Midtown Lunch

When the Duane Reade flagship store opened its fancy-pants doors on Wall St. (btw. Nassau & William) I marveled at the fact that they had guys making sushi rolls a short stroll away from the pharmacy. Also on offer is a juice bar and various grab-and-go items as diverse as quinoa salad and Fat Witch brownies. The other day when the parade for the Giants made working in the Financial District something akin to hell, I didn’t want to have to walk far for lunch, and that’s when I decided to check out the sushi rolls sold by a drug store.

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When the paper came down from the windows of the new Aroma Espresso Bar at Church & Barclay, I was surprised by how nice and gigantic it looked inside. We in lower Manhattan are often subjected to tiny Starbucks locations or the superior but still tiny Financier shops. And the upper-tier, non-chain coffee shops in Tribeca are mostly tiny and have little for lunch that’s going to fill you up for $10 or less. When I looked at Aroma’s menu, I noticed that all of their sandwiches were less than $10 and even some of the salads clocked in under than amount. I’ve had their coffee at other locations and found it to be solid. Could this be a chain that this site can get behind?

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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 Cynthia who will eat spicy food, but shuns broccoli.

Name: Cynthia

Occupation: Lawyer & blogger at www.addicted2etsy.com

Where you work: John & Water

Age: 30

Favorite kinds of food: Love it all, but I do lean towards spicy.

Least favorite foods: Anything bland or dry and anything with broccoli. Still hate broccoli.

Favorite lunches downtown: Love food trucks like the Souvlaki GR truck that parks at Old Slip & Front. Pork souvlaki wrap all the way. Bian Dang (for the dumplings), No. 1 Banh Mi cart at Hanover Sq. & Pearl, what used to be the Jamaican Dutchy truck (aka, R. Retha’s cart) at William & Beaver, even the, in my opinion, slightly overpriced Frying Dutchmen truck. Also,  Bennie’s Thai Cafe on Fulton (at Gold) for pad kee mao/spicy noodles, and BonChon Chicken on John (btw. Cliff & Pearl).  Lately, I’ve been surprisingly enjoying the soups and sandwiches from Earl’s Court on John (at Gold). When I’m not starving, I treat myself to sweet potato fries from Goodburger on Maiden Lane (at Pearl).

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Zeytuna on Maiden Lane (at William). Why do we go there? I always spend more than I should, and I very rarely enjoy my meal.

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If you aren’t one of the people standing in line this very minute for (or eating food from) Kimchi Taco, Taim Mobile or Gorilla Cheese at the new WFC Food Truck Lot, you may be in the minority. When I stopped by a while ago the lines were huge for those three trucks, and non-existent for Van Leeuwen Ice Cream if you need something cold and sweet right now. A note on the location, too, you have to take a left at N. End Ave. off of Vesey and you’ll see the trucks parked at the far end, complete with ridiculous lines of people.