Midtown Lunch

If you are a long time reader of this blog, you might have noticed that I kind of like spicy food. A lot. When I ordered a sandwich from the Route 66 Smokehouse pop up on the Elevated Acre (above 55 Water St. btw. Old Slip & Coenties Slip) I was not expecting an assault of pepper so crazy that my nose was running the entire time I was eating. That being said, I think with a couple of tweaks we can get a little excited about the food at the forthcoming Route 66 brick and mortar.

The pop up is at the Elevated Acre on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as part of the Water St. POPS! program that emerged after the hurricane. This so-called lunch market is a collaboration between The Dubliner and Stone St. Tavern and the owner of those establishments is also opening Route 66. The place could open at the end of September, but the date is up in the air due to some paperwork and permit issues, the guy working the pop up told me.

Moving on to the food, the day I went they had pulled pork or pulled chicken sandwiches, fingerling potato salad, watermelon and a couple of drinks on the menu which changes every week. I went for the BBQ pulled pork ($7).

The sandwich was of a good size and contained so much pork I couldn’t pick this thing up without getting sauce all over my pants. That sauce was good at first – both sweet and vinegary with a pepper kick – but there was so much of it that after getting through half the sandwich I struggled to finish it because of the burn. You get a side of pickled carrots, onion and jalapeño, but that’s also spicy and does nothing to cool your mouth. My suggestion: Ask for them to go light on the sauce. From what I could taste of the pork, this would have been great without the spice overload.

The pop up will likely only be there momentarily, so if you’re in the mood for BBQ at a reasonable price, head to the Elevated Acre on Tuesday or Thursday. And grab extra napkins.

Route 66 Smokehouse, on the Elevated Acre at 55 Water St., Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.