Midtown Lunch

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch: Downtown, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Elise who gets her falafel from “a legend” and wants to know where to find good food near her apartment.

Name: Elise Graham

Occupation: Assistant director of admissions

Where you work: Broadway & Exchange

Age: 23

Favorite kinds of food: French food (Balthazar is a staple), Greek food, and BBQ is always a favorite for this Texas girl (Hill Country BBQ is my favorite in the city!)

Least favorite foods: I can’t handle anything spicy, so most Indian food is out of the question.

Favorite lunches downtown: Adrienne’s Pizza Bar on Stone St. (nr. Hanover Sq.) for their addictive prosciutto basil pizza; Luke’s Lobster on S. William St. (nr. Broad) for shrimp rolls; if I’m feeling lazy, I’ll get the falafel over rice from the food cart on Broadway and Beaver (aka the Homemade Cart). The only thing better than the falafel is the man running thecart. The man’s a legend.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Chipotle (Multiple Locations). Sad, but true. Their rice bowls are too good to turn down.

Places downtown you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Downtown? Hot Clay Oven on Maiden Lane (btw. Gold & William), Luke’s Lobster, Toasties (& their Thanksgiving sandwich) on John St. (btw. Nassau & B’way), and Leo’s Bagels on Hanover Sq. (at Stone).

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes, and why: The Meatpacking District. I would eat at Sarabeth’s in Chelsea Market, the Standard, and Pastis on a frequent basis.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch: Downtown readers? I live in Herald Square, and usually have to venture to Chelsea and other areas of the city to find fun restaurants for brunch and dinner. Do you know of any fun places/hidden gems to go that aren’t super touristy?

I’m going to toss this question over to you Lunch’ers. Who knows of some good spots for Elise to try? 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.