Midtown Lunch

There’s isn’t much on offer for lunch in the seedy stretch of Canal St. near the Holland Tunnel other than a Roll & Go selling pizza and hot dogs, and West Side Coffee Shop with its Latin fare in heaping portions. As I was walking by Tribeca Bagels between Broadway & Wooster the other day I noticed a sign offering beans and rice with an array of proteins, next to one advertising $1.99 cheese pizza slices. A step inside this bodega/bagel shop/deli mashup showed that that do indeed offer beans and rice, and a by-the-pound buffet with some weird variety.

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A while back, while investigating the mysterious My Belly’s Playlist delivery service, I discovered that not only did Yorganic exist, but it sells something called Bliss Bowls which are essentially rice bowls with Korean ingredients. The kicker is that everything in this place is organic, hormone-free, natural etc. With Cafe Hanover just around the corner also selling Korean food, I was curious how these yuppie rice bowls stacked up.

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We here at Midtown Lunch don’t normally endorse vegan food because, well, there are a lot of meaty lunches out there waiting to be eaten. If you’ve tried the Cinnamon Snail Truck’s food, that might change you mind, as it did mine, when I tasted their s’mores doughnut at a foodie event.  Last year they walked away with a Vendy Award for their vanilla bourbon creme brulee doughnuts. They’ve been mostly parking in Hoboken and Jersey City on the other side of the Hudson, but after it was made cost-prohibitive to park there anymore, they got a NYC vendor license and are ready to hit the streets starting today. Find out where they’ll be parking, and what they’ll be serving, straight ahead. Read more »

There are a lot of places over by the South St. Seaport that I forget about until someone reminds me, and Meade’s Bar is one of those places. It’s on an obscure corner that’s currently blocked by construction, and on the same block as a bunch of other cafes and a delightfully divey bar with equally cheap lunches and decoration consisting of bras. Last week Lunch’er Robyn mentioned her love of Meade’s burger with blue cheese, and a look at the bar’s menu showed a few of the sandwiches could be had for less than $10, including fries, salad or rice. That’s a bargain not often found in or near the Financial District. Read more »

Across the street from perpetually mobbed La Esquina you’ll find Hoomoos Asli on Kenmare St. (at Cleveland Pl.) which is the area’s answer to Crisp (that is until Taim opens its new flagship shop in Nolita) or a go-to falafel cart. The restaurant serves Israeli takes on pita sandwiches and platters and although the falafel and other vegetarian sandwiches are the cheapest options on the menu that’s often over $10, I zoned in on the chicken schnitzel sandwich and decided to make an fried addition for an extra $1.

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Up until a couple of months ago, there was a place called Shorties Deli Cafe on Church St. (btw. Leonard & Franklin) that was a taqueria masquerading as a generic deli selling the usual bagels and sandwiches. Those in the know went there for the burritos or tacos, but if you were simply walking by it wasn’t blatantly obvious that Mexican food was available within. Thankfully, whoever owns the place figured out they were doing a disservice to the delicious food served inside and changed the name to Burro Borracho Taqueria. Now when you walk in, there is no pretense that this is anything but a place selling Mexican food.

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Sorry for the late notice on this one, but it’s Macaron Day and you can get free macarons from a bunch of different bakeries downtown. Francois Payard has organized this delightful event, and to exercise your freeloading you need to tell the people at the participating shop that you’re there for Macaron Day NYC. You’re limited to one per person at each location, and some of the bakeries are also donating a portion of the day’s macaron sales to City Harvest if you need a sugar rush. The bakeries in on this deal in the Downtown Lunch coverage area are:

Bisousciao.Macarons – 101 Stanton St.

Dominique Ansel Bakery – 189 Spring St.

Francois Payard Bakery – 210 Murray St. and 116 W. Houston

La Maison du Chocolat – 63 Wall St.