Midtown Lunch

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.) This week Daniel hits up the Downtown location of a place we are all familiar with in Midtown: Sophie’s Cuban.

Sometimes all ya gotta do is ask. I have to admit that I’ve been quite jealous the past month or so, watching all these great new sandwiches go through the pages of Midtown Lunch. That duck pastrami sandwich made me insanely jealous and then when I saw the Pernil with a Twist, I knew I had to do something. I called up the downtown location of Sophie’s Cuban and asked if they made it… to which they obviously had no clue because Downtown gets no love!

That was about to change.

I stopped in a few days later to ask again but got the same “huh?” in return. I was about to leave to hit up Park Lane Deli for some amazing chicken wings, but out of the corner of my bellies eye, I saw a woman in a suit talking on a phone, and figured she must be a manager.

I asked her if she knew the sandwich, and as luck would happen she happened to be the owner and told me they could in fact make it for the same $6 that you can get in Midtown. BINGO.

So they made me the special, with the pork, onions, mayo, sweet plantains, and the green sauce. The thing must have weighed 2 pounds. I could have used the thing as a weapon if necessary, but more important it was delicious. The texture of the mushy plantains worked to bond the entire thing together. I was happy I stopped and asked.

Sophie’s Cuban, 96 Chambers Street, 212-608-9900