Midtown Lunch

It’s the time of year when grabbing lunch from a cart or truck sounds less appealing, and sitting somewhere with plentiful seating starts to sound better and better. The problem with that is you can easily top $10 once you factor in tip and maybe a drink (or two). When I saw that The Growler Bites & Brews – the latest alcoholic addition to Stone St. – was now serving food I rounded up a friend and headed over. If you’re looking for a fancy hot dog or sausage served to you by some chatty bartenders, then this is a good lunch spot.

Read more »

A couple of weeks ago The Pump chain changed its name to Dig Inn and changed its menu after bringing a winner of Iron Chef America on board as its new chef. I had mentioned that I would go check out the new version if you lunchers wanted me to and after a couple of endorsements I decided to head over to the store on Pine (at Pearl) to see if healthy, protein-filled food could also be a Downtown Lunch.

Read more »

If you haven’t walked past tiny Backyard Chicken on Pearl St. (at John) in a while you should be aware that they have branched out from selling rotisserie chicken, changed the set up a little and got a new awning with a giant digital scrolling sign above it. This hole-in-the-wall is still that, but a nicer looking one. What drew me there was the promise on that digital sign of ribs (and pizza!?). But the question is: Can you trust a place specializing in chicken with your ribs?

Read more »

There are the fancy parts of Tribeca, and then there are the parts on both the extreme lower and upper reaches of the neighborhood that are a little dirty and contain some eating and drinking gems. Located on the corner of Lispenard and 6th Ave., Nancy Whiskey Pub is one of those places and while based on the crowd there during the noon hour on a weekday many people are here for alcohol, they also serve a menu where basically everything is less than $10. Or you can splurge and get a large pizza for $12.50.

Read more »

I’m not usually one to have a liquid lunch unless you count milkshakes, so when I kept seeing Twitter posts from Frites N Meats about their Kobe beef burger doused in Maker’s Mark I was not particularly intrigued. But then a burger craving hit, the truck was downtown, and I figured it was time to taste some high-quality meat steeped in booze while sitting on a park bench. Was this a better vehicle for a lunchtime drink than a flask? Click through to find out.

Read more »

It’s rare that I actually want to step foot in a fast food restaurant although there have been a couple of gems discovered through reviews including Checkers and more recently, Potbelly Sandwich Shop. Popeyes is one of those places that I feel I can eat at every once in a while and not feel ashamed of it – completely unlike all those people who look embarassed to be eating at the Blimpie’s at John & Nassau every time I walk by. Normally, my go-to at Popeyes is spicy fried chicken but I’ve been intrigued by the BBQ chicken sandwich pictured in a giant sign on the window. It coincidentally came out around the same time as the BBQ pulled pork sandwich at Subway, although I trust the people at Popeyes more with making an edible lunch. The other day I took the plunge and stopped at Popeye’s on Fulton St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau) to see if they could do anything good with chicken besides fry it.

Read more »

Here’s a confession: I’m not a huge fan of grilled cheese. That was why I was kind of perplexed when I heard there was more than one truck devoted to this sandwich hitting the streets of New York City, and after eating at the first one to launch, I was even more confused. Why would people pay nearly $10 for two slices of bread with some cheese in it? Couldn’t I make this at home with little effort? Centre Melts, one of the new kiosks around 1 Centre St., opened a while back and I was curious if it was going to be any better than the mobile competition. To the analysis! Read more »