Midtown Lunch

Apologies for once again writing about a food offering at Duane Reade, but after a surprisingly strong showing from the sushi counter at the Wall St. flagship I figured some people are viewing this drug store chain as a viable lunch option. They are slowly overtaking the Financial District with a giant new store opening on Broadway btw. Wall & Pine in part of the space that used to house Borders. A step inside immediately shows they’re really pushing the food here with a build-your-own salad bar, coffee bar and frozen yogurt/freezee station. I assumed the fro-yo was by-the-pound like most other places but to my surprise when I went to pay I discovered it was a set price for the two different sizes. This, of course, means you can and should cram as much into that cup as possible while still being able to get the lid on, which I tried to do yesterday.

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A stroll down Fulton St. yesterday showed a bunch of construction on the street and some scaffolding on the sidewalks. Spotted amid this mess was papered up plywood emblazoned with cupcakes, and lo and behold Baked By Melissa is bringing its confections to the block between Dutch and William streets. We already have Crumbs in the Financial District, and this new cupcake shop is just up the street from a Financier, but I’m betting people (aka, tourists) will be seduced by the tiny cupcakes Baked by Melissa offers, even if they are kind of a rip off.

A couple of weeks ago we were alerted to the presence of a cart selling Greek food on Broadway in front of Trinity Church (btw. Wall & Thames). It’s run by a nice Greek woman and offers a few lunch items like gyro and chicken sandwiches ($6) and a Greek salad ($7) along with a variety of sweets that she proudly said she makes herself and serves starting at 7 a.m. every morning. I decided to get lunch from the cart the other day and discovered it’s maybe a better destination for a breakfast or snack stop. You could also do as one woman who stopped by did and grab a “second lunch” of sweets.

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It seems like it’s been awhile since a lunch spot like French Cafe Gourmand has opened in the Financial District – as in a place that’s not a chain or a new branch of a chain. No, this cafe on Maiden Lane (btw. B’way & Nassau) is run by actual French people and they sell a small selection of items including coffee, soup, salads, sandwiches and some French pastries and baked goods. When I went in to check it out, I could almost for five seconds imagine that I was somewhere else but Manhattan (or at least in cafe-heavy Tribeca or Soho).

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Last year shaved ice purveyor Wooly’s Ice went home a winner for best dessert at the Vendy Awards. The cart was in ML Downtown territory last year – first starting next to the 1 Centre St. kiosks and later moving up to Elizabeth St. This year they’re on the move again and starting today will be parked for the summer season at the South St. Seaport, right at Pier 17. Danny Che from Wooly’s gave us the low down on some changes to the cart’s ices and some other information. They were expecting to be up and running by the beginning of May but as often happens there were some unexpected setbacks which is probably fine because it hasn’t exactly been warm enough to crave icy treats. Straight ahead for what you can expect to help you deal with the heat this summer.

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Sorry for the late notice on this one, but it’s Macaron Day and you can get free macarons from a bunch of different bakeries downtown. Francois Payard has organized this delightful event, and to exercise your freeloading you need to tell the people at the participating shop that you’re there for Macaron Day NYC. You’re limited to one per person at each location, and some of the bakeries are also donating a portion of the day’s macaron sales to City Harvest if you need a sugar rush. The bakeries in on this deal in the Downtown Lunch coverage area are:

Bisousciao.Macarons – 101 Stanton St.

Dominique Ansel Bakery – 189 Spring St.

Francois Payard Bakery – 210 Murray St. and 116 W. Houston

La Maison du Chocolat – 63 Wall St.

The world can always use another good sandwich shop, and if that shop also sells churros then I think we can all get behind that. La Churreria, next door to parent restaurant Socarrat Paella Bar on Mulberry (btw. Prince & Houston), opened on Monday after some delays, and I happened to get there about an hour after they unlocked the door. There are three different kinds of sandwiches: Breakfast varieties on a roll ($6), bikinis which are toasted on regular bread and comes in four triangular sections ($6), and the larger bocatas ($9.50) on baguette which was the category I ordered from.

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