Midtown Lunch

Although we have a couple of spots serving banh mi and other basic Vietnamese dishes in the Financial District, A La Saigon is the only place down here with a more extensive menu. I had previously tried their bun lunch special, and it was decent, but on a recent day when I wasn’t feeling well I decided a bowl of pho was just what the doctor ordered. If you dig deep into the menu, you’ll see the shop on Liberty Lane (btw. Maiden Lane & Liberty St.) offers a few types of pho, and I headed over to see how theirs compared with the solid version from nearby Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches.

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If you thought the Financial District didn’t have enough options for bread with holes in the middle, you’re in luck: A location of Simit + Smith opened today on William St. at Platt. They specialize in Turkish simit which are the thinner, lighter cousin of the bagel, and they also have at least one solid sandwich. Between this and Blue Spoon Coffee across the street, this block has some solid carb options. Also, according to their Twitter, if you have a government ID you can get a free simit through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sometimes a lunch that I warily buy takes a turn for the delicious. That was the case when I randomly stopped by Terri on Pearl St. (btw. Maiden Ln and Cedar) and happened to see they had a new sandwich on the menu. They now offer a vegan version of a BBQ pork sandwich ($8.05) and after a taste I was immediately reminded of an offering at a certain fast-food chain.  Read more »

I know we haven’t reported on the closure of Five Guys, but most of you have probably realized it closed along with all of the other ground-floor businesses in that building on Fulton St. due to a condo development. The good news is that soon we’ll be getting a Smashburger on William St. (nr. Fulton) in the space that housed Yips. There’s one other NYC location of the Colorado-based chain in downtown Brooklyn and in addition to smashed burgers they also have chicken sandwiches, salads and shakes. It looks like there will also be one burger concoction unique to the Financial District location.

I have never eaten a Vietnamese breakfast, but if I did I’d want it to be the egg and pork roll banh mi from the No. 1 Banh Mi Cart. We’ve eaten most of the conventional fillings from this cart but there are usually eight to 10 on offer and some (sardines in sunflower oil, roasted eel, tuna fish) are more on the edge. There was breakfast served at the cart for a time, and I’d like to think the pork roll and egg sandwich ($7) on the lunch menu is a legacy of that.  Read more »

It seems like just yesterday that the first New York outpost of Chicago-based Potbelly Sandwich Shop debuted on Maiden Lane to a line of frenzied fans. In fact, that was more than two years ago and now a third Financial District location has popped up on Fulton St. between Nassau and William. Apparently our hunger for sandwiches with hot pepper relish knows no bounds.

Soma By Nature has been a standby for Korean food in the Financial District with sushi and a few other Japanese offerings pushed to the side. On Friday I noticed they have changed the name to BentOn Cafe (of which there is a location in Midtown), although the sign promoting the $6 Korean lunch specials remained outside. What has changed is a rack of grab and go bento boxes and Japanese sweets prominently featured near the Korean food station.

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