Midtown Lunch

Since we don’t have 2 Bros. Pizza way downtown the $1 slices that are common in other parts of the city are something of a novelty here. The newly-opened Roll And Go on Broadway (at Franklin) is the only place I’m aware of (other than craptastic Papa John’s) below Canal selling slices at this price. When I got there the place was packed, but since almost everyone was getting cheese slices they had a bunch ready to go and it wasn’t long before I had food in hand.

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Those of you who work way down in the Financial District often complain that your eating options aren’t that great, but to that I say, have you noticed how many trucks park down there these days? On a recent day, within a two-block radius there was the Cevap Truck, Souvlaki GR, Big D’s Grub and a frozen yogurt truck. I was trying to decide which to eat at and then spotted Moshe’s Falafel which showed up downtown a couple of weeks ago after disappearing from midtown, and hasn’t looked back. A guy working at the truck told me they’re parked in that spot at Hanover Sq. & Water every Friday, but it seems like they’re there every day. Read more »

What I love about having SoHo in my coverage area is that a lot of its lunch options aren’t chains and can be within ML price range if you stick to the basics. Pepe Rosso To Go on Sullivan (btw. Prince & W. Houston) had been on my radar for a while after being mentioned in some profiles and also on Lunch Studio. Most of their panini are less than $10 and some of the pastas are if you go meatless. The reason I headed up there was for the lunch special, and I ended up being happy I hopped on the subway for something as lame sounding as pasta.

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To anyone who says there’s no good Mexican food downtown (or in NYC…or anywhere outside of some shack in the back of a gas station in California), I would say you should go out of your way to eat at Nixtamalito. Or if you get called for jury duty at least you can look forward to a torta come lunch time. I’d gone when they first opened and ended up ordering tacos which were good and all, but I wanted to try some of the other items on the menu that you can’t readily find downtown. That was how I ended up standing in front of Nixtamalito in the pouring rain, despite intending to go somewhere else (indoors) for lunch. Read more »

We have plenty of street meat options downtown but they’re pretty much all one-cart operations. That was why I was at first confused, and then excited when I saw that the Biryani House cart that has brought kati rolls and biryani to the Financial District added a second cart next door with an all-curry menu. A quick chat with the guy working there revealed they’ve been there for a couple of days and serve Kashmiri curries so it’s a completely different menu from the regular cart that sells everything from hot dogs to chicken tikka. As he so eloquently put it “they serve dry curries and ours are wet.” OK then! Read more »

Many of you probably know Yip’s for its extensive and fairly cheap by-the-pound buffet. It’s less than $6 per pound and has a vast selection of carbs and fried meats swimming in sauces. Normally I would have been all over that, but this time I went for the $4.50 special I’d seen advertised in the window.  Just this once I was glad I walked past the huge buffet  (garlic fried fish, I’ll be back for you!) to the back counter at the location on William St. (btw. John & Fulton).

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If there’s a true food truck backlash, I could see it starting with the new grilled cheese purveyor, Gorilla Cheese. They made their lunch debut in the Financial District on a gross, rainy day but that didn’t stop a lot of you from checking them out at Hanover Square. When I got there at the tail end of prime lunch time there was a crowd waiting under the scaffolding in front of the truck, but I soon discovered they had already ordered and were waiting for food. Comments of “This better be worth it,” were heard, and I thought the same thing as I ordered my $8.50 sandwich. Find out the verdict after the jump.

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