Midtown Lunch

A couple of weeks in a row, I’ve noticed that the Our Heros truck at Wall & Water has been courting the Catholics with its non-meat and seafood Lenten offerings. They’ve had a fried tilapia sandwich, another with potato, egg,  peppers and onions, and last week they had Manhattan clam chowder. The tilapia sandwich sounded good to me, especially since they paired it with the words “spicy remoulade.” After growing up being forced to eat the nastiness that is the McDonald’s Filet o Fish one too many Fridays, I can’t say I’ve ever really sought out fish sandwiches, but I thought this grown up, classed up version sounded much more appealing.

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It’s rare that I eat breakfast anywhere but at home since I get to work at a non-early hour, but the other day I happened to be in need of both coffee and something to eat. What to do? Finally check out the Turkish Coffee Cart on Wall St. (btw. Pearl & Water), that’s what. Read more »

The somewhat grubby Sushi By Bento Nouveau at Broadway & Cortlandt St. closed at the beginning of February to get a makeover and the results were revealed on Monday as it once again opened for business. I didn’t actually go inside, but it has a sleeker new look and seems to sell the same pre-made sushi rolls along with rice bowls and some noodles, although it looks like they’ve pared down the offerings and aren’t emphasizing the udon noodle soups as much. I’ll take a closer look soon, but if you were one of the people checking it out, let us know the good/bad in the comments.

The mini chain of Indian steam table restaurant Diwan E Khaas (Multiple Locations) doesn’t get a lot of love on this site, as anytime it’s mentioned it seems a commenter is saying the food is mediocre at best. I used to eat at the nearest location to me, on Nassau btw. Liberty & Maiden Lane, before I realized there were much better lunch options out there, and haven’t ever returned. A while back I noticed they had a sign up for their “winter lunch special” that got you a vegetable or chicken item plus rice or naan for $5.50-$5.99 which seemed like a pretty good deal to me. Would there be anything on the steam table to recommend though? To my surprise, yes.

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This site has previously had reviews of fried chicken noodle soup and other items from the Korean portion of Cafe Hanover at Hanover Sq. & Pearl, but for some inexplicable reason we’ve shunned the Kyedong chicken. This brand of Korean fried chicken is advertised in a poster in the window and in panels on the wall behind the front counter where you pay. Sandwiched between offerings of pork belly for $40 and whole chickens, there are portions of chicken at Midtown Lunch-friendly prices. Click through to check out the behemoth lunch box it comes in, housing equally oversized pieces of chicken.

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If you’ve worked in the Financial District, chances are you’ve heard of Alfanoose on Maiden Lane (btw. Broadway & Nassau). It’s something of an institution in that it’s been there since 1999 and at some point earned recognition for having some of the best falafel in the city. I am not really into their falafel which is in a long cylinder rather than the usual orb, offing the ratio of fluffy inside to crust, and is a couple of dollars more than you’re going to pay at any street cart.

That was the only sandwich I’d eaten there, but then a couple of weeks ago Lunch’er Deep once again recommended the kafta kebab sandwich tweaked to include fried onions. Ground lamb and beef cooked over charcoal sounded pretty great, but would it redeem Alfanoose?

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It’s always frustrating when a craving for Thai food hits me because as most of you know our options for that cuisine are mediocre in the Financial District. Bennie’s Thai Cafe is the best of the few options we have, although there was one I had yet to try because it’s off the beaten path and I tend to forget about it. That would be Budtharasa (also known as Bunrasa) on Washington St. (btw. Carlisle & Rector) over in the weird area of Irish bars, tourists and fancy hotels below the World Trade Center site.

Chris had christened it his go-to Thai spot in the FiDi after he had the chicken curry back in 2009. Since then, the scaffolding covering the front has come down and they have a lunch box for $8 that I thought was my ticket to checking this place out.

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