Archive for 'Salads'

A Funky Lemongrass Shrimp Salad At Mooncake Foods

There’s one thing you’re probably not going to find at one of the salad chains: Lettuce tossed with a dressing tasting strongly of fish sauce.

That’s what I like about Mooncake Foods (Multiple Locations) – that you can order something like a salad, and be surprised at the flavors you get, and likely for less than at a chain place.

It’s been hot out lately, and thus, I’ve had to rethink what I eat for lunch as slamming a giant burger or meaty sandwich doesn’t sound too awesome when it’s 90 degrees. Thus, the Asian salad comes into play as you can often get filled up, and for less than $10.  Read more »

In Which I Brave The Craziness That Is The Just Salad Lunch Line

Despite having worked in the Financial District for four years now and having co-workers who clutch their brightly-hued plastic Just Salad bowls before going out to lunch, I have never stepped foot in the place or even felt compelled to. Yes, I reviewed a salad from Cosi once, but seriously you guys, the bread is the whole reason anyone goes there. What does Just Salad have? Why is there always just as long of a line snaking out the door at the Maiden Lane location as a couple of doors down at Chipotle where at least you’re rewarded with a ginormous burrito? These were the questions coursing through my brain as I committed to trying a salad from a place that I learned is misleadingly named.

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Confession: I Will Use Any Excuse To Eat Cosi’s Bread, Even If It Involves A Salad

Every time I see a clump of people heading down Maiden Lane with one of those Just Salad plastic bowls in their hand, I shake my head and wonder why they’ve chosen that fate as their lunch. Well, I can only be a little judgmental because some days when I need some vegetables in my body and/or when it’s hot out, my mind sometimes turns salad which my brain turns in “You should go to Cosi because they have delicious bread. Oh, and you should get a salad while you’re there, too.” And that, my fellow Downtown Lunch’ers is why I’m writing about Cosi (located at Broad & Exchange and in the WFC) today, because their flatbread is awesome.

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The Yum Nam-Sod At Bennie’s Thai Is A Salad I Think We Can All Get Behind

I would guess about 99% percent of people who eat lunch at Bennie’s Thai Cafe on Fulton St. (at Gold) get something off the cheap menu where the food is dished up off a steam table with a scoop of rice. But what if it’s hot outside and the thought of eating a hot plate of Thai food doesn’t sound appealing? That’s when I turn to their salad menu because they’re the only affordable Thai place down here doing authentic dishes like larb and selling it at ML-friendly prices. And if you don’t like traditional salads that try to trick you into eating vegetables, this may be for you.

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Finding The Antidote To Greasy Food Overload At Cafe Doppio

It’s starting to get cold and gross outside and when that happens I go in search of things to eat that are usually off limits during the summer. One of those items is soup because who really craves a piping hot bowl of broth when you’re already sweating? A couple of people have tipped me off to Cafe Doppio on Broad (at Beaver) but I have yet to make it over there. When I perused the menu and saw they had soups like pozole and chicken paprikash I was intrigued because normally the most exotic thing you find is three bean chili. Read more »

Jury Duty Lunch Options Just Got A Little Better With Open Air Cafe

If you’re like me, you don’t really go to the area of Centre St. near City Hall unless you’re on jury duty, get arrested (I would imagine) or you work there and/or are defending someone in a court of law. The other option is that you are a tourist or just really like walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. One day after getting off the subway at the City Hall station, I noticed a couple of food kiosks had popped up in a weird triangular area at the base of the bridge. They were Choza Taqueria and The Pantry, and they make up half of the Open Air Cafe. Two other kiosks for Lucky Buns (not this kind, sadly, but burgers) and an Italian pizza and pasta kiosk called  Sauced are on the opposite side of the massive 1 Centre St. building. I had originally ventured over to check out Choza’s tacos only to find the place closed. So I walked over to the neighboring Pantry to see what they had on offer.

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Spring Lunches are Here at Columbine in Tribeca

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For those of you who work or live in Tribeca, I apologize for what I’m about to say, but on the other hand, I’m sure you’ll probably agree with me when I say that Tribeca is a little hoity-toity.  A tad highfalutin.  Perhaps a skosh grandiloquent.  But you’re lunch’ers nonetheless and for that, we love you.  So this one’s for you, Tribeca.

Just yesterday I found out that a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in nigh 6 years and hadn’t even spoken with since I moved to New York had taken up residence in our fair city.  In fact, they were living mere blocks from my old apartment and also worked within lunching distance of my office.  So the natural thing to do was to meet up for lunch ASAP.  Meeting somewhere in the middle, I suggested we give Columbine (on the corner of West Broadway and White St.).  Daniel Krieger swung by this spot more than a year and a half ago (took some awesome pictures too!) and made the dreaded mistake of ordering a salad, but I had heard they know their way around a sandwich and a cup of soup. And boy howdy, did they. Read more »