Midtown Lunch

A friend tipped me off to a new sandwich place called…Vietnamese Sandwiches that’s on Pearl St. (btw. Pine & Wall). Yes, that’s right, it’s actually called Vietnamese Sandwiches. It looks the shop just opened, and according to the menu you can get a free soda with your sandwich until July 31 for their grand opening. There are eight different sandwiches for $6 including the usual pork roll and pate model, BBQ pork, roast beef and Vietnamese meatball. There’s also an avocado shake there that’s calling my name. If anyone checks this place out, give your first impressions in the comments.

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 Kevin who has eaten at a lot of downtown’s finest lunch options, but is searching for a good, cheap burger.

Name: Kevin

Occupation: College intern

Where you work: Broadway and Beaver streets

Age: 23

Favorite Kinds of Food: I’m a sucker for Japanese bento boxes and sushi.  Banh mi sandwiches and Vietnamese food are also high on my list. I ate a lot of banh mi as a kid and I love the different varieties offered at banh mi sandwich shops today.

Least Favorite Foods: Unauthentic or heavily Americanized Chinese food masquerading as authentic Chinese food.  Also anything that’s overly greasy or contains globs of mayo (yes, I’m not a fan of mayo on nearly anything)

Favorite Lunches Downtown: I’ve recently taken a liking to Fuji Catering Service.  You can’t beat authentic, hand-made bento lunch boxes for about $7 delivered to your lobby.  Venturing outside the office, I fall back onto banh mi from Baoguette (Multiple Locations) and the Banh Mi Cart on John St. (at Water).  I also enjoy the occasional visits from the Schnitzel & Things (Multiple Locations) and Wafels & Dinges (Multiple Locations) trucks.  I really hope more midtown trucks and carts will consider venturing downtown a few times a month to bring some more variety to the area. Read more »

Oh yeah, that’s a good looking summer roll, courtesy of Food In Mouth

• Ah, yes, it’s summer in the city, meaning a time for delicious summer rolls at Pho Grand and musings on Lebron James coming to New York. [Food in Mouth]
• Mario’s Pizza on Houston St. using a very familiar face as its mascot and namesake, and some wonder how they haven’t had the pants sued off of them. Oh, and the pizza’s pretty bad too. [Fork In The Road]
• It seems like everyone’s checking out new real panini sandwich shop Salume: one site terms it “the best prosciuto-based sandwich I’ve had this year,” and another thinks it’s the bee’s knees, but wonders if the diminutive size and price might impede the shop’s success. [Serious Eats NY] and [Lunch with Front Studio]
• The FiDi location of Hello Pasta on Maiden Lane doesn’t have an opening date yet, but a midtown location opens next week, meaning we’ll get to find out how just how crappy a build-your-own pasta chain is well in advance. [Eater NY]

Just when I thought I was at least aware of most of the delicious food finds in the FiDi and Tribeca, I found another one thanks to a couple of downtown lunch’ers. That place is Downtown Deli on Church St. (at Park Pl.), which from the outside basically looks like any other so-called “deli”, selling cigarettes and crappy Boar’s Head sandwiches. But when you step inside, you notice the difference because there’s a sea of people, and two counters: one for cold sandwiches and one for hot, and really nothing else but a rack with bags of chips. Oh yeah, now we’re talking! Thankfully, both of the sandwich suggestions I got were on the hot side because the cold sandwich line was insane. Lunch’er Paul suggested I should check out the pastrami Reuben there, and lunch’er dkriese likes the beef brisket on a roll with gravy. Clearly, with two endorsements for this deli, it was worth checking out. 

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