Midtown Lunch

There are a lot of good cart options for falafel in the Financial District, but there’s always room for one more, right? After noticing a new cart called Don Halal right next to the No. 1 Bahn Mi cart at the corner of Hanover Sq. & Pearl, I chatted with the woman manning the window and after I didn’t order anything, she called me “sweetie” and invited me to come back. There are some interesting things on the menu like a falafel platter with Indian marinated vegetables, and chicken curry so I decided to go see if they could compete with the superb falafel across Water St. at Alan’s Halal.

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There’s a place in Soho where the ratio of well-dressed, impeccably-groomed office workers waiting in line is noticeably absent. Instead there’s a decidedly blue collar male crowd of truck drivers and the people who deliver your food from nicer restaurants in the area (I stood behind a delivery guy from Lombardi’s). That place is La Nueva Conquista – a Dominican food institution that Daniel visited waaay back in 2008. Judging by his pictures, this place hasn’t changed a bit except for a price hike to $9 for your meat over rice + beans lunch. He tried the catfish and goat stew but I was here for the roast pork which I’ve read about again and again but never had the chance to try.

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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 Matthew who works about as far down in Manhattan as you can without being in the water, and is looking for more good Indian food options.

Name: Matthew

Occupation: Electronic discovery

Where you work: Battery Place

Age: 28

Favorite kinds of food: I always crave pizza, good deli sandwiches, sushi, Indian, and Mexican.

Least favorite foods: I probably eat Chinese food least.

Favorite lunches downtown: When my inner discipline is strong, I don’t go to Pizza Italia on Stone St. (btw. Whitehall & Broad) and order one buffalo chicken slice and one grandma round slice. After surviving three years of mediocre pizza in California, I gave up great Mexican for great pizza and it was worth it. I also get a lot of Italian heros at Champs Gourmet Deli (Multiple Locations) and roast pork at Sophie’s Cuban (Multiple Locations). FIKA on Pearl (nr. Coenties Slip) has great coffee and even better scones.

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