Midtown Lunch

Our options for Indian food in the Financial District are pretty grim and mostly consist of the locations of Diwan-E-Khaas and various carts serving kati rolls or biryani. The Desi Food Truck had a good run parking at Hanover Square until they got kicked out recently, and that was about all that fit in the Midtown Lunch budget. I’d never eaten at Bombay’s on Pearl St. (btw. Broad & Coenties Slip) partly because it’s nowhere near where I work, and also because I just assumed it was at the same price point as most of the surrounding restaurants, which are mostly expensive. Looks can be deceiving, though, and after eating at Bombay’s, I can say that this place is the Indian gem of the FiDi. Read more »

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 Yumiko who teaches in Tribeca and but wishes she worked closer to K-Town and its cheap lunches.

Name: Yumiko Higaki

Occupation: Elementary school teacher

Where you work: Greenwich btw. Chambers & Warren

Age: 32

Favorite kinds of food: Anything involving plain white steamed rice.  I’d eat onigiri (rice balls) three meals a day if I didn’t care much about my health but I do and consequently try to balance out the carbs by diversifying my diet.

Least favorite foods: Things (and I don’t call this food) that have excessive amount of food coloring and look too artificial like blue icing on cupcakes.

Favorite lunches downtown: Mangez Avec Moi Express on W. Broadway (btw. Murray & Warren). Their chicken sate banh mi on seven grain bread is the best!

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Whole Foods. It’s too convenient.  I spend way too much time (waiting in line) and money there.

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Those of you who were fans of Win Won , the DOH-shuttered Chinese greasy-spoon on Liberty Place (btw. Liberty St. & Maiden Lane) take note – it’s reopened as the fancy-fonted Dumpling House. The menu isn’t all that different or exciting although the good news is they have four different kinds of dumplings. The bad news is that they’re six for $6 – kind of lame for a place with dumpling in its name. Otherwise there is roast pork and duck listed under the appetizer section, and the usual standbys lumped into a lunch special with white or brown rice and a drink or soup for $8. I guess it’s too much to ask for a 5 for $1 dumpling place in the Financial District?

You know how you have that list of places you keep meaning to check out for lunch and then keep pushing to the back of the list as laziness and other options overtake you? Or is that just me? Anyway, La Esquina up in the greater Soho/Nolita area on Kenmare (at Lafayette) is one of those places for me. Every time I see a posting on their tacos or tortas I think “I should go eat that,” and then I don’t. Well, I remedied that the other day and was glad I finally made the subway ride.

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