Midtown Lunch

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 Noah who is a fellow food blogger and is lucky enough to work both in the FiDi and near the lunch bounty that is Chinatown.

Name: Noah Arenstein

Occupation: Criminal defense lawyer. Blogger at Law & Food and editor-at-large at Real Cheap Eats.

Where you work: Pine & Pearl, but often at the courthouse.

Age: 27

Favorite kinds of food: Sichuan Chinese, cheeseburgers. Anything patently unhealthy.

Least favorite foods: I’ll try anything once. I loathe Subway, and most other chain sandwich places (with a few notable exceptions like Pret). Seriously, go to a bodega and get a sandwich. I’m not really into sweets or chocolate (with the strong exception of any Haribo product), so my meals tend to be front heavy. I had a hard time with kidneys the last time I tried them, but otherwise I’m pretty good with offal.

Favorite lunches downtown: I’ve only started working in FiDi full time in the past month or so, but I’ve worked down here on and off for awhile now. I used to get lamb over rice at the carts at Broadway and Liberty St. a lot, but I’m looking for a new go-to spot. Rubirosa on Mulberry (btw. Spring & Prince) and Torrisi (now Parm) on Mulberry (at Prince) are always good standbys. If I’m in court or visiting clients in prison, Chinatown lunches are key (especially since I work with someone who speaks fluent Chinese). In that case, it’s hand-pulled noodle and dumpling/wonton spots on Eldridge, Shanghai 456 on Mott (btw. Canal & Bayard), Shanghai Cafe on Mott (btw. Canal & Hester) and Noodle Village on Mott (btw. Bowery & Bayard), among others.

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A little bit of late-lunch news for you in case you were going to get some Popeye’s for lunch today: The Fulton location near Broadway got shut down by the Department of Health, according to those yellow signs they plaster all over the front of restaurants. As I was taking the above picture, not one but two people stopped and frantically pulled at the doors to get to the chicken within, and didn’t notice the DOH stickers until I pointed them out. Something tells me this place will be as busy as ever once it reopens. Update: They’ve reopened and are sporting an “A” from the DOH in the window. It’s now safe to eat spicy fried chicken, everyone.

Earlier this year I checked out Sabor de Mexico on Trinity Place (at Thames) back when it was Caliente Mexican Grill. I’m not sure why they changed the name, but they were serving a decent burrito and some Americanized tacos at a price comparable to their closest comparison, Chipotle. I was mostly impressed by the fact that the sauces and everything seemed to be made from scratch although I could be wrong about that. Since I never went back after that initial visit I figured I would check in and see if they’d added anything to the menu and if the quality had changed (it did).

My test of this was ordering fajitas ($7.95) and what I got wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it did lead me to discover that they are cooking up some fine meats.

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A balanced meal of pork, peanuts & wheat gluten. Courtesy of Eating in Translation.

• An Umami Burger is coming to lower Manhattan next year! [NYer]
• Who knew that fatty pork and wheat gluten would sound good? [Eating in Translation]
• Many tacos can be eaten in two hours at Tacombi. [Blondie & Brownie]
• This is one lunchy-looking turnover at Grandaisy. [Serious Eats NY]
• A look at a whole lot of Chinatown sweets. [Kathy YL Chan]