Midtown Lunch

Places that do Asian fusion food often serve mediocre food since they have enormous menus bouncing around between Japanese, Thai and/or Chinese. Hana on Nassau St. is a place I’ve walked by many, many times but never thought to go inside due to the fact that they have three separate menus for each of these cuisines and I just don’t have the patience to decide what I would want off of these. That problem was solved for me though when a handwritten sign appeared in the window one day promoting beef stew specials. I wasn’t exactly sure what an Asian place would do with this staple of my childhood, but I wanted to find out.

Hana is kind of like the twin of equally subterranean Koodo Sushi a couple of blocks down Nassau St. which lured me in earlier this year with its ramen special. Clearly all it takes to get me into a nicer restaurant is handwritten signs advertising some special. Hana was packed, and I always take that as a good sign, when I stopped by to order my beef stew over lo mein ($9) from the nice woman at the front counter.

I know you lunchers are probably questioning why I paid $9 for lo mein, and I asked myself that, but I was simply curious and sometimes that wins out over saving a couple of dollars. Plus, I could tell when I opened the container that they didn’t skimp on the food here as it was absolutely packed.

The beef stew was delicious and I can imagine it would taste just as good over rice, or in noodle soup which are the other two options offered. There were chunks of meat that wasn’t too fatty along with sweet potato, some green onion, a couple of hot peppers (which didn’t make it hot) and a sweet spice that gave this a vaguely Asian flavor. Underneath there was a large pile of lo mein noodles and underneath that some raw cabbage. They are thoughtful enough to give you a plate with your take out order so it might be best to dump it out and mixed everything around.

If you’re looking for a hearty meal (or two since this is a gut bomb) the beef stew over carbs is worth a look and is something a little out of the ordinary for the FiDi.

Hana, 59 Nassau St. (btw. Maiden Lane & John), (212) 732-9250