Midtown Lunch

Word was that new chainy-looking Greek restaurant GRK on Fulton St. (btw. William & Dutch) would open on Sept. 6 (or so said the NY Times), but they announced on Twitter that the date was delayed as so often happens with new eateries. Yesterday we got word that they’re actually opening for lunch on Monday UPDATE: We just heard that the opening has been delayed to Wednesday at 11 a.m. A look at the menu shows a few similarities to nearby Pita Press, but less in the way of vegetarian options unless you want a salad. This is a place for carnivores and lovers of Greek yogurt.

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Everyone knows how cheap pasta is, and how much it costs to throw some sauce on it. That’s why I often have a problem paying $10 for a takeout plate of pasta which I could have made myself for about $2. That being said, there is a somewhat budget-friendly carbo-loading spot in the Financial District, and that would be Pranzo on Water St. (btw. Coenties Slip & Broad). My friend has been telling me that she and her co-workers are always going there for the pasta and since it’s far down in the nether regions of the FiDi it’s easy to forget about. On a day when it wasn’t as hot as the Sahara, I headed over to see if cheap pasta could compete with some of the more expensive options.

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Get ready everybody, because healthy pizza’s coming to the Financial District! Yesterday I spotted this sign for Stamina Grill & Juice Bar in one of the many papered up windows along Nassau St. between John & Fulton, promising smoothies, chopped salads, wraps and this pizza. This storefront is diagonally across the street from Energy Kitchen which also traffics in wraps and foods that will make you want to go run a 5K, so it will be interesting to see how the menus differ (and find out how they made pizza healthy).

I can’t recall ever eating at Lenny’s, the sandwich chain that has a location on John St., but we’re about to get another one in the Financial District. A sign in a papered up window on Water St. between Coenties Slip & Broad alluded to the imminent opening. Is this better or worse than another Potbelly or Subway? Not sure on that one, but the sandwich-crazed among you should take note.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good plate of chicken over rice with ample hot sauce and white sauce, but sometimes you want something different. That’s why I was intrigued when A-Pou’s Taste Cart at Liberty St. & Broadway started serving a special of basil chicken with white rice, adding to their strong lineup of Taiwanese potstickers and Chinese spaghetti. I’ve basically loved everything I’ve ever gotten from this cart (plus the woman who works there is super nice), and it’s so nice to have an alternative to the halal cart overload happening on the Liberty Plaza. But would basil chicken from a cart be any good? Could it surpass the potstickers?

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Despite having worked in the Financial District for four years now and having co-workers who clutch their brightly-hued plastic Just Salad bowls before going out to lunch, I have never stepped foot in the place or even felt compelled to. Yes, I reviewed a salad from Cosi once, but seriously you guys, the bread is the whole reason anyone goes there. What does Just Salad have? Why is there always just as long of a line snaking out the door at the Maiden Lane location as a couple of doors down at Chipotle where at least you’re rewarded with a ginormous burrito? These were the questions coursing through my brain as I committed to trying a salad from a place that I learned is misleadingly named.

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Those of you who work near City Hall may already be familiar with Blue Spoon Coffee Co. which has had a location on Chambers St. (btw. Broadway & Church) for a few years serving good coffee and sandwiches, salad and soup come lunch time. The second location opened on William St. (at Platt) two weeks ago, and just started serving lunch with the same menu as the first shop. You might want to first go there for the fancy Intelligentsia coffee they’re brewing or for the various breakfast items like Balthazar pastries, bagels and oatmeal, but you also may be interested in the sandwiches which, instead of festering in a refrigerated case, are made to order.

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