Midtown Lunch

The arsenal of decent lunch spots in the World Financial Center keeps growing, and the latest addition is Casa Masa, a kiosk outside by the marina next to Fatty Snack, Ed’s Lobster Bar and Quality Burger. Despite being a side venture from the people behind burrito chain Blockheads, the menu is restricted almost entirely to tacos and when I stopped by during prime lunch time the other day there was no line. A clump of guys was waiting to mark down what tacos you wanted on a little checklist sheet that you give to the cashier and within about two minutes I had my three tacos and was on my way. But how were they?

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The closet-sized Urban Lobster Shack was once our only source of takeout lobster rolls in the Financial District. Then a couple of months ago beloved Luke’s Lobster opened basically right around the corner, and although the styles of their rolls are different I thought it was worth checking back into the originator to see what they were doing to keep up with the young upstart competition. It turns out they’ve added a new roll to their arsenal. Read more »

After the Frites N Meats truck ran out of frites during its second of a planned five stops yesterday (of which the last three were downtown) to celebrate being back on the road after an accident destroyed their truck, they promised to make it up to us freeloaders. After admitting on their blog last night that the plan was a “bit too ambitious” they announced plans to give away free frites during regular lunch service in the Financial District, Soho and Tribeca later this week. They’ll be on Hudson in Soho for lunch and dinner on Greenwich in Tribeca, and on Water St. Friday (but you may want to check the Twitter Tracker before heading out), with both regular service and free frites.

It seems like more progress is being made on the forthcoming Korean taco/sandwich venture Kortako on Nassau St. (btw. Fulton & John) by the people behind the John St. location of Bon Chon. Signs went up over the weekend, although a peek inside the non-papered up windows don’t show a whole lot of work going on inside. Maybe it’s such a small space that it won’t take long to get in shape for an opening? Whenever the place does open, I’ll be there to see if the offerings are on par with what they’re serving at the parent location.

As I was headed to lunch yesterday I spotted a truck I hadn’t seen before parked behind the Desi Food Truck on Hanover Sq. It turned out to be Valducci’s Pizza and after a look at their Twitter feed it seems they’re an offshoot of a Staten Island pizza place and the truck is simply back on the streets after a long hiatus. But hey, it’s new to me! I was going to buy a slice, but just as I was about to do that a guy emerged from the truck with a pizza pan full of samples. Straight ahead for what a mini-slice looks like.

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