Midtown Lunch

Most people looking for Malaysian food in Chinatown head to Nyonya on Grand St. which is slightly classier than other places in the neighborhood. If you’re looking for a more bare-bones experience that requires walking down a steep flight of stairs, you may want to consider Sanur which serves some Americanized Chinese food, but specializes in Indonesian and Malaysian food. At first it was unclear if I was walking into a travel agency or restaurant due to the number of travel posters in the stairway. I can confirm that cheap Indonesian food can be found at the bottom of those steep stairs leading to Sanur, and it’s a nice change of pace from all of the Chinese options in the surrounding area.

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It’s officially giant bowl of soup weather. Via Lunch Studio.

• Eating soup in Chinatown is just one way to help downtown businesses. [Lunch Studio]
• A new cafe has opened in an old Bangal Curry space. [Tribeca Citizen]
• 100 reasons to eat downtown (not that you need any). [Fork in the Road]
• A look at what food trucks did to help Hurricane Sandy victims. [SENY]
• This guide to Tribeca cheap eats is random. [Citysearch]
• A look at newly-opened Aamanns-Copenhagen. [Grub St.]

If you’re familiar with the menus of places like Energy Kitchen, Muscle Maker Grill and Dig Inn, then you probably know what lunch options you’ll find at Stamina Grill that just opened on Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton). Think lean meats in sandwiches, salads, wraps, quesadillas, and on pizza. There are also smoothies, a juice bar and all-day breakfast if that’s your thing. Click through for a partial look at the expansive, muscle-building menu.

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Several of the carts downtown remained in their spots during Hurricane Sandy providing food, coffee and conversation to neighborhoods without electricity or operational restaurants. Alan’s Vegetarian Delights cart (which you may know as Alan’s Falafel) was out in its spot on Broadway (btw. Liberty & Cedar) on Wednesday just as the icy snow started falling. In addition to the new name, Alan’s has an expanded vegetarian menu including Italian classics with fake meat.

They had been unable to make it into the city since the Friday before Hurricane Sandy hit, which was 12 days away from the city and seven days of lost business, as one of the workers told me. The cart’s workers were happy to be back and have people to feed, and I’m happy to report that they have a veggie burger and fries that’s a delicious value.

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