Midtown Lunch

It’s not often I have a lunch that makes me angry afterward because I usually don’t spend enough to feel like I’ve been ripped off. I mean, if I get some bad street meat, I’m angry, but I only spent $5 on it. When I shell out almost $10 and the food is crappy, I usually vow never to eat at that place again because there are too many delicious things to eat downtown to waste my stomach space. This was the case when I first tried 22 Thai Cuisine on Maiden Lane (btw. Nassau & Broadway). I went there two days after it opened, mostly because I was so excited to see if the Financial District would finally have some some good Thai food. Thai is one of my favorite genres of food overall and I’ve been fairly disappointed with the couple of places I’ve tried down here, which are either overpriced or generic. Find out what angered me, and what made me want to come back after the jump. Read more »

I don’t know about anyone else, but I didn’t know a Thames St. existed in the Financial District. Sure enough, it does, and on it you’ll find Big Al’s Chicago-Style Pizza (btw. Broadway & Trinity Pl.). Lunch’er Paul had recommended its regular slice so I decided to go check it out on one of those day’s where I couldn’t decide what lunch appealed to me. It’s one of only a couple of businesses on the street that only exists for two blocks. According to its menu, Big Al’s has been around for 30 years and a steady stream of people came in and out while I was there during prime lunch time. The weird thing is, that they don’t really seem to focus on the deep dish pizza that you think of as Chicago-style, although they do list a pie with a “special crisp and fluffy crust.” I guess there’s always Pizzeria Uno at the South Street Seaport for that. Read more »

If you’re like me, you don’t really go to the area of Centre St. near City Hall unless you’re on jury duty, get arrested (I would imagine) or you work there and/or are defending someone in a court of law. The other option is that you are a tourist or just really like walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. One day after getting off the subway at the City Hall station, I noticed a couple of food kiosks had popped up in a weird triangular area at the base of the bridge. They were Choza Taqueria and The Pantry, and they make up half of the Open Air Cafe. Two other kiosks for Lucky Buns (not this kind, sadly, but burgers) and an Italian pizza and pasta kiosk called  Sauced are on the opposite side of the massive 1 Centre St. building. I had originally ventured over to check out Choza’s tacos only to find the place closed. So I walked over to the neighboring Pantry to see what they had on offer.

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I know what you’re thinking: You go to Torrisi Italian Specialties, a sandwich shop that has eggplant and chicken parm, and you get a freaking turkey sandwich? Well, let me just say that this is no ordinary Boars Head turkey on a roll. That was clear when I saw the two amazing-looking turkey breasts sitting on a cutting board and a guy slicing large chunks off of one of them. And then the three people in front of me ordered the turkey sandwich, so I felt like I was on the right track.

Let me back up a minute, though. Torrisi, located on Mulberry St. (at Prince) in Soho, has pretty much received nothing but glowing reviews since it opened. And Ed Levine from Serious Eats NY reviewed the place back in February and raved about that turkey sandwich (and the chicken parm). Clearly, a field trip up north was in order. Read more »

There have been a couple of new additions to the downtown cart scene recently, and I spotted another one last week with the Biryani House Cart, on Liberty St. (nr. Broadway). Midtown has the famed Biryani Cart and the Kati Roll shop and I was always a little jealous that we didn’t really have a cart or shop where you could consistently get good biryani or kati rolls, aka, Indian burritos. You have no idea how excited I was when I saw this cart had been added to the collection on Liberty St.

I happened to check out Biryani House on its second day of existence, and was excited to learn that it’s not just a transplant from midtown like its next-door neighbor the 99% Vegetarian Food Cart. Nope, this is a spankin’ new cart, as its friendly owner from Bangladesh told me. Read more »

A friend tipped me off to a new sandwich place called…Vietnamese Sandwiches that’s on Pearl St. (btw. Pine & Wall). Yes, that’s right, it’s actually called Vietnamese Sandwiches. It looks the shop just opened, and according to the menu you can get a free soda with your sandwich until July 31 for their grand opening. There are eight different sandwiches for $6 including the usual pork roll and pate model, BBQ pork, roast beef and Vietnamese meatball. There’s also an avocado shake there that’s calling my name. If anyone checks this place out, give your first impressions in the comments.

Just when I thought I was at least aware of most of the delicious food finds in the FiDi and Tribeca, I found another one thanks to a couple of downtown lunch’ers. That place is Downtown Deli on Church St. (at Park Pl.), which from the outside basically looks like any other so-called “deli”, selling cigarettes and crappy Boar’s Head sandwiches. But when you step inside, you notice the difference because there’s a sea of people, and two counters: one for cold sandwiches and one for hot, and really nothing else but a rack with bags of chips. Oh yeah, now we’re talking! Thankfully, both of the sandwich suggestions I got were on the hot side because the cold sandwich line was insane. Lunch’er Paul suggested I should check out the pastrami Reuben there, and lunch’er dkriese likes the beef brisket on a roll with gravy. Clearly, with two endorsements for this deli, it was worth checking out. 

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