Midtown Lunch

If you’ve ever gotten off the subway at Canal and Centre streets, you’ve probably noticed the giant yellow awning proclaiming the five combination for $4.50 deal at Lunch Box Buffet. I know I have! Until now I’ve never tried it because, really, there are so many options in the area for cheap food that I was waiting for a day when I had an intense craving for crappy Chinese and happened to be in the area. Well, those events happened recently and I headed inside to a magical world where you didn’t have to pay by the pound to sample multiple items. Read more »

With the weather turning cold and rainy I’ve had soup on my mind, as I’m a lover of pretty much anything that involves broth. Actually, I can only think of one soup I’ve ever eaten that I really didn’t like.  Specifically, I was looking for a good noodle soup and that’s a hard proposition in the FiDi so I headed up to Chinatown’s Xe Lua on Mulberry (between Canal & Baxter). Daniel had done a mini-tour of Vietnamese places back in the day and several people suggested the pho at Xe Lua in the comments of that post. Was it worth the trip or should I have just eaten some generic deli udon? Find out after the jump. Read more »

The finalists for the Dessert Vendy Awards came out the other day, and among the hipster trucks and carts was a non-flashy one from Chinatown. That would be Yao’s Long Tzi Tang (Dragon Beard Candy), which has its spot on Canal St. (btw. Mott & Mulberry). I was clued into this cart recently by Food In Mouth, which is great because I rarely walk that far down on Canal in search of lunch and never would have known it was there otherwise. Click through to see the sugary magic. Read more »

Normally when people go to Chinatown it’s for, well, Chinese food or maybe a little Vietnamese or Thai. While I’m sure there are a handful of Korean restaraunts lodged in that part of the city, I wasn’t really aware of them, except for Jup She (formerly Li Hua). It’s a tiny place on Grand St. (at Baxter) with no real sign so you have to watch out for it. The reason I trekked all the way up to Chinatown for Korean food is that there really isn’t much to choose from in the Financial District unless you want Soma By Nature, Bon Chon or Cafe Hanover. Plus, I’m all about a Korean lunch box for less than $10, which I feel is a rarity (especially judging by the crappy-looking box Chris tried at Cafe Hanover for more than $10). Take a gander at what was in Jup She’s arsenal after the jump. Read more »

A few weeks ago I thought I had found a pretty good deal in Chinatown with a Sichuan lunch including soup, appetizer, rice and entree for $5.50. I know there are cheaper meals to be had in Chinatown, but it’s pretty daunting finding them. Well, after the post was up the ML Twitter account got this little message from @Gordoneats:

Downtown deal of the century? How about $3.50 for roast pork on rice (with bean sprouts and soup, takeout) at New Kim Tuong?

According to Zach, Gordon used to work for Serious Eats and is an authoritative source on all things tasty in Chinatown. The next time the urge hit me to head up there, it was with this mythical, cheap roast pork meal in mind. After all, it’s time I branched out from my five-for-$1 dumpling meals. Read more »

On certain days when I have a little extra time on my hands for lunch, I like to venture a little farther than normal for food, and in most cases that usually means Chinatown. And when that intersects with wanting spicy food, the Sichuan variety comes to mind. That’s what led me to Famous Sichuan on Pell St. (btw. Doyers & Bowery). Once I got there I discovered perhaps the greatest lunch deal I’ve found yet, in an area of the city known for its dirt cheap food. Read more »

Oh Chinatown, you just keep serving up the delicious and cheap food in true Midtown Lunch style, and my latest venture to one of your restaurants made me love you even more. That place is Wah Mei Pork Chop Fast Food on Hester St. (btw. Baxter & Mulberry). It’s one of two Taiwanese pork chop places in that neighborhood, the other being Excellent Pork Chop House on Doyers. Wah Mei has a pretty limited menu consisting of pork chop or chicken over rice or noodles, soups and fried rice. Clearly, if pork chop is in the name, that is what must be eaten when you first go there. Read more »