Midtown Lunch

Here’s a confession: I’m not a huge fan of grilled cheese. That was why I was kind of perplexed when I heard there was more than one truck devoted to this sandwich hitting the streets of New York City, and after eating at the first one to launch, I was even more confused. Why would people pay nearly $10 for two slices of bread with some cheese in it? Couldn’t I make this at home with little effort? Centre Melts, one of the new kiosks around 1 Centre St., opened a while back and I was curious if it was going to be any better than the mobile competition. To the analysis! Read more »

Now that the weather is disgustingly hot 99% of the time, it’s always nice to find another source of frozen treat. Before the Nixtamalito kiosk opened, the word on the street was that they would eventually sell the La Newyorkina paletas popular at hipster events. Well, it looks like the kiosk finally has its treats on a stick, but they are instead from a company called El Sabor de Michoachan. There was a decent variety of flavors including avocado, coffee and Oreo and although I did not taste test one I’m sure they are delicious.

A couple of weeks ago a sign popped up in a window on Nassau Street announcing the forthcoming (and terribly named) Kortako coming soon from the people behind Bon Chon on John St. I’d never eaten any of their non-Korean fried chicken items so headed over with a co-luncher for an investigative look into whether we had any right to be excited about them bringing us a taco and sandwich shop. Read more »

It’s not often that you come across a lunch that’s spicy across the board, but that’s what I found the other day when I finally had a chance to stop by the Desi Food Truck, aka the latest truck to decamp to the Financial District after being kicked out of midtown. They have a vegetarian and meat version of a “Desi lunch special” and since the combination of a kati roll and dal sounded delicious, that’s what I ordered.

Read more »

Sometimes when I would walk by Sandra’s Food Spot cart on Nassau (btw. Liberty & Cedar) in the morning there would be a neon pink sign affixed to the front announcing a special of tilapia with rice and beans for $7. It wasn’t until a few failed attempts at snagging this special that I realized they only serve it on Wednesdays (much like the Friday pasteles special), and it’s best to go early if you want some. Read more »

The World Financial Center (and Battery Park City in general) is short on good, cheap lunch options so I’m sure many of you got excited when word got around that Caravelli’s Pizzeria was opening in the food court area. Anticipation built as word got around that one of the owners was Ed McFarland of Ed’s Lobster Bar fame who has a kiosk selling lobster rolls outside. Sure, pizza and seafood are pretty different foods, but how hard can it be to screw up bread, cheese, sauce and the occasional topping? Read more »

I was walking behind the post office by the World Trade Center PATH station and nearly screeched to a halt when I came to a cart called Alan’s Falafel. It’s falafel platter looked similar to the original location on Broadway & Liberty, but they had a few other interesting menu items. If you’ve ever wanted street meat come breakfast time, there’s a lamb, egg and cheese sandwich sold here for $3.50, along with a Italian cheese steak looking thing involving french fries. If you don’t work near the Liberty St. vendors, this might be a good alternative for those street meat and falafel cravings.