Midtown Lunch

Here’s a confession: I’ve always wanted to eat at the Pearl St. Diner based solely on its sign. You just don’t find places with awesome neon signs like that anymore. Plus, whenever I walk by its location on Pearl (at Fletcher) it always looked packed with a diverse crowd of people and it just seemed like a good place for solo dining. On one of our many recent days of gross weather, I headed over because clearly eating outside was not going to happen and there aren’t a ton of places in the FiDi to have a sit-down lunch within ML price guidelines. Off I went with visions of greasy diner food dancing in my head. Read more »

You might want to stick with the pork. Courtesy of Food in Mouth.

• Steer clear of the cactus tacos at Tacombi, even if you’re on a diet. [Food in Mouth]
• I don’t think they served food in the ML price range, but it’s still sad to see a classic bastion of skeeviness close. [Grub St.]
• No more little pies for Tribeca. [Tribeca Citizen]
• I have eaten none of the 10 best things to eat in Chinatown. [Fork in the Road]

Do you all remember the infuriating disappearance of Picnick Smoked last year? Well, according to a post on Grub St. the reason I was never able to find out what happened to it was because the guy behind it, Will Goldfarb, went to Bali and took his BBQ with him. Now it looks like the Picnick kiosks in Battery Park will be turned into something possibly called Fatty Snack, serving soft serve and cold sandwiches. That’s not the most exciting part though: That Picnick Smoked cart will become an outpost of Williamsburg’s Fatty ‘Cue, which warms my heart on this snow-filled day. We can all look forward to eating artery-clogging meats come spring. Photo courtesy of Serious Eats.

It is definitely hearty, carb-filled food weather but I have grown tired of the options down in the Financial District. Sure, there’s the Hot Soup Cart when something warm sounds good, but I’ve found that hit or miss, and I can only eat the pho at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches so many times before that too becomes boring. This is when I look for an excuse to head to Chinatown and I found that with a Serious Eats post on the food at Bo Ky on Bayard (btw. Mulberry & Mott). The shrimp rolls looked like something that needed to be consumed (by me), and I am always OK with noodle soup in its many glorious forms. Read more »