Midtown Lunch

My first experience with the Chinese food at Goodies on Fulton St. (at Gold) was a great one so when the craving for noodle soup hit the other day I knew exactly where I was going. The hard part once I got there was deciding which kind to get, and then whether to get noodles or rice cakes in it. Thankfully the woman who’s always manning the tiny dining room had some time on her hands as the place was empty due to the torrential rain outside. When asked, she confirmed that this is indeed the same Goodies that used to be in Chinatown and based upon my second go-round with their food it’s definitely our gain.

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There is no scientific evidence that eating fried foods in soup will make you feel better but I’m just going to pretend this is true. Also, I know doing a post on soup when it’s 70 degrees outside isn’t exactly logical either but I’ve been under the weather and thought it would be an opportune time to sneak one more hot food post in before that starts to sound disgusting. With my head in a fog I was thinking of possible places to get soup and for some reason Cafe Hanover came to mind since I knew they had a section devoted to udon and soba. And nothing cures you better than noodles, salty broth and fried protein!

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I had occasion to go up by City Hall the other day and on a desolate stretch of Reade St. between Broadway & Church streets saw two Japanese restaurants essentially right next to each other. The lunch menu at Sun Cafe looked better so I went inside to eat. The place was packed and they put me at the table always reserved for the solo diner, right next to the bathroom. After looking over the lunch menu I was trying to decide between gyoza and roast pork when I spotted the house special udon soup ($8) which contained both of these items. How could anything with roast pork and gyoza be bad? Read more »

It is definitely hearty, carb-filled food weather but I have grown tired of the options down in the Financial District. Sure, there’s the Hot Soup Cart when something warm sounds good, but I’ve found that hit or miss, and I can only eat the pho at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches so many times before that too becomes boring. This is when I look for an excuse to head to Chinatown and I found that with a Serious Eats post on the food at Bo Ky on Bayard (btw. Mulberry & Mott). The shrimp rolls looked like something that needed to be consumed (by me), and I am always OK with noodle soup in its many glorious forms. Read more »

As you readers of ML Downtown may have noticed, there aren’t a lot of “lighter” things like soup featured on here. It’s not that I’m purposely trying to omit liquid-based lunches, it’s just that they’re not that exciting (unless they’re pho, which is exempt from this bias). When I first went to Toloache Taqueria on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Gold) to try the tacos I saw they had a couple of interesting soups on the menu. Since it’s been freaking cold outside I figured it was the perfect time to try their version of pozole. Read more »

Anyone who works in the vicinity of Wall St. is probably familiar with the Hot Soup Cart that’s parked on the corner of Pearl. Chris had tried two of the soups there last winter and was smitten enough with the offerings to change his opinion about soup. My first trip to the cart when it was down on Broad St. was not quite such a success. But hey, I’m all about second chances so I headed back to the cart the other day when I wasn’t feeling so hot to see if I had just caught them on a bad day the first time. Read more »

It’s that time of year when there are days (like yesterday) that you just want to hunker down for lunch with a hot steaming bowl of soup. The recently-opened Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches on Nassau St. (at Ann) said they would be serving pho and have delivered on that promise. This is the only place I’m aware of in the Financial District that you can get the Vietnamese noodle soup, and it’s nice to not have to hop on a train up to Chinatown when the craving hits. Read more »