Midtown Lunch

A string of restaurants on the bottom part of Maiden Lane between Gold St. and Water St. remain closed after being flooded more than a month ago during the hurricane. When I walked down the strip yesterday, little had changed from a week ago except that Chipotle had reopened and was absolutely packed. There was work being done behind papered up windows at Potbelly, but otherwise, your favorite lunch spots remained dark with no signs of renovation.

Hot Clay Oven also remains shuttered due to massive flood damage, and a lack of power and gas, but there’s word about when they’ll reopen. You’ll also find some updates on other places that are now open or truck’s that have relocated, after the jump. Read more »

Sometimes you’re in search of something to tide you over until dinner, or maybe you just don’t want to eat a giant roti for lunch. In that case, might I suggest a double from Nio’s Trinidad Roti truck? At $2 it’s an economical choice and you’ll get one handed to you in swift fashion with the only question whether you want it spicy or not.

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Last week, we at Midtown Lunch: Downtown got a tip that Nio’s Trinidad Roti truck was parked directly in front of Veronica’s Kitchen cart on Water between Maiden Lane & Pine. I went in search of the truck on Monday in the rain and when I didn’t see it parked in that spot, I turned around to see what the situation was at Veronica’s, only to find that the cart was MIA and Nio’s had taken their regular spot on Front St. My brain screamed “WHAT?!,” but I calmed down enough to realize that maybe Veronica’s wasn’t out that day because of the non-stop rain. So I stepped up to the window at Nio’s, feeling like I was betraying an old friend, and ordered some lunch.

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A Lunch’er alerted me to a little Caribbean turf war that happened yesterday when Nio’s Trinidad Roti truck park on Water St. near Pine, right in front of the plaza where Veronica’s Kitchen cart has sat for years on Front St. The menus looked somewhat similar with various meats served with peas and rice, along with roti (there weren’t prices posted, so no idea if they’re comparable). A search of the Web shows that Nio’s parked down on Front St. for many years serving three kinds of roti and doubles alongside the meat and rice dishes. The truck appears to be a mobile version of a brick and mortar roti shop on Church Ave. in Brooklyn. Did any of you eat at the truck yesterday or when it used to be down in the Financial District ages ago?