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 Laura who you’re not likely to find at a street meat cart, but who heads to surrounding neighborhoods for noodles on Fridays.

Name: Laura

Title: Client services manager

Where you work: Varick & Vandam

Age: 27

Favorite kinds of food: Considering lunch is usually my biggest meal of the day, I’m always craving something more hearty than a simple salad — sandwiches, burgers, and any type of pasta are usually my go-to. Comfort food will always be king to me.

Least favorite foods: You’ll never catch me craving falafel or Indian food. Sorry, just not gonna happen.

Favorite lunches downtown: A hole-in-the-wall catering place off of W. Houston on Varick called Deb’s Catering, is always good for their creamy mac & cheese. My team’s been known to seek out new food places on Fridays and recent trips include the sushi conveyor belt at Taka Taka on W. Broadway (btw. Canal & Grand) and the BBQ pork & crispy vegetable wontons from Noodle Bar on Carmine St.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Easily, it’s Alidoro on Sullivan (btw. Spring & Prince). These Italian sandwiches will literally change your life with their freshness and amazing flavor. My favorite is the Alyssa. Even though we try to justify turning one huge sandwich into two meals…it usually turns into “second lunch” a few hours later.

Places downtown you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Downtown? I’m in love with the Twitter Tracker because we have a good amount of food trucks that park on Varick and Houston…but why would I go outside to see what’s available when ML does the work for you?

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes, and why: In NYC, it has to be by Madison Square Park. Not only because they have Shake Shack and Eataly (which I could visit ad nauseam), but their recent Madison Square Eats put some of the best far-flung food options in one convenient location. Plus, since they’re opening for the season soon, Kelvin Natural Slush usually parks nearby. I’ve missed having peach tea slushies in my life.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch: Downtown readers? I’m still searching for the best, reasonably-priced sushi place near my office. Help!

I’m going to hand this off to someone else because I have no idea where cheap sushi exists in that area or even the south Village. And as always, if you would like to be next week’s Profiled Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nominate), email us at downtown@midtownlunch.com.