Midtown Lunch

It’s hard to remember that Harry’s Italian Pizza Bar exists since it’s off the beaten path of Maiden Lane, down Gold St. on a short little stretch of Platt St. that’s only a couple of blocks long. In the summer eating there is a nice treat as there is plentiful outdoor seating and the lunch menu is vast and full of pizza, parm sandwiches and pasta (or macaroni, as the menu calls it). The only problem is that nearly everything except the sandwiches and a small calzone are $10 or more. Sometimes it’s nice to sit and have table service instead of eating on a bench or at your desk, but is the extra cost worth it? Read more »

It’s rare that I actually want to step foot in a fast food restaurant although there have been a couple of gems discovered through reviews including Checkers and more recently, Potbelly Sandwich Shop. Popeyes is one of those places that I feel I can eat at every once in a while and not feel ashamed of it – completely unlike all those people who look embarassed to be eating at the Blimpie’s at John & Nassau every time I walk by. Normally, my go-to at Popeyes is spicy fried chicken but I’ve been intrigued by the BBQ chicken sandwich pictured in a giant sign on the window. It coincidentally came out around the same time as the BBQ pulled pork sandwich at Subway, although I trust the people at Popeyes more with making an edible lunch. The other day I took the plunge and stopped at Popeye’s on Fulton St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau) to see if they could do anything good with chicken besides fry it.

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I’ve eaten at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches a couple of times for a banh mi and to try the pho but recently realized that I’d never had their classic sandwich featuring the holy trinity of crumbled pork, pate and cold cut. It just so happened that the next day was miserably rainy and I didn’t want to venture more than a couple of blocks for lunch, so Nicky’s sounded perfect. It was time to see how three varieties of pork stacked up against the pork chop sandwich I’d eaten on my first visit there.

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The closet-sized Urban Lobster Shack was once our only source of takeout lobster rolls in the Financial District. Then a couple of months ago beloved Luke’s Lobster opened basically right around the corner, and although the styles of their rolls are different I thought it was worth checking back into the originator to see what they were doing to keep up with the young upstart competition. It turns out they’ve added a new roll to their arsenal. Read more »

I would guess about 99% percent of people who eat lunch at Bennie’s Thai Cafe on Fulton St. (at Gold) get something off the cheap menu where the food is dished up off a steam table with a scoop of rice. But what if it’s hot outside and the thought of eating a hot plate of Thai food doesn’t sound appealing? That’s when I turn to their salad menu because they’re the only affordable Thai place down here doing authentic dishes like larb and selling it at ML-friendly prices. And if you don’t like traditional salads that try to trick you into eating vegetables, this may be for you.

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A couple of weeks ago a sign popped up in a window on Nassau Street announcing the forthcoming (and terribly named) Kortako coming soon from the people behind Bon Chon on John St. I’d never eaten any of their non-Korean fried chicken items so headed over with a co-luncher for an investigative look into whether we had any right to be excited about them bringing us a taco and sandwich shop. Read more »

Sometimes when I would walk by Sandra’s Food Spot cart on Nassau (btw. Liberty & Cedar) in the morning there would be a neon pink sign affixed to the front announcing a special of tilapia with rice and beans for $7. It wasn’t until a few failed attempts at snagging this special that I realized they only serve it on Wednesdays (much like the Friday pasteles special), and it’s best to go early if you want some. Read more »