Midtown Lunch

I was a little bit excited when someone posted in the forums asking if anyone had eaten at a place called Sabor de Mexico on Trinity Place. Was it a restaurant? A cart? A truck? The possibilities were wide open! But then I walked over and discovered that Caliente Mexican Grill on Trinity (at Thames) had just changed its name. Case closed.

Every once in a while I get a strange urge to go into one of those chains that promises to feed me food that’s supposed to be bad for you, but that they’ve somehow transformed into a healthy lunch that will make me a well-oiled machine. I’m usually I’m a well-oiled machine because I’ve just eaten a greasy gut-bomb for lunch, not because I’m so full of lean protein. One of these chains is Energy Kitchen and although I’ve walked by the Nassau St. location (btw. John & Fulton) countless times I’ve never gone inside. Was it the “Nothing Over 500 Calories” emblazoned on the door that scared me away? Maybe. When profiled lunch’ers Charlene and Kate said they went there, and specifically mentioned the bison cheese steak wrap, I took notice. And further research turned up a bunch of commenters in midtown saying they chose this wrap over The Pump’s version of street meat. I mean, could this bison cheese steak thing actually be good for its advertised 474 calories?

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I’ve been burned by most of the Thai restaurants I’ve tried in the FiDi, but yet I am optimistic that maybe one of the places I haven’t yet tried will blow my mind. One of those places was Lemongrass Grill on William (at Maiden Lane), and after I discovered they had no lunch special I kind of wrote the place off. But then a craving for Thai hit me and I decided to take a walk up the street to see what they offered for the ML budget. Read more »

The last couple of times I’ve been in the lower part of the FiDi there’s been the Dominic’s truck selling Italian sausages and (more importantly) cheese steaks on Whitehall (nr. Water). I haven’t tried it yet, and I thought I’d throw it out to you guys to see if anyone can tell me it’s worth eating at. In other words, is it worth venturing past the Trinidad & Tobago Cart and All American Diner I & II Truck parked nearby?

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a good street meat lunch and it just so happened that the “Gyro King” Xpress Power Lunch cart on Whitehall St. was serving something a little different. I’d spotted a picture of kofte-type kebabs hanging on the front of the cart so I decided to check them out since it was only a $5 gamble. Well, when I got there another sign was even more exciting.

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It’s been a couple of months since Hot Clay Oven started serving its Indian-fusion version of Chipotle in the FiDi. You want a wrap made with naan? Or Indian meats on a salad? Or a fancy version of meat over rice from a cart? They have it all, plus mango lassi and booze. The only time I’ve eaten there was the first day of operation when they were giving out free food and the line was up the block. I wanted to check back in and see what the food was like when I had to pay money for it instead of freeloading.

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I was kind of amazed to discover that the Wall St. Burger Shoppe has never been reviewed on this site. Sure, if you want a full lunch there you’re either going to approach the ML price wall or go over it. I for one would much rather do this than eat a crappy fast food burger (Five Guys excepted from this category, of course), and sometimes you just don’t want to eat in a bar for your burger fix. They also have some crazy burgers for $7 or more on their own. But if you get their “junior deal” or one of their daily specials you can get out of there for $10 or less and not feel ripped off.

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