Midtown Lunch

Nominate your fave vendor to get this. Via B&B.

• Summer ice cream flavors at some downtown shops. [Grub St.]
• Have you nominated your favorite cart/truck for a Vendy yet? [B&B]
• Francois Payard ice cream sammies: Back for the season! [FitR]
• A visit to burger favorite, the Ear Inn. [Gothamist]
• Have you eaten at the FiDi’s diner on wheels? [SENY]

When last I ate at Pita Press on Cedar St. (btw. William & Pearl), it was two years ago, and I went vegetarian. Since then, GRK has opened with a flashier space on Fulton St., wowing me with their rotisserie versions of pork and a Thanksgiving special of turkey.

I’ve always liked Pita Press though, and they have the more extensive menu of the two Greek spots. I decided to return and see how their rotisserie pork stacked up. The weigh in, straight ahead.

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It was a bit surprising to see that Zigolini’s at Pearl St. & Coenties Slip was planning to add a Mexican component to its solid lineup of Italian-tinged lunch offerings. The place is called Guac Star, and it opened alongside the  sit down bar and restaurant and the takeaway deli portions of Zigolini’s that had been closed for seven months after being heavily damaged by water during hurricane Sandy.

We’ve all been to those generic delis that sell pizza alongside burritos and sushi, so I was a bit hesitant to try Mexican food made by a place with an Italian name. Thankfully, they don’t try fusion here, and I came away impressed with the burrito I tried, even though it ended up breaking the $10 barrier (oops).

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It’s sometimes hard to keep track of all the halal carts downtown – especially in the Financial District where they are fairly rampant. Yet, there are a few popular ones that serve things other than the lamb/chicken/falafel trinity that are easier to notice if they’re missing.

These reasons made it easy to spot the halal cart with a generic menu that was parked where Halal Gyro Express has been for at least a couple of years, at William St. and Maiden Lane. You may know this as the cart that added Afghani food to their lineup, including real lamb. They also have some pretty great falafel.

I don’t know where they’ve gone, but please come back Halal Gyro Express! The neighboring Biryani House cart is great and all, but it’s no bargain lamb.

Has anyone spotted this cart somewhere else in the downtown area?

Aroy Dee Thai Kitchen has been open on John St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau) for a while now, and on a recent gross, rainy day I decided to stop in again for lunch. I’d already tried one of their protein over rice options soon after they opened in March.

This time, I happened to have a weird cold that made eating in warm weather challenging. In defiance of the warming temperatures outside, I opted to order a noodle soup. And it both soothed my throat and gave me the seafood that I craved.

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Bad news to start your Monday: It looks like Baoguette on Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton) is down for the count. I’d noticed the lights being off earlier last week, but by Friday a “for rent” sign had been strung above the space.

The chainlet was one of the only banh mi purveyors in the Financial District for a couple of years when it opened at the beginning of 2010, with the Banh Mi Cart at Hanover Sq. for company. Now of course we have Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches (and Yushi) selling a variety of the sandwiches. Still, I became addicted to the catfish sandwich at Baoguette soon after starting work in the FiDi, when I was across the street from their original location on Maiden Lane. I won’t miss the yellow turmeric stains I got from pieces of fish that fell out of the sandwich onto my pants, but I will miss those banh mi.