Midtown Lunch

The couple of times I’ve written about Baba Ghanouge (Multiple Locations), I’ve somehow gotten items with chicken – in a sandwich with fries and in man-ushi form – and never tried the falafel or other vegetarian items.

If you’re not in the know, this place has a falafel sandwich for just over $4. Yes, it’s utilitarian and doesn’t involve hummus or anything, but for $4 no one should complain. You can barely get the same thing at a street cart for that amount of money in the Financial District!

But is their bargain falafel any good? I’m here to tell you that it is, and they don’t skimp on your sandwich either.

You can see that this pita sandwich is as long as the small paper bag it was put in.

Like at nearby Alfanoose, this falafel sandwich is more like a burrito, made with a large, thin pita split in half and wrapped around the filling in two layers, rather than serving as a pocket for  everything.

I ordered the spicy falafel with hummus added for 75 cents, bringing the sandwich to about $5.50 with tax. It contains spicy tahini sauce, lettuce, tomato, and chopped up pickles, along with a few oblong falafel balls. Honestly, you don’t even need to add the hummus for this to be a satisfying sandwich and the tahini sauce was enough to keep everything moist. This is one messy sandwich to eat, so make sure you have a lot of napkins handy.

The falafel was still crispy and tasted freshly fried, which is more than can be said for many street meat carts. If you only have $5 in your pocket and work near Fulton & Broadway, you might want to check out the falafel sandwiches (or any of the other equally cheap vegetarian options) at Baba Ghanouge.

Baba Ghanouge, 165 Church St. (btw. Chambers & Reade), (212) 571-2020; 143 Fulton St. (btw. B’way & Nassau), (212) 608-1666