Midtown Lunch

I’m a little bit late in trying out the new source of falafel in Tribeca, Nish Nush, on the corner of Reade St. and Church. After reading one glowing review, and walking by and seeing indeed how nice this shop looked, curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to know if it was true that this place was serving falafel that could be compared with Taim‘s. After eating there once, I’m mentally kicking myself for waiting more than a couple of days to check this place out.

Much like Taim and other high-end falafel places, there’s more than one flavor to choose from here. If falafel’s not your thing, there are also sandwiches featuring labneh, sabich or you could get a hummus or shakshuka platter (or get hummus with mix ins!). There are also salads that didn’t sound at all bad and most are $10 or less.

Wanting to try all their three kinds of falafel (spicy roasted pepper, spinach & mushroom, and classic green), I went with the deluxe sandwich ($8) which features hummus, Israeli salad, white and red cabbage, pickles, eggplant and tahini. Need I even say that this sandwich was stuffed to the brim and super filling?

There really wasn’t anything about this sandwich I didn’t like other than maybe the flavorless tomato in the Israeli salad. There wasn’t much of it to distract, however, and I liked all of the falafel flavors although the spicy red pepper definitely does have a kick. They make their own pita, and it was puffy and did a great job of containing all of the messy sandwich contents.

Have any of you tried anything else at Nish Nush, like the egg-based dishes (sadly, I cannot eat eggs)? I might have to go back to try the hummus with a mix in, or just one of their other falafel sandwiches.You’re going to pay more for lunch here than across the street at Baba Ghanouge or your favorite street meat cart, but based on only one taste, I’d say it’s most definitely worth the extra money.

Nish Nush, 88 Reade St. (at Church St.) (212) 964-1318, 964-1315, www.nishnushnyc.com