Midtown Lunch

There are a lot of trucks selling Korean food fused with other cuisines like tacos, sliders and even falafel, so it was kind of refreshing when I looked at the menu at the Bob & Jo truck and saw that it was pretty straightforward. Yes, there are baguette sandwiches but otherwise you’ll find rice platters, bibimbap and japchae with traditional meats or vegetables. They’ve only recently been parking in the Financial District one day a week, usually on Tuesday at Coenties Slip & Water, with occasional forays into Soho but Midtown contributors have already extensively sampled the menu and since it looked pretty good I decided to give the truck an ML: Downtown review.

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A while back, while investigating the mysterious My Belly’s Playlist delivery service, I discovered that not only did Yorganic exist, but it sells something called Bliss Bowls which are essentially rice bowls with Korean ingredients. The kicker is that everything in this place is organic, hormone-free, natural etc. With Cafe Hanover just around the corner also selling Korean food, I was curious how these yuppie rice bowls stacked up.

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This site has previously had reviews of fried chicken noodle soup and other items from the Korean portion of Cafe Hanover at Hanover Sq. & Pearl, but for some inexplicable reason we’ve shunned the Kyedong chicken. This brand of Korean fried chicken is advertised in a poster in the window and in panels on the wall behind the front counter where you pay. Sandwiched between offerings of pork belly for $40 and whole chickens, there are portions of chicken at Midtown Lunch-friendly prices. Click through to check out the behemoth lunch box it comes in, housing equally oversized pieces of chicken.

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If you’ve been paying attention to the ML Downtown Twitter Tracker, you may have noticed Big D’s Grub truck mentioning they have rice platters every once in a while. The truck mostly sticks with tacos and grinders with Korean meats, and they were quiet about introducing this new menu item that isn’t available every day. Yesterday they were in the Financial District and I decided that some Korean meat over rice was just what I needed to perk up a dreary day.

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It’s not often that eating lunch actually makes me angry because often that little break where I get to put food in my mouth is the highlight of my day, whether it’s sub par or awesome. After striking out on my lunch idea one day, I happened to walk by Kortako on Nassau (btw. John & Fulton) and realized I hadn’t returned since their much-delayed opening at the beginning of December. I had a burrito on my first visit which I enjoyed for what it was (Kor-Mex fusion), but another person didn’t seem too positive about the place in the comments of that post. So I stepped inside to try something different and it was all downhill from there.

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I was not expecting the new Kortako (Tagline: “It’s Tako! not Taco…”) on Nassau (btw. John & Fulton) to be so uncrowded on opening day, but it was probably a good thing since the place is essentially a long hallway. The space is extremely narrow and since you have to order from the end of the counter farthest from the entrance, you’re left smooshing yourself up against the wall behind people who are ordering/paying. That being said, I had studied the menu beforehand and decided what carby delivery vehicle I wanted my Korean/Mexican fusion food to come in, and you can see the burrito with two types of kimchi that I ended up with straight ahead.  Read more »

I know many of you have been waiting for the opening of  Bon Chon on John spawn, Kortako, on Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton) which was pushed back due to Department of Health inspection delays. When I walked past on Friday there was an unexpected line out the door, and it turned out they were giving away free food during a soft opening (and you guys can apparently sniff out free food!). I grabbed a menu and confirmed that they were opening today at 11 a.m. but didn’t have time to stand in the growing line. I’ll give you a full report later this week, but you can take a look at the menu after the jump.

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