Midtown Lunch

The only previous experience I’ve had with Swedish food involves the IKEA cafeteria and I’m sure that’s about as close as most people have gotten to that country’s cuisine. As much as I love the dirt-cheap food there, I also know it’s like eating in a hospital cafeteria and no one ever said that food was good. Enter FIKA Swedish Espresso Bar, which started out in midtown but now has its flagship location down on Pearl St. (at Coenties Slip). While technically an espresso bar, they also make their own chocolate and serve both cold sandwiches and hot entrees and soup. I ventured down to see what was good to eat besides the meatballs. Read more »

If you are one of the poor souls working today (or Friday) and are missing out on Thanksgiving, there is at least one option in the Financial District that incorporates all of the flavors of the holiday. That would be Toasties on John St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau) that has a Thanksgiving sandwich permanently on its menu. I’d been meaning to go here anyway after walking by a million times, and also on the recommendation of profiled lunch’er Paul. Find out if they pull off the tricky turkey/stuffing/cranberry combo after the jump.

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Looks can sometimes be deceiving when looking at a food item. Take Indian food – sometimes extremely unphotogenic, yet a party in your mouth. The same rule applies with the Sunday gravy tasca from Table Tales on Water St. (nr. Beekman). I had seen a glorious picture of this item from the New Amsterdam Market and was happy to see it’s on their regular menu. I headed over to get one to go (and this may have been the fatal flaw) with visions of meatballs and tomato sauce dancing in my head. What I got surprised me. Read more »

When profiled lunch’er Chirag mentioned one of his favorite lunches downtown was the veguette banh mi at Baoguette, I was both intrigued and skeptical. To me soy protein masquerading as a meat product (in this case kung pao chicken) is kind of like the McRib: trying to be something it’s not. I know not everyone eats meat and as it’s one of the only vegetarian banh mi options in the Financial District (other than Nicky’s Vietnamese tofu version). Clearly someone had to try this sandwich for research purposes. Read more »

I know everyone complains that we don’t have a lot of food variety down in the Financial District, and that’s partly true. There is a source of decent Korean food (no, not the best you’ve ever had) at Soma By Nature on William St. (btw. Fulton & John). Chris had checked out the kimchi stew here as a cure for what ailed him and wasn’t too impressed. I went a different route and tried some of the rice-based dishes that may not have transported me to Korea, but did make me a happy lunch’er. Read more »

All the way back in May I stopped by the 7 Hanover Cart on Hanover Square (at Pearl) to try their chicken curry. I was crushed when told they were out already and was soothed with an improvised chicken curry. They aim to please! I decided to go back  for an earlier to lunch to snag some and see how the real thing compared to what had been thrown together. Click through to find out the verdict. Read more »

There are some days when I head out with a specific lunch destination in mind, but sometimes those intentions get derailed. And that’s how I ended up with a lunch that had far more vegetables in it than I’m used to eating. Backyard Chicken has been around for a while, and in a previous review the chicken did not get rave reviews. But what about its other offering of salmon (which said review questioned who would ever order it)? Could it be a hidden gem waiting to be found? Read more »