Midtown Lunch

The offshoot of Chinatown’s Vivi Bubble Tea  on John St. (nr. Nassau) soft opened yesterday, and is officially open today with a special to lure people in during this cold snap. A sign out front advertises a buy one, get one free offer which you can either graciously share with a co-worker or hoard for yourself and call it lunch. This apparently excludes slushes, hot drinks and smoothies, and the BOGO special’s good through the end of January.

Vivi Bubble Tea, 39 John St. (nr. Nassau St.)

I stopped short while walking down John St. yesterday as I spotted a papered up window out of the corner of my eye. Then I spotted a sign hanging in one window below some scaffolding, and lo and behold, BonChon Chicken apparently suffered some sort of fire recently and now we’re deprived of Korean fried chicken.

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I haven’t checked in with French Cafe Gourmand since they opened on Maiden Lane (btw. B’way & Nassau) last May. Since then the place seems to have cultivated a following judging by the steady stream of customers ordering quiche, soup and sandwiches from the affable counter workers. The focus is on French-tinged sandwiches but they have a few like an Indian curried chicken one that stray a bit outside the norm. I had spotted a lamb sandwich on the menu and was intrigued to see how the French did it, and because it was a steal at less than $8.

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You may have read about the loaded knish I sampled at Long Island Bagel Cafe earlier in the week, but you may be wondering how their bagels are. I was too, so while I was there I also got a bagel sandwich since a salad or soup was unappealing. Like Leo’s Bagels or Zucker’s over in Tribeca, they make their own bagels in many varieties and offer all of the smoked fish and such that go along with them. I opted to go for a more traditional sandwich to offset the knish gutbomb.

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Do you ever get hit with a craving for something really specific at lunch? This happens to me on occasion, and the other day my want was for kati rolls. While I could have gone for one of my favorites at Bombay’s, I instead stopped by the NY Express Biryani cart at William & John St., only to be told they were out of kati rolls for some reason. Undeterred, I headed across the street to standby Biryani House cart and ordered up one of their other rolls – the spicy buradi with chicken.

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Do you ever take a look at your lunch and wish you would have bought a coffee to go along with it? That was the feeling I had after unwrapping the loaded knish I got during the first day of business at Long Island Bagel Cafe on Fulton St. (btw. Nassau & William). They were still training staff so they were giving 50% off your order. I took this as an opportunity to double dip and get both a bagel sandwich (for a later review), and to find out what was up with the loaded knish section of the menu. Basically, I ordered a handheld nap.

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It seems like stores devoted to beverages are the latest trend coming to the Financial District. This awning for Vivi Bubble Tea was spotted on John St. near Nassau, and it’s a second downtown location of a Taiwanese chain that’s also on Bayard St. in Chinatown. I’d have to say, this excites me more than the Magic Mix Juicery bringing its $10 juices to Fulton St.