Midtown Lunch

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch: Downtown, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Vendy Awards Managing Director Helena, who is no doubt busy ahead of this Saturday’s gut-busting event on Governor’s Island. Want to know what she eats for lunch on a daily basis? Hint: She likes the street carts.

Name: Helena

Occupation: Managing Director of the Vendy Awards

Where you work: The Street Vendor Project, William (btw. Fulton & John)

Age: 31

Favorite kinds of food: This is like asking a mother who their favorite child is, but If I must, here it goes: Spicy, brothy, noodley soups, black beans and rice, breakfast tacos, raw fish, channa masala, roti canai, thin-skinned dumplings, peak-of-summer tomato sandwiches with butter and salt, pozole, miso soup, snow pea greens with garlic, and Greek-style grilled octopus.

Least favorite foods: Mayo and goat cheese–I know, I know, it’s a shonda.

Favorite lunches downtown: With a job like mine I eat 4 out of 5 weekday lunches from vendors. Recently I have been loving the vegetarian loaf and curried anything from R. Rethas cart at William & Beaver; Anything from the Soulvaki GR truck (perfect summer food that when I close my eyes transports me to the beaches of Mykonos); Falafel sandwiches with extra eggplant and hot sauce from Sam’s Falafel cart on Cedar (btw. Broadway & Trinity); Hornado from the San Luis Tacos truck (known as Tacos Mexicanos on ML) on Front St. I also have a soft spot for the rice and beans from Sophie’s Cuban (Multiple Locations) and the quirky and loveable buffet at the now-closed Little Lad’s Basket.

The “go-to” lunch places you and your co-workers eat at too often: Zeytuna on Maiden Lane (at William), Patuca on John St. (nr. William) until it closed, RIP, and Soma by Nature  on William (btw. John & Fulton) because it’s in our building, and Financier Patisserie (Multiple Locations).

Places downtown you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Downtown? Pita Press on Cedar (btw. William & Pearl), Nixtamalito kiosk next to 1 Centre St., and Hot Clay Oven on Maiden Lane (nr. Gold).

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes, and why: It’s a toss up between Mexico City and Bangkok–perhaps the best street food cities in the whole wide world.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch: Downtown readers? The air is getting cooler, the days shorter ,and I already feel the urge for a big bowl of soup. Where should I go? Please don’t suggest Hale & Hearty.

The first thing that comes to mind is the Hot Soup Cart that usually pops up this time of year on Wall St. & Pearl. The soups are a little hit-and-miss, but the price and selection are good. Also, the noodle soups at Goodies on Fulton (at Gold) are cheap and delicious, although more noodle than soup. What do you all recommend? And as always, if you would like to be next week’s Profiled Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nominate), email us at downtown@midtownlunch.com.