Midtown Lunch

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch: Downtown, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Jessica who will eat anything unless it’s bland. Or tofu.

Name: Jessica Kramer

Occupation: Conference producer at The Conference Forum

Where you work: Water St. between Old Slip & Gouverneur Lane

Age: 23

Favorite kinds of food: Everything! And the spicier the better, as long as it doesn’t completely overwhelm the flavor of the dish. My favorites are Thai, Indian, Mexican/Tex-Mex, Italian, French, Cajun, Moroccan, Eastern European, sushi, tapas and dim sum. I also have a soft spot for some Jewish food having grown up with it. Dessert-wise, I love dark chocolate when it’s paired with hazelnuts or peanut butter. I have the simplest peanut butter brownie recipe my dad used to make for my birthday growing up and no other brownie I’ve had anywhere in the world compares!

Least favorite foods: Cottage cheese; creamy cheeses (I just can’t seem to eat them! I used to not like any cheese, so it’s an improvement. I will, however, eat melted cheese); lemons; imitation meat, & tofu (It’s just so bland! I’d rather have a lot of delicious vegetables than fake meat or tofu, except for fake duck in Thai restaurants).

Favorite lunches downtown: I found out about the Comme Ci, Comme Ça Truck from you guys & soon after saw the Bistro Truck parked in the same spot outside my office. They’ve led me to a new appreciation for Moroccan food. I just can’t get enough of the former’s super spicy sauces (well, I ask for it super spicy) on their couscous which is loaded with awesome and unique veggies (so far I’ve really enjoyed them with their kofta & chicken) and the latter’s merguez sandwich. For a special treat, I indulge in the regular burger at Frites N Meats with some Gruyère and all their free toppings, as well as Wafels & Dinges‘ mini wafelini with their incredible spekuloos spread and strawberries (the big waffles are just too much!). The spekuloos ice cream is also amazing. On my first day at work, I passed Dig Inn at Pine & Pearl. They seem like they strike the perfect balance between food that’s relatively healthy & tasty. I’ve really enjoyed their spicy meatballs, tomato brown rice, sweet potatoes, cauliflower & lentils. Their roasted red pepper sauce is great with turkey. Finally, believe it or not, I still haven’t been to Luke’s Lobster, so a trip there is in order soon. I’m sure once I’ve tried their lobster roll it will be one of those “once in a blue moon” treats I’ll shell out for (pun sort of intended).

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As is customary here on Midtown Lunch: Downtown, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have not one person being profiled, but a lunching collective known as the 4 Tupps (which you can find on Tumblr here and Twitter here). They do most of their lunch’ing on Fridays and tend to favor the mobile options.

Name: We’re The 4 Tupps, a collaborative lunch club working in an office downtown.

Occupation: Affordable housing non-profit

Where you work: Wall and Water

Age: 26 (Kerri), 28 (Claire), 27 (Adam), and 35 (Chul)

Favorite kinds of food: The 4 Tupps’ general rule is: If you put it in front of us, we will eat it. We’ve been known to chew in four-part harmony and condition our hair with homemade gazpacho. When we picnic on the Elevated Acre, it’s in perfect concentric circles. You want what we’ve got, and we get it from eating these favorites: Kerri’s is Mexican food; Claire’s is Mid-east and Indian flavors – big spice and warm rice; Adam likes anything with lots of garlic, along with Thai and Italian cuisine; Chul’s favorites are BBQ, Asian and Latin American.

Least favorite foods: You can probably count the number of things we won’t eat on one hand. Anything poorly or irresponsibly prepared is generally a no-no. Even our pickiness is refined (Kerri will gladly tell you why cream cheese is okay, but sour cream is most certainly not.) And for one of us, it’s bananas…never bananas. Kerri dislikes fast food (particularly Arby’s); Claire doesn’t like Subway or cold sandwich wraps; Adam abhors everything banana related; Chul dislikes those nameless Wall Street buffet-style delis.

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Name: Frank

Name: Christian Cervegnano

Occupation: Apple systems engineer in the IT department at a small educational book publisher.

Favorite kinds of food: Mediterranean cuisines; Flavorful food with a nod to healthy eating but I’m also a sucker for fried fish, I must admit.

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 Alyse who’s still finding her way around the lunch landscape of Soho, but is off to a good start!

Name: Alyse

Occupation: Assistant editor at Wetpaint Entertainment

Where you work: Lafayette & Prince St.

Age: Twentysomething

Favorite kinds of food: Any type of Asian (mostly in part to being Korean, but adopted); lots o’ pasta; contemporary American; most anything with cheese and/or avocado — or anything between two pieces of bread.

Least favorite foods: Pickled and brined dishes; awful offal; anything that still has eyes intact; mouth-burning, eye-watering spicy food.

Favorite lunches downtown: I’ve only worked in SoHo for a few weeks, but when I eat out, I love grabbing basically any sandwich at Dean & Deluca at Prince & Broadway, or SoHo Park on Prince at Lafayette; lunch combos galore at Arbor Bistro; dosas topped with cilantro chutney at Hampton Chutney Co. on Prince (btw. Crosby & Lafayette); and a myriad of salads at Spring Street Natural on Spring (at Lafayette). Oh, and I can’t forget the sweet and savory yogurt dishes at the new Chobani store on Prince (at W. Broadway) or Rice to Riches on Spring (btw. Mott & Mulberry). Everyone needs an afternoon pick-me-up!

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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 Shirley who works a bit out of our normal boundaries in the West Village, but dips down into Soho for some food trucks on occasion. She needs your help learning to love spicy food.

Name: Shirley Chan

Occupation: Copywriter

Where you work: Morton & Washington

Age: 33

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 Joe who’s a comedian by night, and a resident of the Financial District who has a thing for some penne vodka.

Name: Joe Masse

Occupation: Stand up comedian

Where you work: During the day I work/write from my home office on Fulton & William streets.

Age: 26

Favorite kinds of food: Steak, ribs, pizza

Least favorite foods: Tofu, vegetables, anything my mom told me to eat growing up.

Favorite lunches downtown: My absolute favorite is Rosella’s Pizza on William St. ( btw. Beekman & Ann). I order the penne vodka at least three times a week, then pretend I can speak Italian.

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