Midtown Lunch

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.

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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.

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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 »

It’s not every day that we fully endorse shelling out $17 (plus tax) for a lunch that may or may not fill you up, but if you like seafood-filled buttered hot dog buns at all you’re going to want to check out Luke’s Lobster. The shop opened on S. William St. (btw. Hanover Sq. & Broad) on Friday, joining two other locations in the city and the just-launched truck. Brian had absolutely raved about the lunch he had when the truck stopped in midtown, so I was excited.

There was a line when I got there for a later lunch but it had mostly died down by 2 p.m. It helped that they have a lobster roll express window where they only sell that one item. For everything else you have to step inside the small nautical themed shop, and that’s what me and a co-luncher did. Plenty of butter and seafood-straight ahead… Read more »

I knew before heading out to the new Shake Shack on Murray St. (btw. West & N. End Ave.) in Battery Park City that I would be in for a wait. As I walked up I could see the mass of people waiting from a block away and steeled myself. Although I did have to wait in line for 30 minutes, and then wait a bit longer for food, I’d have to say they were ready for the crowds. And I rewarded myself for my wait by ordering one of the downtown-themed concretes. Read more »

If there’s a true food truck backlash, I could see it starting with the new grilled cheese purveyor, Gorilla Cheese. They made their lunch debut in the Financial District on a gross, rainy day but that didn’t stop a lot of you from checking them out at Hanover Square. When I got there at the tail end of prime lunch time there was a crowd waiting under the scaffolding in front of the truck, but I soon discovered they had already ordered and were waiting for food. Comments of “This better be worth it,” were heard, and I thought the same thing as I ordered my $8.50 sandwich. Find out the verdict after the jump.

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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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