Midtown Lunch

I’ve eaten a lot of things that are hard to take tasty-looking pictures of – i.e. every Indian steam table lunch ever – but when I took the lid off my latest Korean meal from Cafe Hanover on Hanover Sq. (at Pearl) my heart sank a little because it looked pretty unappealing. By that I mean it looked like there was an oil spill all over some udon noodles, and that became my introduction to the dish called jja jang myun on their menu, also known as jajangmyeon.

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Generic-looking deli Cafe Tomato on Fulton St. (nr. Broadway) still looks pretty generic, but they now have Korean food! I have never eaten here after an initial walk-through yielded nothing special, but this changes the game, especially since it’s a lot closer for those of us in the upper part of the Financial District than Cafe Hanover.

Unless you work near or at City Hall or the surrounding area (or are going to court), you’re probably like me and forget about the kiosks near the 1 Centre St. building. The other day when Korean food sounded like an excellent lunch idea, I realized I hadn’t been back to Koki & Vegi since they opened. I was impressed with their bulgogi that cost less than $10 and figured that based on the extreme enthusiasm of the people working there that the bibimbap was going to be pretty good too.

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There’s a sign outside of Soma By Nature on William (btw. John & Fulton) that I always pass by but have never investigated. That would be the $5.95 lunch specials that include curry chicken, ma po tofu, udon soup and japchae. Considering that most things there are $8 or more I feel like this is a pretty good deal, but do you get enough food to fill you up or do they stiff you in the name of a bargain? That’s what I headed inside to find out.

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It’s easy to forget about the area around City Hall at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in terms of lunch options because, other than a couple of food carts, there really weren’t any until a year ago when the Open Air Cafe kiosks opened. Those shuttered, but this year brought the amazing news that Tortilleria Nixtamal opened Nixtamalito and then others selling diner food, grilled cheese, shaved ice and other items were opening. The last of the bunch was Koki & Vegi with Korean food. As of last week the kiosk has been open selling bibimbap, kalbi, bulgogi and other items at less than $10. After what I ate yesterday, I can say that Korean food fans should be excited.

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The Broadway Gourmet Food Market is not somewhere I would ever think of getting lunch. First of all it’s in the super touristy block of Broadway between Prince & W. Houston streets, and second of all it’s first impression is of a terrible overpriced generic deli. But a couple of weeks ago I was in desperate need of something to drink and popped in, only to discover that they serve legit-looking tacos and burritos…and bibimbap. The low price of the second item called to me and I decided to return and try it out. Read more »

The Korean taco truck explosion that started with Korilla BBQ Truck and continued with Big D’s Grub Truck now includes Kimchi Taco Truck, which made its Manhattan debut in the FiDi yesterday despite getting hopes up in midtown last week. I wanted to see how their goods compared with Big D’s since they have some similar taco fillings and the price for three tacos is $7 at both trucks. Kimchi also has some interesting sides like kimchi arancini and Korean BBQ nachos. Tacos and fried rice balls? Sold!

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