Midtown Lunch

After Win Won was shuttered by the Department of Health, the space in that weird alley-like Liberty Place (btw. Liberty St. & Maiden Lane) sat empty for a little while until one day it suddenty turned into Dumpling House. Since this is pretty close to where I work I was excited that perhaps we had something comparable to Prosperity Dumpling or Vanessa’s in the Financial District. A look at the menu was distressing since that item was relegated to the appetizer section. One day I stopped in to check out the dumplings and what I found wasn’t pretty.

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If you haven’t walked past tiny Backyard Chicken on Pearl St. (at John) in a while you should be aware that they have branched out from selling rotisserie chicken, changed the set up a little and got a new awning with a giant digital scrolling sign above it. This hole-in-the-wall is still that, but a nicer looking one. What drew me there was the promise on that digital sign of ribs (and pizza!?). But the question is: Can you trust a place specializing in chicken with your ribs?

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Last week word on the street was that Vietnamese sandwich shop Baoguette was moving into a location on Nassau St. between John & Fulton but it was unclear what would happen to their current location on Maiden Lane. That question was answered this morning as signs have appeared in the windows of both locations. As you can see above, some sandwich porn is all it takes to advertise what’s going into the former dry cleaning shop. Click through to see what the hastily-written (I hope) sign in the current location says.

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Summer is the ideal time to enjoy a lobster (or shrimp or crab) roll from Luke’s Lobster on S. William (at Broad) although really you can’t go wrong with one in the colder months either. No matter how much we try to deny it, freezing cold is on its way and with that comes soup weather. A little bit lost amid all of the seafood stuffed into hot dog rolls is the chowder and bisque section of Luke’s’ menu. It’s a good way to enjoy some seafood without breaking your lunch budget.

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There’s a sign outside of Soma By Nature on William (btw. John & Fulton) that I always pass by but have never investigated. That would be the $5.95 lunch specials that include curry chicken, ma po tofu, udon soup and japchae. Considering that most things there are $8 or more I feel like this is a pretty good deal, but do you get enough food to fill you up or do they stiff you in the name of a bargain? That’s what I headed inside to find out.

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A couple of months ago the San Luis Taco truck (formerly called Tacos Mexicanos) rolled into the Financial District, filling a void with its Mexican and Ecuadorian food. They’ve bounced around in different spots since then but seem to have settled on parking on Front St. which is good because I think often fans of their food didn’t know where the hell they were from day to day. After my first taste of the truck’s hornado, I decided to return for something from the Mexican side of the menu and discovered that it was hard to choose when you have so many delicious options at your disposal

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If you frequent the street food carts on Broadway between Liberty and Cedar streets you’re probably familiar with Zak’s Halal cart (later known by the man always working there, who told Daniel his name was Musthafa). A while ago, this affable man disappeared from the cart and I’ve never seen him working there since. There was always a line at this cart, mostly for the awesome chicken over rice plate. Lately I’ve noticed that line has disappeared and I was curious if the food had gone downhill or if everyone else was just suspicious with unknown faces cooking the food. So I did the only reasonable thing and went to eat a plate of street meat. Update: As you can see from the comment below, and confirmed by a couple of lunchers, Mustafa is back! He was just on vacation.

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