Midtown Lunch

If you’ve tried to eat at Alfanoose lately, you may have noticed they no longer exist on Maiden Lane. Word is the building they were located in between Broadway & Nassau St. is being developed and they were forced to move. What you may not be aware of is that Alfanoose moved to Fulton St. (at Ryder’s Alley) in the space where L&L Hawaiian BBQ used to be. Both are long-running businesses in the Financial District but L&L Hawaiian seemed to be floundering around lately, adding a Chinese food buffet and some lunch deals to lure people in. I couldn’t find anything online that they have moved to a new location, so it looks like the city has lost one of its only sources of Hawaiian plate lunch.

We have no shortage of carts selling falafel in the Financial District, but it’s a little hit or miss and often you get specimens that have been previously fried and are mushy, room temperature and greasy. After I reviewed the GoGo Grill cart’s pulled pork sandwich one of you suggested I check out their falafel. They have a fryer on the cart, which is always a good sign.  Read more »

The Financial District has many carts and trucks to choose from and it’s not uncommon to hit up one of them each day of the week. But what about stopping at six different carts and eating something from each one in a span of two hours? There is a tour company called Turnstile Tours that has taken it upon itself to show people (mostly tourists) some of the finest eats in the FiDi on Wednesdays. The tour guide: sometime Midtown Lunch contributor/ice cream maker/actor Brian Hoffman who talks far louder and is more animated than I could ever be. I was invited to tag along on his tour and while I came away with a full stomach, I also found out a lot of fun facts about some of the carts, trucks and people I’ve bought food from for more than five years.  Read more »

Sometimes the best of lunch plans go awry against your will. How can that happen? Well, take my lunch at Shafiq’s Halal cart on Broadway & Liberty where I went last week to check out the dosa that popped up on their menu. When I got there super early at 11:30 a.m. I was told they had dosa, but after waiting for 10 minutes, was then told that no, they were out. I don’t have unlimited time for lunch, so it was time for plan B which involved ordering the cart’s chicken tikka.

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We’ve won some and lost some in the Caribbean food options in the Financial District lately. The standbys of Trinidad & Tobago and Veronica’s Kitchen carts are still around, and lately Sunrise Grill and Nio’s Trinidad Roti trucks have been parking near each other on a stretch of Broad St. between S. William and Beaver. However, R. Retha’s cart seems to be on its way out, although I’ve seen it still parked at the spot at S. William and Beaver with a “For Sale” sign taped in the window. That’s still a pretty solid lineup.

I’d tried the namesake roti at Nio’s and also their doubles which many of the FiDi places don’t offer. What I hadn’t tried was the dinners with peas and rice that they have on offer, so one day on a whim I went up to the window and ordered just that.

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A nice-looking halal cart called Three Pyramids has popped up near the corner of Hanover Square and Water St. It proclaims “No Pork On My Fork” on the side, and seems to offer the standard meats over rice options. Also: chicken wings for $6. Have any of you eaten at this cart yet?

If you are a long time reader of this blog, you might have noticed that I kind of like spicy food. A lot. When I ordered a sandwich from the Route 66 Smokehouse pop up on the Elevated Acre (above 55 Water St. btw. Old Slip & Coenties Slip) I was not expecting an assault of pepper so crazy that my nose was running the entire time I was eating. That being said, I think with a couple of tweaks we can get a little excited about the food at the forthcoming Route 66 brick and mortar.

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