Midtown Lunch

Unless you work near or at City Hall or the surrounding area (or are going to court), you’re probably like me and forget about the kiosks near the 1 Centre St. building. The other day when Korean food sounded like an excellent lunch idea, I realized I hadn’t been back to Koki & Vegi since they opened. I was impressed with their bulgogi that cost less than $10 and figured that based on the extreme enthusiasm of the people working there that the bibimbap was going to be pretty good too.

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I’ve always wondered how the lamb/chicken over rice combo ($6) was at the Gyro House cart parked at Ann St. & Park Row. You can’t help but smell it every time you head to J&R Electronics, which it is parked directly in front of. I’d have to say after eating it that there were two things going on in their combo over rice that you’ll probably either love or hate.

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Here’s a confession: I’m not a huge fan of grilled cheese. That was why I was kind of perplexed when I heard there was more than one truck devoted to this sandwich hitting the streets of New York City, and after eating at the first one to launch, I was even more confused. Why would people pay nearly $10 for two slices of bread with some cheese in it? Couldn’t I make this at home with little effort? Centre Melts, one of the new kiosks around 1 Centre St., opened a while back and I was curious if it was going to be any better than the mobile competition. To the analysis! Read more »

It’s easy to forget about the area around City Hall at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in terms of lunch options because, other than a couple of food carts, there really weren’t any until a year ago when the Open Air Cafe kiosks opened. Those shuttered, but this year brought the amazing news that Tortilleria Nixtamal opened Nixtamalito and then others selling diner food, grilled cheese, shaved ice and other items were opening. The last of the bunch was Koki & Vegi with Korean food. As of last week the kiosk has been open selling bibimbap, kalbi, bulgogi and other items at less than $10. After what I ate yesterday, I can say that Korean food fans should be excited.

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The opening of the Nixtamalito Taqueria kiosk was a big deal for the area around city hall and the 1 Centre St. building that was mostly void of decent lunch options. Since that opened several of the other kiosks nearby that were vacant have become occupied, selling things like burgers and cafe fare, quiche and gluten-free pizza, fancy grilled cheese and shaved ice. One more is set to open next to Nixtamalito, selling Korean BBQ, making this one of the most concentrated areas of decent lunch options downtown. Click through for a look at what municipal workers and those on jury duty can look forward to come lunch time.

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Since we don’t have 2 Bros. Pizza way downtown the $1 slices that are common in other parts of the city are something of a novelty here. The newly-opened Roll And Go on Broadway (at Franklin) is the only place I’m aware of (other than craptastic Papa John’s) below Canal selling slices at this price. When I got there the place was packed, but since almost everyone was getting cheese slices they had a bunch ready to go and it wasn’t long before I had food in hand.

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To anyone who says there’s no good Mexican food downtown (or in NYC…or anywhere outside of some shack in the back of a gas station in California), I would say you should go out of your way to eat at Nixtamalito. Or if you get called for jury duty at least you can look forward to a torta come lunch time. I’d gone when they first opened and ended up ordering tacos which were good and all, but I wanted to try some of the other items on the menu that you can’t readily find downtown. That was how I ended up standing in front of Nixtamalito in the pouring rain, despite intending to go somewhere else (indoors) for lunch. Read more »