Midtown Lunch

Some people have their favorite food truck based on a certain item they sell, but one of mine is because I am almost guaranteed to have a good conversation while waiting for my food. I’m referring to the All American Diner I & II Truck that’s perpetually parked at Whitehall and Water streets serving up hero sandwiches and plates of meatloaf and roast beef. I’d been there once before and had a massive and delicious roast pork sandwich on garlic bread. The other day I was for some reason craving a parm sandwich and remembered that this truck served a couple of different varieties.

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It’s always a gamble when you head to any street cart with one item in mind, keeping your fingers crossed they will have it when you get there. I headed to HM Halal on Greenwich (nr. Beach) in Tribeca with the intention of trying the salmon over rice after a rave from lunch’er Mike. And I didn’t really have a back up plan should they not have that one item, so of course when I got there and was told they had already sold out I did the next best thing which was ordering a chicken and lamb combo over rice ($5.50). After all, it had been a while since I’d had the cheap lunch of kings. Read more »

It’s easy to forget about the area around City Hall at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in terms of lunch options because, other than a couple of food carts, there really weren’t any until a year ago when the Open Air Cafe kiosks opened. Those shuttered, but this year brought the amazing news that Tortilleria Nixtamal opened Nixtamalito and then others selling diner food, grilled cheese, shaved ice and other items were opening. The last of the bunch was Koki & Vegi with Korean food. As of last week the kiosk has been open selling bibimbap, kalbi, bulgogi and other items at less than $10. After what I ate yesterday, I can say that Korean food fans should be excited.

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Pork chop over rice is one of those things that I occasionally crave but don’t really indulge because it requires a train ride to Chinatown. My personal favorite is Wah Mei Pork Chop Fast Food on Hester St. and when a craving struck the other day I ended up looking at my options in the Financial District. That led me to Ho Yip on Liberty St. (nr. Trinity Place) which I had never been to before but had been recommended to me by a friend for having good food and plentiful seating. And they had pork chop over rice on the menu at the “Chinatown style dishes” counter! While I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to be the pork chop of my dreams, drowned in pork sauce, I was completely unprepared for what I got.

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When I first heard that Potbelly Sandwich Shop was opening its first New York City location just down the street from my office I kind of rolled my eyes and uttered a “meh.” To me it was just another addition to what I like to call “Chain Row” between Water St. & Gold, and really, why would I get excited about another sandwich chain? Well, the store opened yesterday and of course I had to go check it out even though that meant waiting in a line that stretched down the block. It wasn’t until I unwrapped my lunch that some of my skepticism dropped away.

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There was a line stretching down the block when I walked toward Potbelly Sandwich Shop on Maiden Lane (nr. Gold) today during prime lunch time. They were handling things well, though, passing out menus and water and once you got inside a guy with a less techy version of an iPad took your order. All you had to do was tell the people at the counter if you wanted additional toppings on your sandwich . I think I waited less than 20 minutes in line – not bad for an opening day! How was the food, though? Check back tomorrow to see what I ate and a for a little advice in the toppings department.

Up until Milk Street Cafe opened on Wall St. last week the options for kosher food in the Financial District (OK, and most of the area this part of the site covers) was limited to glorified generic delis, a place that consists of a take-out window and another place with not a whole lot of seating. Milk Street is the classiest option that the kosher among us have, and nearly everything on the menu is more than $10. If you don’t keep kosher then you might not eat here just because the prices are higher than you’d normally find, but the food seems high-quality and there are options galore. Read more »