Midtown Lunch

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Erik, who writes and edits TribecaCitizen.com and often tips me off to new restaurants I wouldn’t otherwise know about. And he thinks the neighbohood has untapped lunch potential.

Name: Erik Torkells

Occupation: Writer/editor

Where you work: Tribeca

Age: 41

Favorite Kinds of Food: Every food is better as a sandwich. And pizza, preferably of the charred-crust variety.

Least Favorite Foods: I’ve recently swung mostly vegetarian, so I’m going to have to say anything really meaty.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: I love Tribeca, and I love lunch, but they don’t really love each other. That’s why the first place that came to mind is Taïm in the West Village, where I’ll often make my pug walk. I’ve been trying to get the Taïm Mobile truck to come to Tribeca, but it won’t. I suppose you’d like me to talk about what’s around here…. Pakistan Tea House on Church St. (btw. Duane & Reade)for takeout. Capri Caffé on Church (btw. Chambers & Reade) is a cute hole-in-the-wall. Birdbath (Multiple Locations) makes delicious soups. 92YTribeca’s café on Hudson (btw. Vestry & Desbrosses) is an excellent value. I loved Stuzzicheria on Church St. (at Walker). Most people know Ward III on Reade (at W. Broadway) as a bar, but it has pretty good food, too. Yorganic on Greenwich (btw. Warren & Murray) is handy if I’m feeling virtuous (but even then I’ll order extra sauce). Greenwich Grill is one of my favorite restaurants, and it has an amazing $12 lunch deal of soup/salad, pasta/risotto, dessert and coffee/tea; And every now and then I take myself to Dim Sum Go Go on E. Broadway (btw. Catherine & Chatham Sq.)—my partner had a bad experience there years ago, so he refuses to go.

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As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Callie who is looking for some good Battery Park City lunches and her dislikes include everything this site is against.

Name: Callie

Occupation: Risk analyst

Where you work: 55 Water St.

Age: 22

Favorite Kinds of Food: Cheese, meat, combinations of cheese and meat, sushi, French, Italian, Thai, Korean, Indian, Peking duck, soup (especially spicy soup), anything I can smother in ketchup, baked goods. I appreciate good, fresh, thoughtfully-prepared foods of all kinds.

Least Favorite Foods: Wraps, most deli sandwiches, chain pizza, the cupcake fad, overpriced pub food on Stone St., cucumber.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Taim Mobile, Alfanoose on Maiden Lane (btw. Broadway & Nassau), Adel’s Halal on Maiden Lane (at Front) for the falafel and spicy rice; Toloache on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Gold) for the pozole de pollo and guacamole; Mexicue – I got 4 sliders once and almost had a heart attack at my desk. I think the BBQ brisket is my favorite; Financier (Multiple Locations) for the financier sandwich and la crevettes salad; Table Tales on Water (btw. Beekman & Peck Slip), Adrienne’s Pizza Bar on Stone St. (nr. Hanover Sq.), Harry’s Italian on Gold St. (at Platt) for the meatball parm. Pita Press is a new favorite – their zucchini and feta fritters in pita is awesome when I’m not feeling like souvlaki but want some tzatziki sauce anyway.

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As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Danny who has some issues finding a good lunch near his office, but luckily all of the food trucks park nearby.

Name: Li-Hsin “Danny” Lee

Occupation: Analyst

Where you work: Fitch Ratings, across from the Staten Island Ferry terminal

Age: 25, 26 on Tax Day

Favorite Kinds of Food: Chinese (dumplings, scallion pancakes), Korean (soon doo boo), Italian, chicken and rice, and almost everything else edible on Earth.

Least Favorite Foods: Bitter melon

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Bian Dang truck on Wednesdays.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Murphy’s Tavern (formerly known as AJ Kelly’s) on Stone St. (btw. Broad & Whitehall), and Chipotle (Multiple Locations) – we have VERY limited options due to how far downtown we work (right by the water).  There are still great places but they’re kind of far away and difficult to fit into our one hour lunchtime. 

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As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have culinary school grad Alexandra who works on the edge of ML Downtown territory and supplements her SoHo lunches with occasional trips to the Village.

Name: Alexandra

Occupation: Account exec at a digital agency

Where you work: Border of SoHo & Greenwich Village

Age: 25

Favorite Kinds of Food: If it’s tasty, interesting, and cooked with love, it has my vote (I graduated from culinary school in December, so needless to say, I really like good food). Though if I could survive on freshly-baked bread and butter alone, I’d die a happy girl.

Least Favorite Foods: Any food masquerading as another food.  Tofurkey?  I think I’ll pass.  And celery. I really, really despise celery.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Even though I usually just run out and bring lunch back to the office, I still try to make it an event.  Sort of a little culinary journey in the middle of a hectic day.  Highlights so far–Kelley & Ping on Greene St. (btw. Prince & W. Houston) for the duck noodle soup & mango sticky rice; Once Upon a Tart on Sullivan (nr. Prince) for the asparagus, pea, mint or pumpkin-black bean soups; ‘SNice on Sullivane (btw. Prince & W. Houston) for the curried cauliflower and chickpea wrap; Francois Payard Bakery on W. Houston (btw. Thompson & Sullivan) for the salade nicoise, Masala Times on Bleecker (btw. Sixth & MacDougal) for spicy brochettes & naan; Birdbath (Multiple Locations) for the occasional afternoon chocolate chip cookie. If I manage to leave work before Raffetto’s on W. Houston (nr. MacDougal) closes, I try to pick up some fresh pasta and make lunch for the next day.

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As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have recently-transplanted lunch’er Craig who is burger crazy, and is slowly ticking lunches off his list during his time downtown.

Name: Craig W.

Occupation: Consultant

Where you work: Big 4 accounting firm

Age: 22

Favorite Kinds of Food: Anything artery clogging, especially burgers and fries.

Least Favorite Foods: Seafood and sushi.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Adrienne’s Pizza Bar on Stone St. (nr. Hanover) for an old-fashioned pie with pepperoni; Sophie’s Cuban (Multiple Locations) for the roast pork meal with yellow rice and black beans, covered in amounts of the accompanying green sauce that make your coworkers say, “Are you sure you need that much?” It’s lunchtime gluttony at its finest.; Goodburger on Maiden (at Gold) for  a third-pounder classic cooked medium rare with bacon, cheese, fried onions and ketchup; Sam’s Falafel cart on Cedar (nr. Broadway) for a falafel sandwich with hummus, baba gannouj, fried eggplant, fried onion, lettuce, tomato and tahini; Wafels & Dinges truck on Wednesdays for a liege with Nutella, banana, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Delmonico’s if I’m not paying.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: At the moment I’m two blocks away from a Goodburger, and I have a really hard time going to the Hale & Hearty across the street with my health-conscious coworkers when I can smell those juicy third-pounders.  I’ve only been based out of this office for a few weeks now and am still exploring the mind-boggling plethora of options downtown, but for now I’m gonna have to go with Goodburger for my burger addiction.  It’s definitely not the best burger I’ve had, but I have to give it the title of my favorite chain/fast-food burger.  Everyone’s on the Shack Shack train except for me, and I’m not a fan of Five Guys. This new brand of quality meat cooked thin and well done will just never cut it for me.  Sophie’s Cuban has also been a once-a-week favorite.  You can’t beat the amount of delicious food you get for $10, or the instant food coma that ensues.

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As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Wan-Hsi and Landy, who are the co-founders of http://www.8coupons.com/ and just so happen to live and work part-time in the FiDi. And in true Downtown Lunch style they like meat and dislike vegetarian food.

Names: Wan-Hsi Yuan & Landy Ung

Occupations: Co-founders at 8coupons.com.

Where you work: The FiDi & Chelsea

Ages: 30 & 31

Favorite Kinds of Food: We love all kinds of food.  We’re not picky eaters… but if we had a choice, for Wan-Hsi, it would be meat or Japanese cuisine or anything with meat in it.  Did we mention Wan-Hsi likes meat?  For Landy, it’s sushi. More specifically tuna, but only the fresh ones.

Least Favorite Foods: Vegetarian.  Landy doesn’t mind not having meat in a meal as much as Wan-Hsi does, but she’s not that into vegan.  Although they both like tofu a lot.  Landy can eat edamame all day long (and has done it).  So maybe that whole vegan thing is not entirely true…..

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Niko Niko on Pearl (nr. Wall) & Hot Clay Oven on Maiden Lane (at Pearl). You simply can’t find a better deal on sushi here in the FiDi.  If you can wait (or eat again) after 3pm, all their sushi is 30% off. Hot Clay Oven is a new cool joint here in FiDi.  It’s basically Indian Chipotle without the crazy lines.  Their signature thing is their naan bread, which is used in place of the “tortilla.” They have a cinnamon dessert naan that’s to die for when you eat it right when it comes out of the oven.  Also, the mango lassi is probably one of the best lassis in NYC, and we love mango and have tried a lot of lassis.
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As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Kate who doesn’t frequent a lot of generic delis, but imports sandwiches from Brooklyn. And she likes a certain bacon jalapeno slice.

Name: Kate

Occupation: Hedge fund assistant

Where you work: Wall St.

Age: 24

Favorite Kinds of Food: Italian/Mediterranean, Spanish tapas, cured meats –jamon, prosciutto, cheese, nachos, crispy rice with spicy tuna, homemade BBQ

Least Favorite Foods: Vegetarian, cereal, bad deli sandwiches

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Spicy basil with chicken from Lemongrass Grill on William (at Maiden Lane); Sophie’s (Multiple Locations) spicy grilled chicken with yellow rice and salad; Adrienne’s Pizza Bar on Stone St. (nr. Hanover Sq.) for prosciutto pizza; Turkey burgers from Café Hanover on Hanover Sq. (at Pearl) and bison cheesesteak wraps from Energy Kitchen on Nassau (btw. John & Fulton) when I’m being healthy; The Grotto on New St. (btw. Beaver & Exchange Pl.) for its bacon jalapeno slice (see below); Mark Joseph’s Steakhouse on Water (btw. Peck Slip & Dover); Heroes from Defonte’s- but I’m not sure these count since we have them brought in from Brooklyn – totally worth it though!

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