Archive for January 2009

Downtown Lunch: You Don't Have to Eat at McDonald's!

No Downtown review from Daniel this week… but here are a few little tidbits that may be interesting to the Downtown Lunch’ers.

Rickshaw Dumpling Truck

The other day the New York Post reported that in order to save money, a lot of Wall Street investment banker types were eating at McDonald’s! Guys, have you not been reading Daniel Krieger’s Friday Downtown Lunch column right here on ML? You don’t need to eat at McDonald’s… there are plenty of better cheap lunch options Downtown. Sadly, though, Mangia will not be one of those options. They are closing permanently today.

On a lighter note, Daniel did send along these awesome photos of the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck which has been spending Thursdays downtown. Although in these trying economic times it’s hard to understand why anybody who works so close to Chinatown would ever spend $6 on dumplings! (Midtown Lunch’ers, on the other hand, can be a desperate lot sometimes.)

More dumpling truck porn is after the jump…

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Downtown Lunch: Spend Chinese New Year at Nice Green Bo

Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.)

NICE GREEN BO RESTAURANT 7s

In celebration of the Chinese New Year which is this Monday, Jan 26th, I wanted to review what I consider one of Chinatown’s elite restaurants, Nice Green Bo. Formerly New Green Bo, the ownership changed hands last March and the “New” became “Nice”. Whatever. As long as they don’t mess up the food they can call themselves Big Dongers Chinatown Food Hut (I think that name may actually already exist).

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Downtown Lunch: Don't Ask Questions at Taste of Tandoor!

Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) If everybody else on the site is given the opportunity to vent, I figure Daniel is entitled too. Here’s a little story of what happened to our Downtown Lunch reporter when he bypassed his goto Pakistani lunch spot, in favor of a cheaper option down the street.

Downtown Lunch

Who doesn’t get the craving for Indian food every once in awhile? Spicy, flavorful lamb mixed with vegetables I never knew existed before moving to NYC. And of course the Naan… one of my greatest third-wordly pleasures is a fresh piping piece of naan peeled off the inside of a red hot tandoor.

A few nights ago I decided to save myself a buck and eat at Taste of Tandoor on Church street, walking past my normal go-to, Pakistani Tea House. The food is similar, good cheap steam table Pakistani/Indian food. Neither place gives you what you can get in Jackson Heights, but it works.

Then things went all wrong…

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Downtown Updates: Farewell Mr. Skewer

Daniel’s weekly downtown lunch review is coming in just a bit, but he checks in with these updates to the Downtown lunching scene:

Downtown Lunch

1) Farewell Mr. Skewer we hardly knew ya. After about 2 months, and despite a glowing ML lunch review (which a friend told me they saw posted in the window of the 14th st location, but never in the downtown one for some reason), Mr. Skewer closed it’s doors this past week. That spot has turned over several times in the past few years… so either the space is cursed or the rent is too damn high. Don’t be too sad though, their gargatuan chorizo sandwich will still be available on 14th st, as their store is slated to stay open (probably because they’re the ones with our review posted…kidding!)

Two bits of good news are after the jump… 

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Downtown Lunch: Burger Burger

Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.)

Downtown Lunch: Burger Burger

BurgerBurger is located at 77 Pearl street, amid a row of quick lunch spots for the downtown worker bees. At first glance I thought it might be a bit expensive for Midtown Lunch because I was staring at the special of the day, the Aussie, served every Tuesday. There’s a different special 7 days a week, which includes fries (or salad), and a soda. At 11.99 it’s a bit steep but if you’re just looking for a cheeseburger and fries we’re only talking $8.50.

Despite the price, I had to try the Aussie because I’ve never had one before. Between a gently toasted brioche bun they stack and squeeze a mound of toppings on each other. First there’s a 6oz angus patty topped with lettuce, tomato, a thick slab of roasted beet, and a fried egg for good measure, all slathered in a special sauce.

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