Midtown Lunch

Kofta sandwich from Little Morocco: One of many varieties in this city.

Yesterday it came to our attention that TD Bank has a new ad up in the subway touting the fact that you can get a kofta sandwich from a truck in this city. Well, Robert Sietsema over at Village Voice food blog Fork in the Road wonders if perhaps the ad writers cribbed from Midtown Lunch to come up with this copy. As flattering as that thought is, all you’d have to do is troll Twitter or Google a bit to come up with that particular mobile food item.

Read more »

I haven’t checked in with French Cafe Gourmand since they opened on Maiden Lane (btw. B’way & Nassau) last May. Since then the place seems to have cultivated a following judging by the steady stream of customers ordering quiche, soup and sandwiches from the affable counter workers. The focus is on French-tinged sandwiches but they have a few like an Indian curried chicken one that stray a bit outside the norm. I had spotted a lamb sandwich on the menu and was intrigued to see how the French did it, and because it was a steal at less than $8.

Read more »

You may have read about the loaded knish I sampled at Long Island Bagel Cafe earlier in the week, but you may be wondering how their bagels are. I was too, so while I was there I also got a bagel sandwich since a salad or soup was unappealing. Like Leo’s Bagels or Zucker’s over in Tribeca, they make their own bagels in many varieties and offer all of the smoked fish and such that go along with them. I opted to go for a more traditional sandwich to offset the knish gutbomb.

Read more »

Do you ever get hit with a craving for something really specific at lunch? This happens to me on occasion, and the other day my want was for kati rolls. While I could have gone for one of my favorites at Bombay’s, I instead stopped by the NY Express Biryani cart at William & John St., only to be told they were out of kati rolls for some reason. Undeterred, I headed across the street to standby Biryani House cart and ordered up one of their other rolls – the spicy buradi with chicken.

Read more »

When word came of a pop up in Downtown Lunch territory from Smorgasburg barbeque favorite Mighty Quinn’s, I put it on my “to eat” list. It wasn’t on there for long as I hit it up late last week to try it out before the BBQ purveyor is replaced at the beginning of February. It’s a short menu on offer, but if you like smoked and barbequed meats, you may want to walk a couple of extra blocks for lunch.

Read more »

Earlier this week Lunch’er Jamie wrote in to say that the Goodburger on Maiden Lane (at Pearl) which has been closed since hurricane Sandy was gone and being replaced by…another burger shop. Lo and behold, something called Clarke’s Standard is going in there, with paper in the windows promising freshly ground burgers and homemade sausage. It looks like another location of Goodburger in Midtown is making the same switch so either they’re owned by the same company, or Clarke’s Standard is just picking off faltering burger joints. Watch your back Five Guys!

Whenever I’m craving vegetables, my mind often wanders to the $5 $5.50 Lunch Truck run by the affable Kiflu at the corner of Ann St. & Nassau. He does great things with fish and other meats, but sometimes my favorite part of his plates is the stewed, slightly curried potato, carrot and cabbage that comes on the side. It occurred to me that he had a vegetable plate on the menu and I’d never ordered it so I went to rectify the situation.

Read more »