Midtown Lunch

There’s a strange complex of restaurants on Fulton Street that I’ve never ventured into, including a subterranean Thai place, a Chinese restaurant, a Russian bath and restaurant, and Tandoor Palace. I had my eye on the goat biryani at Tandoor, but I was feeling a little under the weather the day I went and instead went for one of the the steam table combos so I could get in and out a little quicker without sneezing on anyone. The ordering process is slightly confusing, and the workers kept slightly yelling at me asking what I wanted (My predecessor Kevin had a similar experience at Bangal Curry on Church St.), but I finally made a decision and yelled my order right back. See where all the yelling took place, after the jump.  Read more »

When I first heard that Cheeky Sandwiches was opening on Orchard St. (btw. Hester & Canal), I got pretty excited because there are few places serving food from New Orleans at all in the city, let alone po’ boys and other sandwiches. When I took over as head downtown lunch’er, it immediately went on my short list to check out. Well, I have done some quality control assessments and careful research. Hot, hot sandwich porn after the jump. Read more »

Those of us working south of Houston St. have often had to deal with our envy of our brethren in Midtown with their wealth of carts and trucks. Well, now if we want a Belgian waffle in the Financial District, we will always know where to find one as the Wafels & Dinges Truck has brought a permanent cart to the South Street Seaport (at Fulton & Front streets), right in front of the Gap store.

The two guys working at the cart told me it’s there permanently and that they will have everything the truck does except for the pulled pork. It’s open daily from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.

According to Thomas DeGeest from the truck, it’s the first of a few carts they’re launching this summer. He also said that the DOH “freaked out at inspection and gave us a hard time – but we passed,” and that he’s using the cart to show memories of his life in Belgium.

It’s definitely a welcome addition to the tourist-trappy Seaport, and it will be interesting to see where else the carts pop up. And if your dream is a khaki shopping spree followed by a Belgian waffle, well, now that can come true.

Pizza is something I am no expert on, but some days my body wants something greasy and carb-filled. One such day, I headed over to Little Italy Pizza on a weird, deserted-feeling block of Park Place (between Broadway and Church). It came highly recommended by lunch’er adamprato‘s mom, who threw down the gauntlet in response to a review about nearby Portobello’s Pizzeria & Sicilian Kitchen by saying she had tried all of the pizza places near where she works, and “all but one suck.” That “one” was Little Italy, and I had to investigate. Read more »

If you assumed as I did that there was no cheapskate place downtown focusing on creatures of the deep, you probably haven’t been to Terrace Fish & Chip (on Fulton St., between Nassau and Dutch). It’s like they’ve mathematically figured out every possible combination of fried or grilled fish, shrimp, scallops, crab cakes and clams. Then they throw in some seafood rice, French fries and/or salad, and you have lunch.

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I became something of a Chinatown dumpling addict after I discovered the price to deliciousness ratio after moving to the city a couple of years ago from the midwest. Sadly, the Financial District has little- to-no decent dumpling options so I decided to take the subway a couple of stops up to Vanessa’s Dumpling House on Eldridge St.

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On a particularly cool and rainy day, I was in the mood for something meaty and hearty. In other words, I wanted some good old-fashioned comfort food. That was how I ended up at Texas Rotisserie & Grill on Fulton Street – where you can get a gut bomb or a marginally “healthy” meal squarely in the Midtown Luncher price range. Read more »