Midtown Lunch

We lunch’ers in the Financial District aren’t exactly hurting for Caribbean food options. It used to be there were only a couple of choices – Veronica’s Kitchen or Trinidad & Tobago carts – and the one you frequented depended on where you worked. Then there was something of a surge in options recently with Nio’s Trinidad Roti Truck resurfacing at Water & Pine and R. Retha’s cart parking at William & Beaver until it got shuttered by the Department of Health. Another truck that was somewhat slippery to catch was Sunrise Grill which I’d sometimes seen at Water & Broad, but they weren’t there every day. But yesterday was my lucky day, and Sunrise Grill was there, there wasn’t much of a line, and hunger was setting in. Jerk chicken and a beef patty seemed to be in order. Read more »

Sometimes it’s a Chinese noodle soup kind of day – as yesterday with it’s clouds and rain was – and it gave me an excuse to check out one of the impressive roster of noodle soups at Ho Yip on Liberty St. (at Trinity Pl.). Yip’s seems to get all of the cheap Chinese noodle soup glory in the Financial District with its two locations, but Ho Yip’s selection blows theirs out of the water. I haven’t sampled the noodle soups from every Chinese hole-in-the-wall in the FiDi, but Ho Yip served me a version with some fabulous wontons.

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Rumors of Pane Panelle‘s demise started swirling a couple of months ago after a comment that the restaurant on Church St. (at Walker) had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Well, it turns out they’re closed and the restaurant is already papered up and being transformed into something else. The sit-down restaurant Stuzzicheria had spawned the Pane Panelle sandwich and soup counter which mostly stuck to the $10 and under price cap but was a little lacking in the quantity/money spent ratio. Then the restaurant just changed its name to Pane Panelle and you had to go to the bar to order sandwiches which never got any larger or less expensive, although I did really like what they did with chickpeas and eggplant. Unless the new place has some sort of affordable lunch or sandwich options (doubtful), I guess we’ll have to settle for the less refined but no less delicious Italian sandwiches from Saluggi’s or Saluggi’s Sandwich Shoppe up the street.

If you don’t particularly like Chipotle (or its ridiculous lunchtime lines) and can’t make it to the taco trucks, you’ll be happy to know that Sabor de Mexico‘s open on Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton). We’ve already reviewed some of the items at the location on Trinity Place (at Thames) and while some are found wanting like the Americanized tacos, there’s more selection of items and meats than at the chain places and it’s also slightly cheaper. There will be a review of the new shop at some point this week when a hankering for some Mexican food hits.