Midtown Lunch

Those of you who were fans of Win Won , the DOH-shuttered Chinese greasy-spoon on Liberty Place (btw. Liberty St. & Maiden Lane) take note – it’s reopened as the fancy-fonted Dumpling House. The menu isn’t all that different or exciting although the good news is they have four different kinds of dumplings. The bad news is that they’re six for $6 – kind of lame for a place with dumpling in its name. Otherwise there is roast pork and duck listed under the appetizer section, and the usual standbys lumped into a lunch special with white or brown rice and a drink or soup for $8. I guess it’s too much to ask for a 5 for $1 dumpling place in the Financial District?

You know how you have that list of places you keep meaning to check out for lunch and then keep pushing to the back of the list as laziness and other options overtake you? Or is that just me? Anyway, La Esquina up in the greater Soho/Nolita area on Kenmare (at Lafayette) is one of those places for me. Every time I see a posting on their tacos or tortas I think “I should go eat that,” and then I don’t. Well, I remedied that the other day and was glad I finally made the subway ride.

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There’s an otherwise nondescript street meat cart on Gouverneur Lane (at Water) called Desi Food that has all manner of fish specialties posted on the front. The couple of times I’ve stopped by, they never have these things but what they do have every day is chicken biryani and since it’s been awhile since I’ve eaten a version from a cart I figured it was worth a shot since the $6 price tag wasn’t exactly going to break the bank.

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It’s been a long time since we’ve checked in with Sea World the non-theme park home of every fried aquatic creature imaginable. When last I ate there is was because they had an all-you-can-eat buffet for the low, low price of $7 but I think most people shunned that and kept on ordering up fried seafood to go. When I walked by I noticed that not only was the buffet gone (!), but in its place they had added a rotisserie for chicken and some other non-fried options. As a consequence, they’re now calling themselves Sea World Rotisserie & Grill & Fried Seafood. I went in to get the amazing combo of rotisserie chicken and lo mein, but was told there was no chicken that day. Since I was there and hungry I forged ahead and ordered up a sandwich of epic proportions.

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It’s hard to remember that Harry’s Italian Pizza Bar exists since it’s off the beaten path of Maiden Lane, down Gold St. on a short little stretch of Platt St. that’s only a couple of blocks long. In the summer eating there is a nice treat as there is plentiful outdoor seating and the lunch menu is vast and full of pizza, parm sandwiches and pasta (or macaroni, as the menu calls it). The only problem is that nearly everything except the sandwiches and a small calzone are $10 or more. Sometimes it’s nice to sit and have table service instead of eating on a bench or at your desk, but is the extra cost worth it? Read more »

It’s rare that I actually want to step foot in a fast food restaurant although there have been a couple of gems discovered through reviews including Checkers and more recently, Potbelly Sandwich Shop. Popeyes is one of those places that I feel I can eat at every once in a while and not feel ashamed of it – completely unlike all those people who look embarassed to be eating at the Blimpie’s at John & Nassau every time I walk by. Normally, my go-to at Popeyes is spicy fried chicken but I’ve been intrigued by the BBQ chicken sandwich pictured in a giant sign on the window. It coincidentally came out around the same time as the BBQ pulled pork sandwich at Subway, although I trust the people at Popeyes more with making an edible lunch. The other day I took the plunge and stopped at Popeye’s on Fulton St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau) to see if they could do anything good with chicken besides fry it.

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I’ve eaten at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches a couple of times for a banh mi and to try the pho but recently realized that I’d never had their classic sandwich featuring the holy trinity of crumbled pork, pate and cold cut. It just so happened that the next day was miserably rainy and I didn’t want to venture more than a couple of blocks for lunch, so Nicky’s sounded perfect. It was time to see how three varieties of pork stacked up against the pork chop sandwich I’d eaten on my first visit there.

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