Midtown Lunch

Anyone working the Soho area is probably aware of Despana, the Spanish food shop on the edge of Chinatown/Little Italy. Those of us downtown are sadly out of luck unless you have time for a subway lunch, which I found is totally doable from the Financial District if you have a full hour on your hands. It’s not exactly a cheap lunch option, but you can get out of there for less than $10 if you are a light eater, or you can go a little overboard. Lunch options include mostly sandwiches and tapas with some desserts to choose from to. If you really wanted to you could get one of the tapas and a dessert and come out at around $10 for a light lunch. I went the sandwich route and was not disappointed. Find out what I chose to put in between two pieces of bread after the jump. Read more »

When I walked by 22 Thai Cuisine on Maiden Lane (btw. Nassau & Broadway) last night it was empty, and by today was open and packed for lunch. They move quickly! It replaces another Asian place Sushi a la Kawa that closed and merged with Oka Sushi a couple of doors down. My Spidey sense tells me the Thai spot is owned by the same people, but hey, maybe I’m wrong. A look at the lunch menu shows it’s pretty standard Thai fried rice/curry/noodle dishes for $8 or $9, but there were a couple of other interesting things on the other portion of the menu, like Thai pork chops.I’m already bracing myself for disappoint, but I hope that 22 Thai proves me wrong. Plus, a new truck serving Cuban food was spotted downtown, after the jump. Read more »

There are some days where you may want to eat a $15 lobster roll or $1 pork and chive dumplings for lunch. But other times it’s good to just graze your way through lunch, and what better way to do that than at an outdoor market?

Every Wednesday from noon to 6 p.m. the Fulton Stall Market holds court on South Street (btw. Beekman & Fulton St. at the old Fulton Fish Market). There were only a handful of vendors on hand when I got there for a late lunch, but more are expected to be added in coming weeks. I wandered over to see if I could construct a reasonable lunch for $10 or under from the vendors. Buttery, flakylunch goodness after the jump. Read more »

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Brian who’s a recent transplant downtown from Greenwich Village. He’s off to a good start downtown with some Caribbean but is in search of a certain Thai dish.

Name: Brian

Occupation: Resident of podiatric surgery

Where you work: NY Downtown Hospital

Age: 29

Favorite Kinds of Food: Margherita pizza with extra basil, East Coast oysters, and my Grandpa’s crab salad sandwiches

Least Favorite Food: Boiled peas. Ugh.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Veronica’s Kitchen (Front St. at Pine) for her jerk chicken or curry goat. Table Tales (Water St. btw. Beekman & Peck Slip) for a quick sandwich – you can’t go wrong with the old-fashioned pot roast or the grilled chicken BRAT (bacon, romaine, avocado & tomato).

Read more »

There are just some restaurants that scream “Midtown Lunch” at me when I see them, and New China Red on Chambers St. (btw. Church & W. Broadway) is definitely one of those establishments. Sure, it has a red awning jutting out onto the sidewalk like a fancy hotel, but it’s kind of worn and there are giant signs in the window on neon poster board proclaiming the cheapness of its lunch buffet, and the fact that no outside food is allowed. It was my first time trying a buffet at a Chinese restaurant downtown, and hey, if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it on the cheap. What sort of delicious things awaited me inside? Would my stomach survive? Answers to these burning questions after the jump. Read more »

The sandwich, the myth, the legend: the Spicy Rizzak, courtesy of Serious Eats NY

• Sandwich lovers rejoiced and wept as Tiny’s Giant Sandwich Shop reopened on the Lower East Side. A field trip may be in order. [Serious Eats NY]
• The Bon Chon on John St. apparently comes alive at night, but not so much at lunch, which is the complete opposite of every other place in the FiDi. [NY Times]
• Kuai An  in Chinatown puts all kinds of funky bits in some of their soups, but at least the hand-pulled noodles are tasty. [Food In Mouth]
• Looks like we weren’t the only ones who noticed the Plein Sud vs. C&H Halal Cart feud going down in Tribeca. [Eater NY]
• There are so many things to love about Chinatown, and these dirt-cheap fried black rice cakes at Quickly had me at $2.99 for a bag. [Fork In The Road]