Midtown Lunch

A first visit to Open Kitchen on William St. (at Beaver) did not go well. Not all of the stations were open, things seemed disorganized, and the employees didn’t seem to be on their game. Did I mention the food I got was not that great, but they do have good coffee? Luckily, this time the food was better and the operation seemed to be running more smoothly.  Read more »

Most of the Chinese food options in the Financial District average about $7 or $8 for a lunch special. China 59 on Nassau St. (btw Maiden Lane & John St.) pegs theirs at $9 which gets you something from a list of mostly Americanized Chinese food, pork fried rice, and an egg roll. I wondered if it was worth walking down the wide staircase to the basement restaurant for lunch. To my surprise, little touches made the couple of extra dollars spent seem worth it.  Read more »

GRK is an unapologetically meaty restaurant offering three different meats on spits for your lunch, but so far I’ve only sampled one of them (not counting the turkey special they did a couple of years ago). The pork is a winner, but there’s also chicken and a beef/lamb combo to choose from. The good news is that I’ve now confirmed that another one of their meats is many notches above what you’ll get for a couple of dollars less at a street meat cart.  Read more »

Starting at the end of this week for dinner and the following week for lunch you can nosh on Bavarian food and wash it down with a stein of “unique and unusual” German beer in the Financial District. Bavaria Bierhaus will open its doors on South William St. (btw. Broad & Hanover) for dinner service and drinking on Friday, with lunch service beginning Monday at 11 a.m. Hopefully the fresh-baked pretzels and sausages will be than $10 because charging more than that is ridiculous, but it sounds like the real meals like spaetzle or Wiener schnitzel will cost far more than that.

It’s soup weather and while there are several places to get your fix downtown, one of my favorites is at Alfanoose on Fulton St. (at Ryder’s Alley). Not only is their red lentil soup delicious, it’s also a steal and a complete meal if you pair it with one of their savory pies.

Read more »

It was by chance that I discovered Pisillo, the new Italian panini shop on Nassau St. (btw. Fulton & Ann). The menu is simple with a roster of sandwiches and not an Italian-American park in the bunch. In fact, there aren’t any hot options at all, only cold cuts, cheese and a few vegetable toppings. You also won’t find any mayo or marinara sauce. These are all good things.  Read more »

There’s a Thanksgiving sandwich hiding on the menu year round at Lenny’s – that sandwich and salad chain that seems to be trying to keep pace with Potbelly Sandwich Shop‘s expansion in the Financial District and Tribeca. For now there are two locations in the FiDi, with three more planned in Battery Park City, and on Pearl St. and  Park Place. I’ve never eaten at a Lenny’s but plenty of you seem to, and I was curious how their turkey sandwich would fare compared to others I’ve tried from places that aren’t chains. Surprisingly, it was pretty damn good.

Read more »