Midtown Lunch

There are a couple of hip taco places in Soho, including Tacombi and La Esquina, both of which turn out some tasty meats and vegetables in corn tortillas. Sometimes you want a good deal though instead of paying $4 per taco and dealing with lines. On Tuesdays, Pinche Taqueria (Multiple Locations) has a deal where you get a free taco if you buy two which turns out to be a cheap and fairly filling lunch.

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The area of the Financial District to the west of Broadway is sometimes lacking in diverse lunch options. To my surprise, I noticed the menu of Cafe de Novo on Greenwich St. (at Rector) had a Korean food section. There are other delis that serve Korean food, most notably Cafe Hanover, but this one is in an area frequented by tourists and construction workers from the World Trade Center. The fact that there was a Korean man working behind the counter gave me hope that this could be good.

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Late last week I stopped by the bank just as a cart on the corner  of Greenwich & Murray streets outside was being readied to be driven away at the end of the day. That cart was BIA Best Food, and it had an intriguing menu that included biryani, chicken curry, teriyaki chicken, sweet chili chicken (they must really like chicken) and then there was dal for the low price of $4.

Carts are sometimes lacking in vegetarian options outside of falafel or vegetables over rice, and so I was intrigued that they had another cheap non-meat option. At only $4, it was a cheap gamble to take to see if it was any good.  Read more »

If you don’t know Cucina Bene on Exchange Place (btw. William & Broad) exists, you aren’t alone. I’ve probably walked by the block that this pizza place sits on hundreds of times, but unless you look over and see the neon sign proclaiming “Pizza” you wouldn’t notice it. Its entrance it right in front of one of those raised things to prevent cars from driving down the street, and across from a Blimpie sandwich shop.

Enough about its out of the way location…you want to know about the pizza, right? Well, I’m here to tell you they served me some of the best, no-frills slices I’ve eaten in my time as Downtown Lunch editor.  Read more »

When the Halal Gyro Express cart reappeared at William St. & Maiden Lane after apparently being damaged in an accident, I noticed there were some menu additions taped to the window. In addition to biryani and fish over rice, there was one that made me stop in my tracks. “Chicken lo mein? Really?” I thought to myself.

Of course I had to see what this street meat/Chinese mash up would be.  Read more »

It’s taken me awhile to check out the Cocina Mexicana cart. They showed up amid the cluster of food carts at Liberty St. and Nassau before all of them were booted from the spot. While most of the others relocated, it was Cocina Mexicana and a smoothie cart that stayed put, moving over to the opposite corner along Liberty St. Some days the cart hasn’t been there when I’ve stopped to check it out, or they still had the window shuttered when I walked by around noon.

But one day luck was with me and I got in line to see what this cart could do. My hopes ran high as I saw the man working the window making fresh guacamole in a molcajete.  Read more »

One of the last lunch spots to open after flooding from hurricane Sandy in the Pearl St./Water St./Coenties Slip area was OBAO at the corner of Water & Coenties. It reopened at about the same time as Zigolini’s and its various offshoots next door, bringing Thai food back to the lowest part of the Financial District.

I was curious if they had changed the interior or menu after the long closure and decided to stop in for lunch. While I would recommend getting your food to go (no air conditioning!), I was pleased with the amount of food I got in my express lunch special, and it was certainly better than the pho.

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