Midtown Lunch

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 Julie who likes bargain sushi rolls, eats at a certain chain too much and mourns the loss of some fancy sandwiches.

Name: Julie

Occupation: Insurance

Where you work: Wall & William streets

Age: 32

Favorite Kinds of Food: I love all kinds of seafood, fresh Italian pasta dishes, and tacos made with fish or slow cooked beef or pork.

Least Favorite Foods: Chicken wings, bread and butter pickles.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Niko Niko on Pearl (btw. Wall & Pine) for the $5 to $6 sushi roll packages, Adrienne’s Pizza Bar on Stone St. (nr. Hanover Sq.) for the old-fashioned pizza, which is arguably the best in NYC, Baoguette on Maiden Lane (btw. Nassau & Broadway) for the veguette or banh mi.

The “go-to” lunch places you and your co-workers eat at too often: Lemongrass Grill on William (at Maiden Lane) and Sophie’s Cuban (Multiple Locations) are up there. Tuesday is French onion soup day at Financier (Multiple Locations).  I still miss the fancy sandwiches at Mangia Wall Street, even though it closed years ago. Read more »

I find this one a little strange, but according to a sign hanging by Sandra’s Cart by the Chase building on Nassau St. (nr. Liberty), they are now selling heroes from the Ravioli Fair cart. When I walked by, I noticed they had a piece of paper taped to the window saying what kinds of heroes they had, with some crossed off which I’m assuming they’d run out of. Ravioli Fair used to be located closer to Sandra’s, but now it’s over on Wall St. Kevin and Daniel were not big fans of these sandwiches, but someone must be buying them.

Chris had reviewed the Friday special pasteles served by the Puerto Rican ladies running the cart, but a sign taped to the side says that due to the hot weather, they’re not serving them until further notice. It didn’t really say if there’s another Friday special in their place.

I had one of the weirder lunching experiences I’ve had in the Financial District at the recently-opened Vietnamese Sandwiches on Pearl St. (btw. Pine & Wall). Some of you had weighed in with reports of  long waits and mediocre sandwiches. With Baoguette in the general vicinity, a branch of Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches about to open, the Banh Mi Cart, and Chinatown not too far away that doesn’t make this places’ chances of survival too great. What it does have going for it is slightly better prices than the competition and you get a free soda until the end of the month. So, what made this such a strange lunching experience? Find out after the jump. Read more »

The bright red sign went up on the new Five Guys on Fulton St. (at Gold Dutch) in the Financial District at the end of last week and it’s set to open this Saturday. The hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and there aren’t any opening specials planned, reps from the chain said. It’s a little strange that they’re opening on a weekend, but I guess that gives them time to get any kinks worked out before the onslaught that is sure to happen the following Monday.

Clay pots: Better with meat and rice than plants. Courtesy of Eating In Translation

• Chinatown’s A-Wah serves its specialty bo zai fan, or clay pot rice, with all kinds of tasty toppings. And you can actually order the crispy pig hanging in the window. [NY Times], with a bonus slide show at [Eating In Translation]
• The fried chicken leg over rice at Excellent Pork Chop House is “the bomb,” and the pork chop is, well, “excellent.” [Food In Mouth]
• The Post tells of three “secret” spots in the Financial District to go eat your lunch so you don’t anger your co-workers with your kimchi and anchovy sandwich. [NY Post]
• A fourth location of Birdbath Bakery is opening on Church St. in Tribeca, meaning more hoity toity baked goods for your belly. [Eater NY]
• The Meatball Shop on the LES grinds an insane amount of meat for their meatballs. Why must this place be so far from the FiDi? [Grub St.]

Sandwich shop Swich has brought back its Trojan Horse sandwich at the Maiden Lane location (and the one in Chelsea) due to complaints of it being taken away, but the hitch is that it’s off menu. It was on the original menu before its reboot, and John from Swich says that it will be “available indefinitely” and is $7.81. The ground lamb, mint, tzatziki and tomato combo sounds tasty, but I miss the Elvis that used to be on the menu. I’m pretty sure I was the only one who would order this banana, peanut butter and honey concoction, but it was delicious.