Midtown Lunch

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Yael who eats at Zeytuna out of convenience and is just trying to find a lunch spot that doesn’t require wearing a coat.

Name: Yael Maxwell

Occupation: Research projects manager at a health non-profit

Where you work: Trinity Building – 115 Broadway

Age: 23

Favorite Kinds of Food: Sushi, Italian, Mexican (especially a good mole), paninis, soups made with butternut squash or pumpkin, anything with coconut or avocado, burrata cheese, white chocolate, wine.

Least Favorite Foods: Unidentifiable pieces in udon soup, eggplant, white asparagus, buffet food that has been sitting out too long.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Catfish sandwich from Baoguette on Maiden Lane (btw. Nassau & Broadway); Udon from Sushi by Bento Nouveau (Multiple Locations); Falafel from Alan’s Falafel on Broadway (btw. Cedar & Liberty); Bison cheesesteak from Energy Kitchen on Nassau (btw. John & Fulton); Burgers and fries at Zaitzeff on Nassau (at John).

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Zeytuna because it’s just so convenient and full of options.

Places downtown you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: When I switched jobs from midtown, I basically used ML to plan my new lunch locales from scratch. Pretty much everything I know about, I found out from ML. Some examples: Hello Pasta on Maiden Lane (nr. Water), Swich (sad they closed), Zaitzeff.

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes, and why: Outside of NYC: Florence, Italy, just because you can’t get much more authentic than that, and they have amazing gelato. Inside of NYC: I liked being in Midtown West because there were just so many options. I loved going to Yum Yum Bangkok on 9th Ave. (btw. 45th & 46th) for their $6 three-course lunch special!

Anything you’d like to ask the downtown Midtown Lunch readers?: What are some great places with seating in the FiDi? It seems that so many places with good, cheap food are take-out only or you have to squeeze into one of 4 available seats and be blasted with cold air every time the door opens.

That’s an excellent question. A couple of places I’ve gone to just because I knew I’d get a seat were Texas Rotisserie & Grill on Fulton (btw. William & Gold) and Niko Niko on Pearl (btw. Wall & Pine). Toloache Taqueria on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Gold) usually has a spot to sit, even if it’s at the counter by the window. Anyone else have a recommendation of lunch spots with plentiful seating? And as always, if you would like to be next week’s Profiled Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nominate), email us at downtownnyc@midtownlunch.com.