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 “Opchee” who likes man food, has eaten most of the good burger places in the Financial District and is in search of a place that serves breakfast for lunch.

Name: Opchee

Occupation: Legal (sometimes just barely)

Where you work: Around the One Chase Manhattan Plaza (building with the big ‘shroom in front) on William at Liberty

Age: Yes, I like age statements with my boeuf, whiskey, or cheese.  People? Not so much.

Favorite Kinds of Food: Man food, and protein shakes (whey, casein, egg, soy, etc.  Any kind of Muscle Milk).   Also some good Asian when the time is right.

Least Favorite Foods: Wraps.  Faux-Asian.  Worse yet, Asians who screw up Asian, like:  “You mean to tell me THIS is Pad Thai?” or “These xiaolongbao (Shanghai soup dumplings) have thicker skin than a cold-calling telemarketer.”

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Barbarini on Front St. (btw. Peck Slip & Beekman) for hand-cut spaghetti chitarra, Five Guys on Fulton (at Dutch) for superb bacon cheeseburgers, Goodburger on Maiden Lane (at Pearl) for the crabby patty, Zaitzeff on Nassau St. (at John),  Wall Street Burger Shoppe on Water St. (btw. Broad & Coenties) for burgers and shakes/floats that Mia Wallace/Vincent Vega would approve of, Mudville 9 on Chambers St. (btw. Church & W. Broadway) for “off the bone” St. Louis ribs and good beers, L&L Hawaiian Barbeque on Fulton (btw. Gold & Cliff) for any of the plate lunches or yaki-soba (It’s an awesome hangover cure). The real Bon Chon on John St. (btw. Cliff & Pearl), Buddha Bodai on Mott St. (at Worth) for vegetarian in Chinatown,  Just Salad (Multiple Locations) because veg is good for you, Alfanoose on Maiden Lane (btw. Broadway & Nassau) for any of the platters with mojadara/babaganouge/tabouli, and I like how they do their baklava. The Bigger Place on Warren St. (at W. Broadway), Pan Latin Cafe on Chambers (at River Terrace & Rockefeller Park), Jeremy’s Ale House on Front St. (btw. Beekman & Peck Slip) for days when I prefer a few pints for lunch, and Financier (Multiple Locations). I don’t usually eat dessert for lunch, but when I do, I prefer a few of their chocolate mousses.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Chipotle, Goodburger, and Energy Kitchen.

Places downtown you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Five Guys, Wafels & Dinges, and whoever those guys are on Broadway between Liberty & Cedar.  I used to curse them every morning, because I would always get hit with a blast of that curryish halal smell from a block a way on my way to work.  I don’t like the smell of street meat in the morning, but now I have a little more appreciation for what they have going on there.

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes, and why: 46th and 6th Ave. There’s an awesome rotation of Midtown food trucks there.

Anything you’d like to ask the downtown Midtown Lunch readers?: What’s the best excuse you have ever told the boss for “taking an hour for lunch outside?”
Bonus points for excuse for not replying on the Blackberry for an hour during lunch. On a food related note, where can I get a good brunch in the FiDi?  (For when some of us have to work on the weekends.) Also, where is a good place to go for good challah french toast (from a diner or otherwise)?

These are both good questions, but the first I have no answer to as I don’t really have to have an excuse to not eat lunch at my desk. I would go with the vague “doctor’s appointment.” As for the brunch question, there’s always the classic Pearl St. Diner (at Fletcher) or Kitchenette on Chambers (btw. Greenwich & W. Broadway). The latter has brioche French toast, but no challah, sadly. 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.