Midtown Lunch

It’s almost swimsuit season, but that doesn’t mean we should all give up things like beef stew from a cart. While walking by Sandra’s Food Spot cart on Nassau (btw. Liberty & Cedar) I noticed they had a beef stew special that day. We’ve already sampled the cart’s Puerto Rican pasteles amd tilapia (which they have Monday, Wednesday and Friday) so I figured this beef stew deserved a shot. What I found was meat and potatoes served Latin style.

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The moment I stepped into Parisi Bakery on Mott St. (btw. Kenmare & Spring), I knew whatever sandwich I decided to get, it was going to be good. The line was out the door when I got there, reminding me of equally tiny and popular Italian sandwich shop Alidoro. Also refreshing in this neighborhood of trendy cafes: The guys making sandwiches were middle-aged and definitely not wearing skinny jeans. Based on the sandwich I ordered, I can say the wait in the lunch-rush line is worth it.

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If you were at the Choice Eats food truck event last night, there was a new truck there from the owners of Chinese & Indian food mash-up Chinese Mirch which is a chain that has a location in Murray Hill. According to ML contributor Brian who was there (and snapped the above picture), they’re planning to park at Wall & Water but it’s best to check our Twitter Tracker post later this morning before heading out. Update: It looks like truck maintenance is keeping them off the road today, but they’ll be out tomorrow. Keep an eye on this site for location.

No word on what the truck’s full menu has yet, but Brian checked out some Tibetan momo with chili sauce. If any of you check it out today, feel free to leave impressions in the comments or send us your first impressions.

Chinese Mirch Truck, on Twitter

Tribeca isn’t exactly teeming with crappy Chinese takeout restaurants, although if you want a slightly alarming by-the-pound buffet experience, that can be had. A generic deli on Chambers St. (btw. Broadway & Church) with a buffet morphed into Sunny One restaurant recently and a look at their menu showed that they have a pretty sweet lunch special for $6. You not only get to choose from a wide array of Americanized Chinese dishes, but you get rice (fried or plain), and your choice of soup or a soda. Another bonus is it’s not scooped off a steam table, but made to order. I was sold. Read more »

Domo Taco Truck launched last fall and seemed to get off to a choppy start, being spotted in Midtown and then disappearing for a while. Brian tracked them down to try the tacos and nacho tots a couple of months ago, and gave the food an overwhelming “meh.” The truck’s been parking at Water & Broad on Fridays and so I took it upon myself to go try them when I had the chance. Since much of the menu has already been reviewed (and frankly, the picture of those tacos on flour tortillas drowning in crema didn’t do it for me, although it looks like they’re getting better?), I went for the rice bowl ($8). Straight ahead for what you can expect.

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I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Bian Dang truck that’s been serving up Taiwanese pork chop and fried chicken over rice since 2009 when it was called NYC Cravings. Well, just yesterday I saw on Twitter (are you following us, by the way?) that the truck had launched a cart called Fun Buns selling steamed pork buns, and only steamed pork buns. And then I happened upon the cart at the corner of Broad & Stone St. as I was looking for lunch! I took that as a sign that I should have pork buns for lunch, and it turns out they’re getting their sea legs in the Financial District.

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There are always fancy/trendy restaurants opening in Tribeca and they don’t get a lot of coverage on this site because the lunch menus are usually well over the $10 Midtown Lunch price cap. It was a nice surprise to see newish restaurant Super Linda on W. Broadway (at Reade) roll out a lunch menu with not one, but three things that you could actually consider a meal for $10 or less. According to a menu released last week, you can get a trio of tacos, a chorizo sandwich or a breakfast burrito within the price range, or there are some other delicious sounding items for more than that. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that some other fancyish restaurants should get on board with the $10 or less lunch. Click through for a look at the lunch menu.

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