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. Every Friday he writes up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (insuring 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.)

I was drawn to the the Little Ochi Hot Spot cart by a man rattling a fistful of bells, calling out – “It’s lunchtime, come get your lunch!” I really loved that. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use that approach. Sure the Indian guys on 6th street stand outside and ask you to come in to eat, but this was funny and immediately drew me in.

Most everything on the menu is $8 (for a small) but I decided to splurge and go with the oxtail lunch special (for $10) which comes with a heaping pile of rice, plantains, and a cabbage salad. The oxtail was a smidgen overcooked but the sauce was delicious and oily.

I also tasted the whiting fried fish sandwich, served on coco bread with jerk sauce, lettuce and tomato. The coco bread was slightly dry and could have used a splash more of that delicious jerk face sauce- but for 6 bucks, it had a really nice flavor.

If I go back again I will definitely get the oxtail, which may have cost $10 but was actually considered the small. You can get the large for 3 bucks more, but unless you’re splitting it with someone, the small should be more than sufficient. They have a nice looking jerk chicken which I photographed but did not taste ($8 for the small.)

If you’re looking to save a bit of money, you can get the same sized portion of oxtail for only $8.50 at Veronica’s kitchen, and I feel that the quality at both places was quite similar. Although they don’t cat call hungry lunchers there and you can’t get a deal on a haircut by mentioning them:

But I think overall I might go back to Veronica’s before checking out Little Ochi Hot Spot again, although in a pinch this West Indian cart will fill you up nicely.

One final thing… on Monday and Tuesday you can get a free soda with your lunch special but the guy didn’t seem entirely happy I saw that on the menu, so don’t be surprised if you get a look when mentioning that!

Little Ochi Hot Spot, Near the corner of Liberty and Broadway, 347-721-8447

Photos and post by Daniel Krieger