Midtown Lunch

We have plenty of street meat options downtown but they’re pretty much all one-cart operations. That was why I was at first confused, and then excited when I saw that the Biryani House cart that has brought kati rolls and biryani to the Financial District added a second cart next door with an all-curry menu. A quick chat with the guy working there revealed they’ve been there for a couple of days and serve Kashmiri curries so it’s a completely different menu from the regular cart that sells everything from hot dogs to chicken tikka. As he so eloquently put it “they serve dry curries and ours are wet.” OK then! Read more »

Many of you probably know Yip’s for its extensive and fairly cheap by-the-pound buffet. It’s less than $6 per pound and has a vast selection of carbs and fried meats swimming in sauces. Normally I would have been all over that, but this time I went for the $4.50 special I’d seen advertised in the window.  Just this once I was glad I walked past the huge buffet  (garlic fried fish, I’ll be back for you!) to the back counter at the location on William St. (btw. John & Fulton).

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Sometimes you see an idea involving food and realize it’s something that perhaps should be adopted more widely. That was the case when I saw the Slip Slice on the menu at Pizza Pizza on Pearl St. (nr. Stone), the sister restaurant to Burger Burger a couple of doors down. So what is this item? It involves two slices of pizza and extra cheese, but you’re going to have to click through for a visual.

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The stars aligned yesterday as I was trying to decide what I wanted for lunch, and my brain randomly replied “burrito.” The nearest source of decent burritos to my office is Toloache Taqueria on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Gold) and it was a good excuse to go back there since I’d already tried their tacos and pozole. When I got there I saw the above sign in the window advertising $5 burritos on Cinco de Mayo which just happens to be today. What will you get for that small amount of money? on this day of excessive drinking? Photos and analysis straight ahead.

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Ever since Tokyo Kitchen closed Cajun Maggie’s has become the last remaining dodgy place to eat on the block of John St. between Nassau & Broadway. They are even classy enough to have someone handing out samples outside the store, just like at the mall. I knew Kevin went there to try out the oh so Cajun specialty of bourbon chicken, but I was interested in their take on some other actual Cajun items on the menu like shrimp etouffee and blackened fish. I wasn’t going in with high expectations of having the food transport me back to New Orleans but would it even be vaguely passable?

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There is no scientific evidence that eating fried foods in soup will make you feel better but I’m just going to pretend this is true. Also, I know doing a post on soup when it’s 70 degrees outside isn’t exactly logical either but I’ve been under the weather and thought it would be an opportune time to sneak one more hot food post in before that starts to sound disgusting. With my head in a fog I was thinking of possible places to get soup and for some reason Cafe Hanover came to mind since I knew they had a section devoted to udon and soba. And nothing cures you better than noodles, salty broth and fried protein!

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After a recent trip to Italy I’ve been thinking about all of the great food I ate there including a number of top-notch sandwiches. The problem is that most of the options near my office are more of the giant Italian-American parm variety. And I love Alidoro in SoHo but it’s not exactly convenient for those of us in the Financial District. Then I remembered Sandwich House on Ann St. (btw. Nassau & Park Row) served some Italian sandwiches that may just be what I was looking for. Daniel seemed to be impressed when he ate there a couple of years ago in search of his Rosario’s replacement so I decided to give it a shot.

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