Midtown Lunch

If you’ve never been to Suspenders on Broadway (at Thames), or didn’t even know it existed, it’s because you have to walk down some stairs from street level, past a Subway sandwich shop and notice it before you get to an actual subway entrance. The bar and restaurant has no windows, but what it does have is a giant screen showing sports and Greek and Mediterranean food for less than $10.

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It seems like it’s been awhile since a lunch spot like French Cafe Gourmand has opened in the Financial District – as in a place that’s not a chain or a new branch of a chain. No, this cafe on Maiden Lane (btw. B’way & Nassau) is run by actual French people and they sell a small selection of items including coffee, soup, salads, sandwiches and some French pastries and baked goods. When I went in to check it out, I could almost for five seconds imagine that I was somewhere else but Manhattan (or at least in cafe-heavy Tribeca or Soho).

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I was skeptical of the sign in the window of the Popeye’s on Fulton St. that said the store was closed to “make needed improvements to better serve you,” since no work seemed to be taking place inside the unpapered windows. When I walked by Friday there was a repossession by marshal’s sign on the door, and I’m pretty sure we’re now one fried chicken joint shorter. They closed for these alleged renovations after a shutter by the Department of Health for various violations, so maybe that had something to do with it.

If you work in the Financial District and have a craving for kati rolls where do you turn? Up until last week I thought the only options were a couple of carts at Liberty & Broadway – Bombay Biryany and Biryani House – where you can get street meat chicken or lamb gyro put into paratha with standard street cart sauces. The price is right at $5 or $6 for two of them, but they weren’t anything special, and I’d rather get the namesake dish or street meat from either of these carts.

Profiled Lunch’er Yury asked where to get the best kati rolls downtown, and all of the suggestions came from Murray Hill or Greenwich Village where they’re more abundant. I remembered seeing kati rolls listed on the menu at Bombay’s on Pearl St. (btw. Coenties & Broad) but hadn’t got around to actually eating one. Well, I finally did, and I don’t know if my expectations were really low, but the chicken tikka one I tried got me all kinds of excited.

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I’ve only eaten at the Yushi in the World Financial Center once to try their healthy take on chicken katsu, but it wasn’t bad, so I was happy to see paper up in a window on Pearl St. btw. Maiden Lane and Pine saying it was forthcoming. They’re known for their conveyor belt sushi and also have hot items and other Japanese fare in a fast food setting. The people at Niko Niko down the street probably are none too happy with this development as they have some of the same menu items. We’ll keep you posted when opening seems near.

Last year shaved ice purveyor Wooly’s Ice went home a winner for best dessert at the Vendy Awards. The cart was in ML Downtown territory last year – first starting next to the 1 Centre St. kiosks and later moving up to Elizabeth St. This year they’re on the move again and starting today will be parked for the summer season at the South St. Seaport, right at Pier 17. Danny Che from Wooly’s gave us the low down on some changes to the cart’s ices and some other information. They were expecting to be up and running by the beginning of May but as often happens there were some unexpected setbacks which is probably fine because it hasn’t exactly been warm enough to crave icy treats. Straight ahead for what you can expect to help you deal with the heat this summer.

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This week marks two years since I’ve started writing  for you fine people on Midtown Lunch: Downtown and I thought it might be fun to tell you about some non-review lunches that I’ve eaten on a regular basis since I started working in the Financial District but haven’t ever written about. I’m saving my most shameful guilty pleasure lunch for the end of the week, but today you get the lunch that I’ve probably eaten the most when I’m crunched for time or can’t think of anything else imaginative to stuff in my face. That would be the catfish banh mi from Baoguette, extra spicy.

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