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 Jillian who is a food blogger but works in the Financial District scrounging up lunch during the day.

Name: Jillian Nadell

Occupation: Graphic designer and food blogger at Eat Like a Lady (http://eatlikealadynyc.tumblr.com/)

Where you work: Wall & William

Age: 24

Favorite kinds of food: Mexican, Indian, Malaysian, Thai, Greek and good BBQ

Least favorite foods: Olives and oysters

Favorite lunches downtown: The Financial District is great for lunch. Most days I tend to be boring and stick to Pret A Manger, Chop’t or Hale and Hearty (Multiple Locations for all) both for financial reasons and my waistline. However, I’ve been spicing it up – no pun intended – with tandoori chicken salads from Hot Clay Oven (Maiden Lane & Gold), the “Indian Chipotle.” As for Zeytuna (Maiden Lane at William), they have the best variety and quality in terms of their hot bar and salad bar. And I think Koyzina (William at Cedar) makes the best sandwiches around. I usually have them make one with grilled chicken, pepper jack cheese, spinach and grilled onions with chipotle mayo toasted on their pumpernickel roll. Since I’ve been introduced to Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine (Multiple Locations) I find myself there more often than not. My favorite is the baked chicken with salad and rice and I cover the whole thing in their amazing green aji sauce (this stuff is “crack”). Toloache Taqueria (Maiden Lane btw. William & Gold) has the best quick Mexican food I’ve had in the city.  They have $3 taco Tuesdays and $7 burritos on Fridays, and I always go for the puerco. When I am looking to splurge or sit outside during the warm weather, I hit Stone St. btw. Broad & Hanover Sq., which really does have great food. Mad Dog and Beans has awesome Mexican food and the margaritas are strong. My favorite here is the quesadilla and their spicy guacamole. Adrienne’s Pizza Bar has some of the best pizza in the city. I like to get spinach and garlic or their pepperoni. Harry’s Café and Steak has the best steak sandwich I’ve ever had, Ulysses has the best cheddar and bacon burger and Smorgas Chef, a Scandinavian restaurant, has killer Swedish meatballs if you’re looking to do something different.

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It’s been face-numbingly cold this week and as a result, foods that will help unfreeze said face sound really good all. I hadn’t checked back in with OBAO down on Water (at Hanover Sq.) since the Thai and Vietnamese food purveyor opened back in October. The menu has two noodle soups on it for $9 and I decided it was a good time to try the pho (the other option is a tom yum with shrimp). I’ll go into more detail after the jump, but it’s probably worth your time to walk up to Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches at Nassau & Ann for your pho fix, or order online from Chinatown. Read more »

R.I.P Jup She. Courtesy of Lunch Studio.

• A look at BPC’s upcoming Blue Smoke. Please have something at ML prices! [Grub St.]
• Pour one out for some downtown lunches lost. [Lunch Studio]
• The pizza sandwich at Potbelly gets a thumbs up. [FitR]
• A whole lot of food-related updates for lower Tribeca. [Tribeca Citizen]
• Lunch on Wall St. is about to get more Trump-y. [Eater NY]
• I want to discover this pile of roast pork. [Serious Eats NY]

Something seemed like it was missing while walking down John St. between Broadway & Nassau yesterday, and it turned out to be the collection of signs outside of It’s A Pizza. The dreaded yellow “closed by the Department of Health” sticker was affixed to the door, much to the dismay of a couple of guys standing outside who apparently needed pizza badly and did not know where to turn. This place had one of my favorite slices, not to mention some really good and cheap pasta so let’s hope this is not permanent. I think we’re all still smarting from the DOH shuttering of the FiDi’s only Popeye’s location. Update: They’re back open, and have added Sicilian slices to the late afternoon 99 cent slice special.