Midtown Lunch

Here’s a confession: I’m not a huge fan of grilled cheese. That was why I was kind of perplexed when I heard there was more than one truck devoted to this sandwich hitting the streets of New York City, and after eating at the first one to launch, I was even more confused. Why would people pay nearly $10 for two slices of bread with some cheese in it? Couldn’t I make this at home with little effort? Centre Melts, one of the new kiosks around 1 Centre St., opened a while back and I was curious if it was going to be any better than the mobile competition. To the analysis! Read more »

It is definitely hearty, carb-filled food weather but I have grown tired of the options down in the Financial District. Sure, there’s the Hot Soup Cart when something warm sounds good, but I’ve found that hit or miss, and I can only eat the pho at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches so many times before that too becomes boring. This is when I look for an excuse to head to Chinatown and I found that with a Serious Eats post on the food at Bo Ky on Bayard (btw. Mulberry & Mott). The shrimp rolls looked like something that needed to be consumed (by me), and I am always OK with noodle soup in its many glorious forms. 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 don’t get out to Flushing nearly as much as I want to these days. Or pretty much ever. It’s just so far. The only time I really get out there is if a friend has an extra Mets ticket and is looking for someone to go with ‘em, which, quite frankly, also doesn’t happen often enough. But getting on topic, with all that great Chinese food I hear about out there, when one of those Flushing legends finally landed in Manhattan, I had to go. There was no if’s, and’s, or but’s. I had to go.

Xi’an Famous Foods, located on Forsyth (careful, the address is tricky), is that place. I had heard so much hype about it, particularly the noodles, I had to get up there and see what it was all about. And as you can probably predict, I wasn’t disappointed in the least.
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No, no, you’re at the right place! This isn’t Midtown Lunch: Philadelphia, I promise, though after Jamie’s video about how to eat soup dumplings, it doesn’t look like such a bad place to be.  Which is why I’ve chased down a little corner of Philly and taken a closer look. Carl’s Steaks has been on the collective ML radar for awhile now, Zach having reviewed it back in the day up in Midtown, but for some reason the Downtown outpost has eluded us. But not anymore. Last week I went in, shook hands with Carl himself, and took a big, greasy bite out of Philly.

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Remember when I told you there would be a surprise the first time we ventured into Chinatown since the launch? Well, here it is.  We’ve realized that there is a problem that afflicts tens of thousands of New Yorkers every year.  “Where do I eat while on jury duty?”  This segment of Midtown Lunch hopes to address that question exactly.  Good for Uptowners, Midtowners, and Downtowners alike, Jury Duty Lunch explores the area around Foley Square looking for what Midtown Lunch is all about: cheap, greasy, delicious food.  Just click on the Jury Duty Lunch category to see where we’ve been.

During my childhood, I had a strong affinity for dumplings, gyoza, potstickers, whatever you wanna call ‘em.  It was one of my absolute favorite things to eat and always a treat when Mom would get that giant plastic bag we’d gotten at the grocery store and fried up a couple plates worth.  My disappointment always clocked in when I realized the meal wouldn’t consist solely of dumplings.  I dreamed of the day when I would be a grown up who could fry his own damn dumplings and consume nothing but.  Well, that day has come.  (To be perfectly frank, it’s not the first time in my adult life that day has come, but let’s set that aside for the time being.)  I took a little trip to Chinatown to see just how many fried dumplings and pork buns I could get for my 5 bucks at Fried Dumpling on Mosco Street.
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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (insuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) You all know how much I love sandwiches stuffed with fried plantains. But check out this sandwich where the fried plantains are THE BREAD!

When I heard you could get a sandwich made using fried plantains as bread at Sazon, a downtown newcomer serving Puerto Rican food on Reade street, I had to check it out. I was hoping for the outdoor seating I had seen available my first time passing it but this week was told that’s only for dinner time hours now. *kicks ground*

The inside is a bit cheesy/clubby and not really what I’m looking for when having lunch, plus I realized that with sandwiches starting at $9, I’d break the $10 Midtown Lunch barrier (once you added tax+tip), but I just had to try this sandwich. In other words, my stomach won the battle over my wallet. I decided to sit at the bar with my dining companion and we ordered the Cubano ($9) and the Jibarito (the sandwich with the fried plaintains as bread). You can get it with grilled chicken inside for $10, but I decided to splurge ($11) for the bistec (steak) with onions, cheese, and avocado (although for some reason that last ingredient wasn’t written on the menu).

Check it out, after the jump.

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