Midtown Lunch

Note: I wrote this before hurricane Sandy messed up the Financial District and its lunch options. And because I’ve been unable to work at my office due to lack of phone or Internet service I haven’t been able to confirm if this truck has continued to park in its usual spot. If nothing else, you get to read about a pork sandwich.

After a couple of failed attempts at catching Tacos El Idolo in its spot off of Whitehall St., (usually on Pearl St. but I think they’ve been on Bridge too), I finally caught up with them late last week after spotting a crowd of be-suited guys waiting on the sidewalk. The menu is similar to the Tacos Morelos truck that parks at Wall & Water everyday, but if you work at the bottommost reaches of the Financial District, Tacos El Idolo is the closer option. While I was tempted by the tacos (as I always am), instead I ordered a cemita and was not disappointed with what I got. Read more »

Most people looking for Malaysian food in Chinatown head to Nyonya on Grand St. which is slightly classier than other places in the neighborhood. If you’re looking for a more bare-bones experience that requires walking down a steep flight of stairs, you may want to consider Sanur which serves some Americanized Chinese food, but specializes in Indonesian and Malaysian food. At first it was unclear if I was walking into a travel agency or restaurant due to the number of travel posters in the stairway. I can confirm that cheap Indonesian food can be found at the bottom of those steep stairs leading to Sanur, and it’s a nice change of pace from all of the Chinese options in the surrounding area.

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Several of the carts downtown remained in their spots during Hurricane Sandy providing food, coffee and conversation to neighborhoods without electricity or operational restaurants. Alan’s Vegetarian Delights cart (which you may know as Alan’s Falafel) was out in its spot on Broadway (btw. Liberty & Cedar) on Wednesday just as the icy snow started falling. In addition to the new name, Alan’s has an expanded vegetarian menu including Italian classics with fake meat.

They had been unable to make it into the city since the Friday before Hurricane Sandy hit, which was 12 days away from the city and seven days of lost business, as one of the workers told me. The cart’s workers were happy to be back and have people to feed, and I’m happy to report that they have a veggie burger and fries that’s a delicious value.

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In what seems like a new record for the shortest amount of time it takes a new lunch place to go from papered up windows to serving food, the Lenny’s sandwich shop on Water St. (btw. Coenties & Broad) was open for business yesterday when I walked by, and full of people. This joins the location on John St., and according to the Lenny’s Web site, there’s another shop coming to Battery Park City. Unless someone can tip me in the direction of an awesome sandwich to be had at Lenny’s, I’ll probably pass on eating there, but it’s clear they probably won’t be hurting for business.

It’s been awhile since I’ve eaten a good deli sandwich so when the opportunity presented itself to check out M&O Market & Deli on Thompson St. (at Prince), I took it. This place is an old school bodega with a deli counter hidden in the back, and that’s where you want to head. You’ll notice a board with the usual Boar’s Head options, but you may want to see what the house roasted special of the day is. Some days they do turkey, others pork loin or meatloaf, but when I was there is was a giant hunk of rare roast beef resting in the deli case. Read more »

Yet another new cart has made its way to the Financial District, as Midtown contributor Brian tells us. This one’s called Toast Monster and it doesn’t serve overpriced juices, but it does have toasted sandwiches involving Nutella and cheese (not together). He learned that they’ve been around for a few weeks, used to set up in Tribeca, and that they may or may not be back in the FiDi on Thursday, but could be here next Wednesday. You can take a look at the menu they were serving at Maiden Lane btw. Front & Water yesterday straight ahead.

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There is no limit to the love for a good plate of biryani from a cart, apparently, as several new carts have popped up all over the Financial District lately. One of the latest, NY Express Biryani, made the ballsy move to set up shop right across the street from the Biryani House Cart on William St. (at John). As the weeks went by, I saw the line grow at NY Express and decided it was time to check it out. The menu is fairly broad, including kati rolls, biryani, the usual meats over rice and falafel, and because I’m indecisive I opted to start with the dish the cart is named after.

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