Midtown Lunch

When you turn onto the block of Warren St. off of Broadway it’s pretty desolate and doesn’t look like the kind of place you would find anything good to eat. There aren’t even any street meat carts or hot dog vendors nearby, but you will be able to get your pen repaired at the Fountain Pen Hospital! Located on this weird block is Brick NYC, a newish pizza and Italian restaurant and wine bar that opened last year. It didn’t look like the kind of place that would have decent lunch specials, but after lunch’er James asked if I’d eaten there I took a look and discovered that most of the menu was $10 or less for lunch. And you don’t even have to bring someone along to share a pizza with.

The inside is split off into a section with tables covered in white tablecloths and a long, dark bar which is where I decided to eat since eating pizza by myself at one of those tables seemed wrong. It turned out I made an excellent decision, since what they serve for $10 is an individual bar pie with a wide assortment of toppings. You can also get sandwiches with fries for $10 or less, but most of the pasta dishes are over that mark.

I ended up getting the margharita pizza although they awesomely don’t charge more for the pies with meat toppings. Also, this place gets a thumbs up because under the specials section at the bottom of the menu is the “Downtown Lunch” pizza of the day. This could have just been a coincidence, but I’m going to pretend it wasn’t.

It took a little while for the pizza to come out but when it did it looked delicious. There are six slices on this thing and if you eat the whole thing you’re probably going to be full unless you’re a big eater. Since the crust is super thin, the sharing route is probably not the way to go with the bar pie or you’ll be hungry an hour later, but they have a larger version for $17. I really liked the sauce on this thing, and the crust on the end pieces was great and charred just enough to not taste burnt.  Although you’ll probably have to eat the middle pieces with a knife and fork because of the thin crust and moisture from mozzarella and olive oil, I appreciated that the cheese wasn’t super runny when it was brought out. The special that day was a margharita pie with housemade chorizo on it, and while I love greasy meats I was kind of glad I went the simpler route.

If you work nearby and want a nice place to have pizza or pasta (or just something that’s not Checkers or Sophie’s) I would recommend this. And I like that you don’t have to go vegetarian to eat pizza here for $10 or under.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• I like the bar pie concept because it means I don’t have to share.
• Meat eaters and vegetarians pay the same price!

THE — (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• I’d rather just go get a couple of slices.
• It takes a little too long for lunch on a weekday.

Brick NYC, 22 Warren St. (btw. Broadway & Church), (212) 577-2725