Midtown Lunch

Ever had a craving for a burger and some mandoo? ‘Essen appears to be making that combo possible with its location coming to Varick & Vandam streets. It looks like this place for “fast slow food” already has a location in Midtown, and while it’s similar to all of the other generic delis out there, it will be offering burgers, salads, chicken sandwiches and mandoo in one convenient location. So it’s about one notch above all of the other generic delis in the area.

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.

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A brightly-painted truck began parking at Old Slip & Water St. a while ago and from the side facing the street it appeared to be a truck selling smoothies, fruit juices and fruit like the carts you see dotting sidewalks in the city. It turns out Sammi’s is a bit of a Jekyll & Hyde situation as it also sells burgers, fries and chicken wings among other decidedly unhealthy foods. Had anyone had the food here or are you curious about it? I like the idea of getting carrot juice with a side of wings.

A shiny new pedestrian plaza was installed on Coenties Slip between Pearl and Water streets recently. This is great for Lunch’ers looking to dine al fresco or walk in the middle of the street, but not so great for food trucks. There was usually room for at least one truck to park there each day, but that’s no longer the case. It seems like the amount of spots for trucks to park has gone back to normal since all of the construction vehicles after hurricane Sandy are mostly gone. Still, it might be nice to have a food truck lot somewhere down here to make things easier.