Midtown Lunch

If you’re a fan of barbequed meats and have been eyeing the new Blue Smoke in Battery Park City, but don’t have time to go sit down and eat lunch there, that problem should be solved next month. I stopped by yesterday and asked when they would be starting takeout and was told “sometime in February.” There’s not an exact date set, apparently, but at least it’s happening in the next few weeks. There’s also a bake shop counter up front with cupcakes and various things like cookie pie for sale, if you’re so inclined to a mid-afternoon sugar hit. Unfortunately the Blue Smoke website is down, so I can’t show you the lunch menu but there are pulled pork sandwiches along with a burger  for about $12 which is about as cheap for quality BBQ as we can ask for. I’ll keep you posted if word comes that the takeout operation is up and running.

It’s not often that eating lunch actually makes me angry because often that little break where I get to put food in my mouth is the highlight of my day, whether it’s sub par or awesome. After striking out on my lunch idea one day, I happened to walk by Kortako on Nassau (btw. John & Fulton) and realized I hadn’t returned since their much-delayed opening at the beginning of December. I had a burrito on my first visit which I enjoyed for what it was (Kor-Mex fusion), but another person didn’t seem too positive about the place in the comments of that post. So I stepped inside to try something different and it was all downhill from there.

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There are a lot of good cart options for falafel in the Financial District, but there’s always room for one more, right? After noticing a new cart called Don Halal right next to the No. 1 Bahn Mi cart at the corner of Hanover Sq. & Pearl, I chatted with the woman manning the window and after I didn’t order anything, she called me “sweetie” and invited me to come back. There are some interesting things on the menu like a falafel platter with Indian marinated vegetables, and chicken curry so I decided to go see if they could compete with the superb falafel across Water St. at Alan’s Halal.

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There’s a place in Soho where the ratio of well-dressed, impeccably-groomed office workers waiting in line is noticeably absent. Instead there’s a decidedly blue collar male crowd of truck drivers and the people who deliver your food from nicer restaurants in the area (I stood behind a delivery guy from Lombardi’s). That place is La Nueva Conquista – a Dominican food institution that Daniel visited waaay back in 2008. Judging by his pictures, this place hasn’t changed a bit except for a price hike to $9 for your meat over rice + beans lunch. He tried the catfish and goat stew but I was here for the roast pork which I’ve read about again and again but never had the chance to try.

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It took me about four trips to the website of My Belly’s Playlist to figure out what exactly this was. The 10 sandwiches on offer sounded really good and once I discovered through my digging that they were all $10 I got even more interested. But how could I procure one of these delicious beasts? It seemed that delivery was the only option and when co-founder/partner Bo Kim e-mailed later in the week, that was indeed the case. It’s operated out of the Yorganic store at Hanover Sq. & Broad, but you can’t actually order any of the sandwiches while walking in there. Clearly I was going to have to get lazy and let my fingers order up some lunch.

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The Eddie’s Pizza Truck has been roaming the streets for a while serving its bar pies with toppings like pulled pork with Maker’s Mark carmelized onions. A while ago they added some sandwiches to the menu and after a mostly positive report on the porchetta variety from Blondie, I decided that someday when I was feeling indecisive come lunch time I’d go back for something that wasn’t pizza. That day happened earlier this week when it was rainy and disgusting and walking more than a few blocks for lunch was out of the question and it just so happened Eddie’s Pizza was parked on Water St. Read more »

When I last ate at Oriental Express on Cedar St. (btw. William & Pearl) I went straight for the buffet rather than dealing with the crowd of people at the back counter where you get things from a steam table or order off the menu and have something cooked to order. There were some hits and misses with the buffet but it became pretty clear that if it’s junky Chinese food you want, it’s probably best to just order from the menu rather than grabbing little bits of things and worrying about how much rice you can afford to pile on. The good thing about the huge mass of people in the back is that even the food on the steam table won’t be sitting around for long.

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