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, Ilana makes me more jealous than any luncher ever before. I thought food blogging was a pretty sweet gig, but travel show host… damn…
Name: Ilana

Age: 30

Occupation: I’m a travel television host and I temp in NYC’s financial district in between gigs.

Where do you work?: When I’m not globe-trotting, I work on Wall Street.

Favorite Kind of Food: I typically love anything I can eat with my hands. I’m a sucker for pizza. Especially if it’s VERY Italian in style…thin crust, topped with olives, pancetta, fresh basil, and a perfectly cracked egg right in the middle!

Also, I’ll never turn down a classic South African meal of different game with pap and chakalaka or spicy Indian off a banana leaf.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Lunch Salads. I’m so much more into savory taste explosions, rather than seeing how many different ways to blend vinegar, strawberries, and goat cheese into a new concept. It’s all very “ladies who lunch” and I’m much more of a try-anything-once kind of gal!

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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, Corey doesn’t want to “seem like a pig.” Really? Isn’t that what Midtown Lunch is all about?  Pig or not, he makes me really want to go to Istanbul…

Name: Corey

Occupation: Video Editor/Producer

Where you work: FiDi- Wall Street

Age: 34

Favorite Kind of Food: Burgers ( I am slowly eating my way through nymag’s 82 most notable burgers), Japanese, rustic Italian, Indian, classic French, Caribbean, BBQ, pork by-products and of course street meat. The list could go on for a very long time but I don’t want to seem like a pig.

Least Favorite Food: There really isn’t much that I won’t eat. But the only thing I can think of that I try to stay away from are any kind of savory meat cooked with fruit. I just don’t see the purpose… the whole hawaiian pizza thing makes no sense to me. You can also add couscous, polenta and brussel sprouts but who really like those nasty little green balls anyway? Everything else is fair game.

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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, Emily reminds me how badly I want to go to Spain and Singapore and San Francisco and…

Name: Emily

Occupation: Trade Show Coordinator

Where you work: FiDi- Bowling Green

Age: 26

Favorite Kind of Food: I love potato chips, noodles in soup, congee, …there’s just too much to list. I love everything Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian. I will try anything and everything once; maybe except bugs.

Least Favorite Food: I can’t think of any dish or cuisine in particular. I do not like cilantro.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: I usually bring my own lunches, but during the days that I do go out to buy I like the eggplant parm pizza from Grotto Pizzeria, Pret A Manger’s soups and salads, hot buffet from Yip’s especially their string beans and curry chicken, and anything from Sophie’s Cuban.

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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, Matt pines for a San Francisco Cafe and searches for some food cart variety…

Name: Matt

Age: 36

Occupation: IT non-profit organization

Where do you work?: Financial District

Favorite Kind of Food: Cheap and Spicy. Think Street Meat.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Bland, chain, and $$$$. Think Pump Energy Food.

Favorite Lunch(es) Downtown: Kosher Luncheonette on Fulton @ Cliff St.  (great falafel), Xpress Power Lunch (Wall/Pearl Streets)… [and more after the jump.]

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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, a Midtown transplant asks about all the good spots she needs to discover in and around Tribeca…

Name: Erin

Age: Quarter Century

Occupation: Publicist at a PR Firm which recently moved from Time Square to Soho.

Where do you work?: Canal and Hudson

Favorite Kind of Food: Potatoes, scallops and cheese are my weaknesses. Make me any combination of those three and I’ll empty my bank account for you. I didn’t eat red meat until about a year ago, so I’ve recently discovered how freaking good medium rare beef can be. Having grown up in Houston, authentic Mexican or Tex-Mex food is like comfort food for me. I’m also a novice baker (anything with liquor in it/on it/with it) and have an insatiable sweet tooth. Oh, and I’ve liked brussel sprouts and lima beans since I was a kid.

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As it 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, Gigi

Name: Gigi

Age: 28 years young

Occupation: Director of a non-profit

Where do you work?: Broadway and Pine (same office building as Kevin)

Favorite Kind of Food: Chinese, of course.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Don’t really have one; it’s more about my mood dictating my preference…

Favorite Lunch(es) Downtown: Well, I’d have to go with Chinatown…

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As it 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, international man of mystery Bobby tells us how his aunt scarred him for life and his pick for best late lunch deal around the FiDi…

Name: Bobby

Age: 31

Occupation: Information Technology (and international hardcore techno dj!)

Where do you work?: Financial district

Favorite Kind of Food: Pizza & wraps. Street meat will always have a special place in my heart. And who could say no to a good sandwich?

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I say my least favorite food would have to be intestines. In fact anything that isn’t really meat just turns me off.

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