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 Hillela who has a favorite unconventional, but quiet, place to eat her lunch.

Name: Hillela Simpson

Occupation: Program coordinator at the Lymphoma Research Foundation

Where you work: 115 Broadway

Age: 23

Favorite Kinds of food: Italian (especially Northern), Vietnamese, Thai, and anything containing cheese.

Least favorite foods: Brussels sprouts

Favorite lunches downtown: Mongolian BBQ at Variety Café on Broadway (nr. Rector), lobster roll combo at Luke’s Lobster on S. William (btw. Hanover Sq. & Broad), $2 tacos at Toloache Taqueria on Maiden Lane (btw. Gold & William), and when I’m bringing my own lunch and the weather’s nice, the Trinity Church Cemetery on Trinity Place (btw. Wall & Broadway)

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Subway and Au Bon Pain

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For a brief time there were two carts bearing the name Biryani House operating side by side on Liberty St. & Broadway. One specialized strictly in curries while the other focused on biryani, chicken tikka and kati rolls as well as regular street meat. Well, it looks like that second cart has moved over to the little plaza on William St. & Maiden Lane selling biryani and curry to those who aren’t interested in the many chain establishments up the block. Update: This cart is now permanently docked on William btw. Maiden & John outside of Zeytuna.

Most people know about the dirt-cheap cabbie favorite Lahore Deli located in a closet-size space on Crosby St. in SoHo, but were you aware they have a competitor a short walk away? Right next door to a Vietnamese restaurant is Curry & Tandoor Corner (listed online as Welcome To India). It’s the place that looks like a bodega but isn’t. When I went in for lunch there was no one eating there – only the proprietor waiting for customers and a bored looking man reading the paper. This is sort of sad because based on the lunch I had here the food is great, cheap, and sometimes you’re just in the mood for a kati roll.

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This is one of the top things to eat at the Seaport. Courtesy of Fork in the Road.

• Good news for those of you who love Danish open-faced sandwiches. [Tribeca Citizen]
• You can get Robicelli Cupcakes at Battery Place Market. [Serious Eats NY]
• There’s a familiar name on the opinion page. [NY Times]
• L’asso has a lunch special for two. [Lunch Studio]
• Wooly’s Ice sounds like it might qualify as dessert for lunch. [Eating in Translation]
• There are 10 good places to eat at the S. Street Seaport?! [Fork in the Road]