Midtown Lunch

After both Express BBQ in Tribeca and the Picnick Smoked mobile unit left us the lone remaining seller of barbequed meats (at least that I’m aware of) was Texas Rotisserie & Grill. I ate there as one of my first lunches for this site but got the rotisserie chicken and a chicken sandwich. But they also sell “Texas platters” of BBQ beef, pork or chicken and also beef brisket. I was intrigued by the brisket (and also really wanted the cheap fried chicken meal, which has nothing to do with BBQ) but instead I got the BBQ pulled pork platter ($9). This restaurant seemed to be on the same level as Dallas BBQ, but I figured I had to at least try their “real pit smoked BBQ” advertised on the front of the menu. For research, of course.

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As you may have heard yesterday, there’s been an effort by the building management at 140 Broadway to get the carts parked on Liberty St. to move. They include a smoothie cart that’s been there forever, and new additions like the 99% Vegetarian Food cart, A-Pou’s Taste and Biryani House. The Street Vendor Project was out yesterday along with some of the cart operators trying to get support by petition or having people write or call the building management to voice their opinions. When I stopped by the table they had set up there was already a stack of the signed petitions sitting there and a bunch of people filling them out. SVP intern Dana said that an infuriated office worker from the 140 Broadway building came down and got a petition to photocopy and circulate around.

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Name: Jody Leggio

The Korean taco truck explosion that started with Korilla BBQ Truck and continued with Big D’s Grub Truck now includes Kimchi Taco Truck, which made its Manhattan debut in the FiDi yesterday despite getting hopes up in midtown last week. I wanted to see how their goods compared with Big D’s since they have some similar taco fillings and the price for three tacos is $7 at both trucks. Kimchi also has some interesting sides like kimchi arancini and Korean BBQ nachos. Tacos and fried rice balls? Sold!

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The stretch of Maiden Lane that has pretty much nothing but chain restaurants is about to get one more. According to a tweet from the Downtown Alliance, Chicago-based Potbelly Sandwich Shop has signed a lease next to Goodburger at 101 Maiden Lane. I’m guessing this means the empty space next to Hot Clay Oven, since there’s nothing next to Goodburger but a street and parking garage. There are a lot of east coast locations of Potbelly, but none in the city according to their Web site. I can’t say I’m super excited about another sandwich shop but I’ll save judgment until a taste test.