, and the center was filled with surprise after surprise, most notably a shiitake mushroom and a hard-boiled quail egg. Basically, it was an all-in-one ball of lunch for $1.30, and the day's happiest discovery.

Nice One Bakery, 47 Bayard Street between Elizabeth and the Bowery.