Midtown Lunch

Somehow it escaped my notice among all of the construction at Fulton St. & Broadway, but pizza shop Caruso’s Pizza apparently caught fire. It was completely boarded up on Thursday, and Cafe Tomato next door (home to a decent Korean food counter) also had to close up due to damage, according to large signs taped to the windows.

I’ve never eaten at Caruso’s, somewhat discouraged by the fake chef statue sitting out front, but if you’re in need of a slice walk a couple of blocks to Rosella’s, Friendly Pizza or Majestic Pizza & Calzone.

I’ve been missing the somewhat authentic Chinese food found at Goodies and not too excited to try out its replacement, Asian Wok, located in the same spot in the little mall at Fulton St. & Gold. A glance at the menu showed one of the cheaper lunch combos I’ve seen at $6.95 for an entree and rice, along with your choice of soup or egg roll. And the quality turned out to be better than what I’ve gotten at other Chinese places downtown.

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Signage went up on the Goodburger replacement, Clarke’s Standard, at the corner of Maiden Lane and Pearl St. recently. There’s no sign of when this new offshoot of P.J. Clarke’s will open, but hopefully it will by the time warmer weather comes around since there’s a nice space for outdoor seating out front.

For all of you who were as sad as I was when the roller coaster ride of It’s A Pizza on John St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau) ended with a closure, you may be interested to know it’s being replaced. The windows had been papered up for a while and last night a banner was up announcing Aroy Dee Thai Kitchen’s arrival. It looks like some work is still being done to the inside, but hopefully we’ll get our hands on some of their food soon.

Despite Zaitzeff being a mere two blocks from my office, I have never stepped inside the place, partly because it had already been reviewed long ago on this site, and because of the prices. I mean, I like a good burger, but is it worth paying nearly (or more than) $10 for just a burger and no fries? It was time to find out, and I picked the turkey burger as my guinea pig.

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Ever since Toloache Taqueria opened on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Gold), we’ve been treated to a slightly fancier take on Mexican food than is found at Chipotle or other options in the Financial District like Sabor de Mexico or the taco trucks that have started parking down here. I’ve sampled the tacos and burritos, which until a recent price break overshot the $10 mark, but the tortas have always beckoned. As I discovered, at $8 they’re probably the best gut-filling bargain to be found there.  Read more »

The scene of the disappearance.

In the last couple of weeks, the number of street meat carts on William St. between Maiden Lane and John St. has been reduced to one instead of three. It’s always hard to tell where these carts have gone since they don’t use Twitter, but Biryani House and NY Express Biryani, which used to sit across the street from each other have been MIA, although Biryani House’s original cart is still a couple of blocks away at Liberty St. and Broadway.  Read more »