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 Alyson Waller, who is the citizen judge at this year’s Vendy Awards on Governor’s Island Sept. 25. (Have you bought your tickets yet?). She works in Soho but travels to out-of-bounds downtown lunch spots in Greenwich Village and has a dislike of a certain cheese.

Name: Alyson Waller

Occupation: Architect

Where you work: Spring and Hudson

Age: 27

Favorite Kinds of Food: Fresh pasta, Thai, pizza, burgers, garlic, cheese (see below), bacon, crusty baguettes, artichokes, red velvet cupcakes.

Least Favorite Foods: Beets, raw tomatoes, bananas, goat cheese, anything with a lot of mayo.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Murray’s Cheese on Bleecker (btw. 6th & 7th Ave.) for cheesy sandwiches, Birdbath Bakery (Multiple Locations) for the chicken cilantro sandwich, 508 Restaurant on Greenwich (at Spring) for the burger with free beer special they used to have, Little Italy (the deli, not the neighborhood) on Varick St. (at King) for a chicken parm hero, The NYC Cravings food truck for pork sauce, Chipotle (Multiple Locations) for a steak burrito, Puffy’s Tavern on Hudson (at Harrison) for good sandwiches made better with free beer, Spunto on Carmine (at 7th Ave. South) for thin crust pizza. Sweet Revenge on Carmine (btw. Bedford & Bleecker) for cupcakes, and Jacques Torres (Multiple Locations) for warm chocolate chip cookies.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Ear Inn on Spring St. (btw. Greenwich & Washington) is definitely our go-to place for a sit down lunch. It’s right down the street from our office, has good food at a decent price and you can draw on the tables.

Places downtown you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: I knew about Midtown Lunch but only recently found out about the downtown edition through the Vendy’s. I look forward to checking out some new lunch spots.

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes, and why: I actually kind of love my neighborhood. I worked by Union Square for a bit and that was a pretty great lunch neighborhood with Whole Foods, the Greenmarket and Shake Shack nearby.

Anything you’d like to ask the downtown Midtown Lunch readers?: I’m looking for a good sushi place in Soho. Any suggestions?

I wish I knew of any good sushi places up there, but I’m no help. Anyone else know of a cheap source of raw fish for Alyson?  And as always, if you would like to be next week’s Profiled Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nominate), email us at downtownnyc@midtownlunch.com.