Midtown Lunch

Pizza is something I am no expert on, but some days my body wants something greasy and carb-filled. One such day, I headed over to Little Italy Pizza on a weird, deserted-feeling block of Park Place (between Broadway and Church). It came highly recommended by lunch’er adamprato‘s mom, who threw down the gauntlet in response to a review about nearby Portobello’s Pizzeria & Sicilian Kitchen by saying she had tried all of the pizza places near where she works, and “all but one suck.” That “one” was Little Italy, and I had to investigate. Read more »

Crowds definitely don’t always indicate good food, but in a neighborhood with a pizza place on every block, a line for a slice is a pretty good sign. So when I showed up at Underground Pizza on Hanover Square to follow up on Valerie’s suggestion and found a line that stretched out onto the sidewalk, I had a feeling I’d come to the right place.

There was no calamari slice or bacon-jalapeno slice waiting for me, but I really enjoyed the slices that I had. Underground Pizza serves up some great product at affordable prices, but the reason to go is the vodka slice, which is $3.45 of pure delicious and which you can drool over after the jump.

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I had been meaning to meet my buddy Dan for lunch for ages by the time we finally sat down together a few days ago. We’ve worked not more than 5 minutes away from each other for about 2 years now and hadn’t managed to grab a bite to eat in that entire time. It was ludicrous. So after a series of texts, it was decided: he’d show me a couple of places in his neighborhood and I’d tell him if he was getting a raw deal by working in west of Broadway Downtown. Dan’s response was to bust out the big guns and take me to Portobello’s Pizza and Sicilian Kitchen. Read more »

Last time I talked about the Grotto, there was much hubbub over the elusive Bacon Jalapeno slice.  Was it really there? Or just a figment of my imagination?  Lucky for us, Mike, owner and operator of the Grotto, stepped in to inform us that it was real and that it was now available in slice form.  While I’m sure a good number of you dropped whatever you were doing and rushed over to the Grotto to grab a slice, not everyone downtown was so lucky.  After all, it’s a big chunk of Manhattan we work in and not everyone has the flexibility to saunter down   For those unfortunate souls, I’m here to give you the scoop. I know, I know, not exactly a fair trade but I’ll do what I can.  I know it ain’t cabbage and corned beef, but tormenting pictures of some delicious pizza after the jump…
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One of the many marvels of New York is that a plain slice bought from almost any of the hundreds of pizzerias in town will be decent. I don’t know if every hole-in-the-wall pizza joint just gets their dough and sauce from the same supplier or what, but I’ll buy a slice from almost anywhere and feel confident that it’ll probably be alright. Every once in a long while, I am proven terribly, terribly wrong, but that’s really not very often.

With so many pizza places in the city, however, it’s a lot of work to tell the good places from the nearly decent. We had no idea that The Grotto was better than average until Chris went there himself, and pretty much the only way to separate the tasty wheat from the merely passable chaff is trial and error.

That, or starting a blog and having readers email you tips. Former Midtown Lunch’er and current Downtown Lunch’er Matthew tipped us off to Friendly Pizzeria on the corner of Nassau and Maiden Lane, and I for one am grateful. After walking by this place for years, I finally stopped in and found a better-than-average slice and plenty of the eponymous friendliness.

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Today was going to mark Midtown Lunch: Downtown NYC’s first foray into Chinatown, but for that occasion we wanted to make it special.  At first we thought flowers or balloons, but that seemed so cliche.  Then we thought about getting you a kitten, but buying someone an unexpected pet is never a good idea in NYC.  Finally, we decided on the perfect surprise, something we knew would make your eyes light up and maybe even cause you to shed a tear of joy.  Unfortunately, the surprise isn’t quite ready.  But it will be.  And soon.

In the mean time, let me take you on a little stroll down New Street to the aptly named Grotto.  Located in the basement at 69 New Street, the restaurant is fairly dungeon-esque with no windows, no natural light to speak of, but thankfully a pretty good ventilation system.  Not that you’ll want to inhale anything other than the heavenly aromas emanating from the ovens.  These guys are taking pizza to unseen levels as far as New York pizza is concerned, with spicy buffalo chicken, chicken parm, and bacon jalapeno pizzas.

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