Midtown Lunch

Do you remember when signage first went up for Earl’s Court on John St. (at Gold)? No? Well, that could be because it was back in February and it’s now the end of October. Lunch’er Doug wrote in late last week to say he talked to a worker who said they’re opening on Oct. 31. Sure enough, when I walked by there are signs up saying just that. According to their Web site, it will be a food court with seven different vendors including another branch of the Earl of Sandwich chain which already has locations in midtown (and seemed to get favorable reviews). Click through for an interior shot and the list of restaurants that will be inside. Read more »

Sometimes one too many lunches of greasy meat + starch leaves me actually craving vegetables or just anything that won’t leave me feeling gross come 1 p.m. I’d always meant to hit up Grandaisy Bakery, of which there are two locations in the downtown area, and that was what I immediately thought of towards the end of last week after I’d eaten this and this during the previous week. I headed to the shop on W. Broadway (at 6th Ave.) to try a sandwich since I already knew their Roman-style pizza was awesome.

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When I walked by the new location of Baoguette on Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton) this morning the shutters were up and it looked like they were putting the finishing touches on before lunch service. Unless there’s some seating space upstairs or past the counter that I couldn’t see from the door, it looks like lunchers will once again be relegated to eating at counters along the wall and front window although the interior is definitely nicer than the old location on Maiden Lane.

Fans of L&L Hawaiian BBQ on Fulton (btw. Gold & Cliff) may have been a little down at the end of last week as it looks like the Department of Health shut down the plate lunch and Spam musubi purveyor after it got 54 violation points (including the ever popular “live roaches present”) during an inspection on October 12. Lunch’er Jodie wrote in with following disheartening news:

I noticed that it was closed during  it’s usual operating hours on Seamless, so I went to check out the restaurant in person and BAM, there was a notice on the door that the health department had shut it down. Creepy/unsettling detail: I had eaten there just the night before.

According to the DOH site, they were re-inspected on Friday and are allowed to reopen, but will you all be lining up for their gut-bomb lunches?

This winning chicken & rice platter is $6, chickpeas included. Courtesy of Food in Mouth.

• Comme Ci Comme Ca’s chicken plate: The Per Se of street meat? [Food in Mouth]
• Francois Payard Bakery about to open in BPC. [Eater NY]
• Tacombi is still super popular even if some of their tacos are wee. [Lunch Studio]
• The Fall edition of Real Cheap Eats is up. [RCE]
• Liberatos Pizza is selling something called the OccuPie. [Bloomberg]
• Hot and sour soup for $1.50 counts as a meal? [Fork in the Road]

Last week it became official that the Baoguette on Maiden Lane would be moving to a new location around the corner at 75 Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton). Yesterday we got word from Michael Bao himself that the new shop will open on Monday meaning the old one will be closing. The Nassau St. location still had paper over the windows when I walked by so it’s unclear if this space will be any better (or have real seats maybe?)  than the old one.