Midtown Lunch

The newest location of Francois Payard Bakery opened in the Goldman Sachs building at Murray St. & N. End Ave.  (or across from Shake Shack, if that’s how you navigate) and early reports said they had two sandwiches that were only offered there and not at the mother ship on W. Houston St. Word was that they had barbeque chicken and French dip sandwiches on the menu, plus it was a  rare excuse to wander over to Battery Park City.

I saw no French dip in the sandwich case, although there was the braised short rib sandwich that looked pretty good. This left me with the barbeque chicken ($8.50) which looked pretty good sitting next to its bready counterparts. I’m not going to lie, though, the roasted vegetable sandwich on focaccia almost had me at focaccia.

Oh, barbeque chicken sandwich – I wanted to like you so much after spending $9 on you! Alas, I got something that kind of reminded me of a chicken version of a McRib sandwich. Maybe it the was the squishy white bun or the carmelized onions – I’m not quite sure. The high-quality chicken slices were good and there were thick slices of provolone melted over it during a quick trip in the oven behind the counter. While it was heated up nicely, I could have used some toasting on the bun.

I know lunch pickings are slim in this area, but if you’re heading to Francois Payard I’d stick with the croque monsieur or a croissant or really anything but the BBQ chicken sandwich.

Francois Payard Bakery, 210 Murray St. (at N. End Ave.), (212) 566-8300