Midtown Lunch

With the weather turning cold and rainy I’ve had soup on my mind, as I’m a lover of pretty much anything that involves broth. Actually, I can only think of one soup I’ve ever eaten that I really didn’t like.  Specifically, I was looking for a good noodle soup and that’s a hard proposition in the FiDi so I headed up to Chinatown’s Xe Lua on Mulberry (between Canal & Baxter). Daniel had done a mini-tour of Vietnamese places back in the day and several people suggested the pho at Xe Lua in the comments of that post. Was it worth the trip or should I have just eaten some generic deli udon? Find out after the jump. Read more »

There’s a little bit of a silent battle brewing (or so I’m imagining for the sake of this post) between two carts on the increasingly-crowded plaza on Broadway between Liberty and Cedar. First you have the Biryani House cart that came on the scene with its namesake dish, kati rolls and the standard meat over rice options (OK, and hot dogs). Then there’s the Bombay Biryany cart a falafels throw away that at first glance looks like your standard halal cart until you notice the chicken biryani sign in the front, with bonus special green sauce. Read more »

There’s been a conversation in the forums over who serves the best wings in the city, and lo and behold, Mudville 9’s name was tossed around. The beer-centric bar on Chambers St. (btw. Church & W. Broadway) is packed at lunchtime with people gnawing on wings and eating the occasional burger. Oh, and when I was there nearly everyone was also enjoying an adult beverage. None of this screamed “we serve amazing wings,” but the only way to find out was to place an order and get my hands dirty. Read more »

It’s tough working in the Financial District when all you want for lunch is some Thai food that doesn’t leave you broke or hungry two hours later. Sure, there might be some good places in Chinatown, but sometimes delivery or taking a subway lunch is not in the cards. The lunch menu at Bennie’s Thai Cafe on Fulton St. (at Gold) is promising and cheap at $5.95 to $7.95 for your choice of meaty entree and some rice. And it may come from a steam table somewhere in the back, but at least if it is you can pretend it was made fresh for you in two minutes. Read more »

If there’s one place in Soho that’s always on everyone’s list to check out, it’s Italian sandwich shop Alidoro on Sullivan St. (btw. Spring & Prince). I am not a big sandwich person and no one really told me just why this place was so awesome. Was it the bread, the ingredients, what?!? After seeing it listed in a Downtown Lunch’er profile and then another, (and finding out even Zach has eaten there) I took the train up there (and really I should probably take advantage of this before they make good on the talk of getting rid of unlimited-ride Metro cards). Bread, meat and cheese after the jump. Read more »

I don’t really know what voodoo I was expecting Chickpea to perform with its baked falafel to make me forget it wasn’t fried, but it didn’t happen. The chain is focused on healthy eating, and nothing there is fried. Don’t get me wrong, in the absence of Maoz way downtown, I’ll take Chickpea if I’m not in the mood to eat outside or at my desk. What can I say, I’m a sucker for falafel chains with fixin’s bars? Read more »

I am always looking for a reason to travel to the farthest reaches of downtown, so on the recommendation of Lunch’er Katie, I headed down to the Water St. Gourmet Deli on Water (btw. Broad & Moore) for some Tabasco chicken. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into but figured since I liked all things spicy this wouldn’t be too much of a gamble. Find out what this lunch blind date looked like after the jump. Read more »