Midtown Lunch

It’s been nearly a year since we checked in with the Nixtamalito kiosk over by 1 Centre St. at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, but I was happy I did the other day. I was there to finally check out the tamales which have eluded me every other time I’ve been there. The menu for the kiosk has stayed the same, but I’m happy to report there’s now a cart next to it selling paletas from La NewYorkina! The details on that and the word on the tamales (spoiler: they’re really good) after the jump.

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If you’ve walked down Broadway by Trinity Church, you may have noticed a blue cart selling things like baklava and other sweets, along with Greek salad and chicken and gyro sandwiches. Lunch’er blueprintu told us about the cart when answering profiled lunch’er Dan’s question of where he could find Greek food. The cart’s not always there, but they were yesterday when I walked by. Everything seems reasonably priced, and ideal for an afternoon snack or light lunch. A look at the menu is straight ahead. Read more »

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when walking into the freshly opened Yushi on Pearl St. (btw. Cedar & Maiden Lane), but I certainly didn’t think I’d find a Chipotle-esque setup serving build-your-own rice and noodle bowls. I hesitantly joined the line after bypassing the premade hot food display of noodle dishes, overpriced dumplings, soups and the cold options of sushi rolls and salads. It turned out that deciding to fashion myself a “Yu Bowl” was a surprisingly excellent choice.

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Last week we told you that signs had gone up on the new Yushi location on Pearl St. (btw. Maiden & Cedar). Since then they’ve taken the paper down from the windows and everything looks ready to go inside, which is good because they’re opening on Monday. This joins the location in the World Financial Center food court and one in Midtown, and furthers the creep of chain places from Maiden Lane.

Yushi,  Pearl St. (btw. Maiden Lane & Cedar), 4 World Financial Center, www.yushi.com

The gates were down at Goodies on Fulton St. (at Gold) and I wasn’t exactly reassured by a sign in the window saying they would reopen soon. In a good news, bad news situation, Goodies has indeed bitten the dust, taking its menu of things you might expect to find in Chinatown and not the Financial District with it. Lunch’er Seaweed noted that signage had gone up for its replacement called Asian Wok. During a walk by today, it didn’t appear they were actually open, but a new menu was hanging in the window and as I feared it’s full of the usual Americanized Chinese suspects without any dim sum selections in sight. I guess it’s the only Chinese food option in that area if you don’t want to walk up to Yip’s on William St. This is one of the sadder closings in recent memory and I guess there will have to be more treks up to Chinatown now.

While walking by the “coming slowly” location of Yushi on Pearl St. (btw. Maiden & Cedar) yesterday I noticed signs were up, and although the windows are still papered over there were people coming out who looked like they were there for training. We’ll try to keep you posted on when they’re opening, but if any of you see the doors open and Japanese food coming out, let us know!

Ever since Cafe 41 opened in the space formerly occupied by beloved deli Patuca on John St. (btw. Nassau & William), they’ve been trying to find their hook. First, it was trying to lure people in with healthy eats, but then they started offering $1 slices and that’s when I took notice. Because I think we all know that while people don’t really want a chopped salad, they do want dirt cheap pizza.

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