Midtown Lunch

On the upper stretch of Church St. there are a bunch of higher-end restaurants and watering holes and among them sits Shorties Deli Cafe which from the outside appears to be another generic deli. If you look at the windows closely enough or step inside you’re bound to realize that most people probably don’t order sandwiches or wraps here but instead are walking out with a torta or some tacos, perhaps paired with a Mexican Coke in a bottle.

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This just in…it looks like the OBAO Noodles & BBQ (or was that Rhong Tiam?) at Water & Coenties Slip opened for lunch today after signage went up a little more than a month ago. Lunch’er Deep sent in the above photo and reported that it was busy, and also that they’re cash only until Friday. It looks like the pho is less than $10 but everything else like the BBQ and “traditional dishes” hovers at that mark or above. You can expect a report in the near future, but if any of you ate there today let us know your impressions in the comments.

A couple of weeks ago The Pump chain changed its name to Dig Inn and changed its menu after bringing a winner of Iron Chef America on board as its new chef. I had mentioned that I would go check out the new version if you lunchers wanted me to and after a couple of endorsements I decided to head over to the store on Pine (at Pearl) to see if healthy, protein-filled food could also be a Downtown Lunch.

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As the Bon Chon on John readies an offshoot selling tacos and sandwiches, the former Bon Chon location on Chambers St. that was forced to become “Bon Chicken” after being caught using unapproved sauces has closed its doors. Honestly, it’s surprising it took this long since that mess went down in July of last year, but judging by the photo of the interior , and the fact that the sign’s been taken down, they’ve sold their last inferior piece of Korean fried chicken.

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 Dash who likes a hearty lunch void of raw fish and needs more Mexican food suggestions.

Name: Dash Henley

Occupation: Office manager and assistant to the president

Where you work: Water St. between Beekman and Peck Slip

Age: 24

Favorite kinds of food: Comfort food, Indian, Mexican

Least favorite food: Sushi

Favorite lunches downtown: It’s often hard for me to get away during the work day so I like to get something quick or something that my coworkers and I can bring back to the office.  Cafe Water on Water (at Pine) has good prices, decent variety at the buffet, and they’re really quick at ringing you up.  Diwan-E-Khaas at (Multiple Locations) is great Indian food.  It’s a little bit out of Midtown Lunch price range, but for just over $10 you can get an entree, two sides, and an order of naan. 

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Table Tales on Water (btw. Peck Slip & Beekman) is a guilty pleasure for us.  It can be outside the ML price range if you get too much, but the buttermilk chicken sandwich with homemade potato chips is amazing. 

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