Archive for 'PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er'

Every Tuesday we'll profile a Downtown Lunch'er and get his or her recommendations for the best lunches Downtown has to offer. Want to be profiled and give your recs? Just email us at downtown@midtownlunch.com

PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er “Chris”

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 Chris who is a big fan of a certain sandwich shop and wants to find some fancy breakfast sandwiches.

Name: Chris Rojas

Occupation: Leading client relationships with investment banks for a global provider of consulting and software.  On my taxes I just put “sales.”

Where you work: Broadway & Pine

Age: 38

Favorite kinds of food: BBQ, Comida Latina, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese

Least favorite foods: Salad, pasta that is not either homemade or expertly prepared, plain pizza.

Favorite lunches downtown: At Toasties on John St. (btw. Nassau & B’way) my all-time favorite is the smoked chicken deluxe (chicken cutlet with pastrami and smoked mozzarella).  Runners-up include: Chicken cheddar (that’s a cutlet and there’s bacon) and hot turkey #4 (freshly carved turkey, cole slaw, swiss, cranberry sauce).  The lunchbox at Diwan-E-Khaas (Multiple Locations) – the meat may vary but the veg is always dal makhani and palak paneer (spicy lentils and spinach with cheese, respectively).  If I’m famished and willing to spend more than $10 I’ll go to Ise on Pine St. (btw. William & Pearl) and impress my lunch mates with an immense bowl of katsu curry (pork, obv).

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PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er “Dan”

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 Dan who would likes a good banh mi but would shun your vegan chili.

Name: Dan Meltz

Occupation: Product development manager

Where you work: Broadway & Park Place

Age: As young as the mountains, as old as the wind

Favorite kinds of food: Steak, Chinese, Italian, brunch, barbeque

Least favorite foods: Any good food that’s been befouled and ruined with cilantro, cumin, licorice/anise/fennel or mushrooms. And vegan.

Favorite lunches downtown: L41 (aka, beef with crispy fried egg noodles) at Nha Trang (Multiple Locations), the buffet at Salaam Bombay on Greenwich (btw. Duane & Reade), the classic banh mi sandwiches at either Paris Sandwich (Multiple Locations) and Banh Mi Saigon Bakery on Grand (btw. Mulberry & Mott).

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PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er “Thomas”

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 Thomas who works in the area of Soho that gets most of the food truck traffic, and takes full advantage of it.

Name: Thomas Whittle

Occupation: Broadcast design (on-air visuals for a certain humor-centric TV channel)

Where you work: Hudson and King

Age: 29

Favorite kinds of food: BBQ and Asian-influenced cuisine, specifically anything where weird animal parts are involved.

Least favorite foods: Anything I’ve had a thousand times before is hard to get excited about. Italian food is generally enjoyable, but I’ve had it so many ways over the years that I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d get excited about it…which has caused some tension in certain relationships I’ve had.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Where we work, it’s all about the rise of food trucks…everyone I work with follows more than a few trucks on Twitter to figure out what is going to be for lunch on a given day. Since there haven’t traditionally been a lot of options here, we’ve taken to the recent growth of the food truck trend ravenously. Starting with the  Taiwanese fried chicken from the Bian Dang truck (which has sadly abandoned our location…what gives?!), we’ve flocked to the Schnitzel & Things truck, Red Hook Lobster Pound truck, Korilla BBQ, and more. I’m pretty excited that the Cinnamon Snail has decided to grace our neck of the woods, and am always looking for that next great mobile food option. When I’m feeling fancy, they just started offering lunch at the West Village Fatty ‘Cue, which while not exactly cheap, is most certainly delicious.

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PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er “Richard”

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 Richard who works a little out of bounds, but really loves BonChon Chicken.

Name: Richard Chen

Occupation: Web developer

Where you work: Bleecker and Broadway

Age: 31

Favorite kinds of food: Asian! Specifically, Korean, because I can eat it all day and still not get fat or unhealthy.

Least favorite foods: Diner food. It’s very tasty but blasé on creativity, on the unhealthy side of things, high in oils and salts & also because they’re an N.J. invention, though their desserts are typically good.

Favorite lunches downtown: BonChon Chicken – I first heard about “Korean chicken” four years ago when a friend took me to its former location on Chambers St. Even though it was later spurned for being a fraud, I still loved the idea and now visit both its Leonia, N.J. location (closer to where I live) and the one on John St. Beware of imitators though, there are a few using similar signage. I usually get the six piece with bone and with soy and fresh garlic sauce; I subway down from wherever I am in the city for Bian Dang, especially if they’re in Soho, just to get this lovely food despite how they have a fixed location in the Food Gallery 32 in Midtown. I usually get the snack platter which, despite its name, is actually a full meal with an unpictured side of clear broth soup. (Favorite lunches continued after the jump!) Read more »

PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er “Cia”

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 Cia who hadn’t ventured past Broadway or below Fulton for her lunches, and needs you help finding a spot to make her do it.

Name: Cia_b

Occupation: Web producer

Where you work: Barclay + Vesey

Age: Older than your ramp pickles

Favorite kinds of food: Peter Luger’s porterhouse, Sushiden sushi/sashimi, Sichuan Chinese food, a perfectly poached egg, pork belly anything, pickled anything.

Least favorite foods: White chicken breast

Favorite lunches downtown: Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches‘ classic bahn mi with extra sriracha (because I have no other closer choice, so I’ll take it); Chipotle (Multiple Locations) for cilantro-lime rice; smoked turkey and Brie sandwich at Blue Spoon Coffee on Chambers (btw. B’way & Church); Locanda Verde’s shaved porchetta sandwich; the raw bar at North End Grill; the lunch specials at Takahachi Bakery on Murray (at Church); the hangover sandwich at Petite Abeille (Multiple Locations); and Shake Shack on Murray (btw. West St. & N. End Ave.).

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PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er & Downtown Alliance President “Liz”

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 the president of the Alliance for Downtown NY, Liz Berger, who not only works in lower Manhattan, but has also lived there for 30 years.

Name: Liz Berger

Occupation: President, Alliance for Downtown New York

Where you work: Broadway between Cedar and Pine streets

Age: 51

Favorite kinds of food: Anything delicious, fresh and not too sweet, from Shaun Hergatt’s take on haute cuisine to the fantastic new food trucks at the World Financial Center.  Right now, I’m craving crunchy, Asian home style and fusion, Italian or anything grilled, but I’m easily entranced by other flavors and cuisines.  I love to eat, am fascinated by foodways, and co-authored a book about food many years ago in which I interviewed Julia Child, among other great cooks, chefs and food writers.  I’ll never forget what she said her favorite dessert was:  a perfectly ripe pear.

Least favorite foods: I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t like yogurt, a staple of so many cuisines and a really versatile lunch.  I’m also not so fond of dishes that gild the lily – lobster mac and cheese, brownie hot fudge sundae, anything “supersized”; while I’m happy to redefine authenticity, sometimes more is too much!

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PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er “Jen”

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 Jen who has all of the bases covered for downtown lunching, but is looking for some elusive good ramen.

Name: Jen Balisi

Occupation: Digital marketer and food blogger on the side

Where you work: World Financial Center

Age: 22

Favorite kinds of food: Anything indulgent (i.e. lobster rolls, rich & fatty ramen, anything with truffle oil/butter), proteins that are juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside (Filipino lechon, Peking duck), Asian fusion (Korilla tacos/burritos, Bibimbap burger, Japadog), pizza with LOTS of fresh basil, tacos, pork buns, and eggs benedict. I like most everything.

Least favorite foods: $15+ salads. It just doesn’t make sense. Also not a fan of cole slaw, non-pickled cucumbers, bananas, or raw tomatoes (exceptions: pico de gallo and bruschetta).

Favorite lunches downtown: When I was still at NYU, I practically lived off Cafetasia lunch specials, shakshuka from Hummus Place, and NY Dosas. For corporate life, the food trucks at the WFC lot have been my lunchtime savior with the falafel platter from Taim Mobile, arugula pie from Eddie’s Pizza truck, lobster BLT from Red Hook Lobster Pound truck, and al pastor tacos/torta from Mexico Blvd. at the top of my list. Having a Shake Shack on Murray St. (btw. West St. & N. End Ave.) by the office is obviously a great option too. Other FiDi faves are the shrimp or lobster roll from Luke’s Lobster on S. William (nr. Broad), the $6 potsticker/”Chinese spaghetti” combo from A- Pou’s Taste cart on Liberty (at Broadway) w/ extra hot sauce, chocolate pork tacos from Toloache Taqueria on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Gold), and half soy garlic/half spicy wings from BonChon on John St. (at Cliff).

Since I practically live in Nolita on weekends, I also have to give some love to the Cuban sandwich and grilled corn (it’s like crack) at Cafe Habana on Prince St. (at Elizabeth); beef rendang and Hainanese chicken w/ rice from Nyonya on Grand St. (btw. Mulberry & Mott); bocadillos at Despaña on Broome St. (btw. Lafayette & Centre) – the namesake with Serrano ham and goat cheese is my fave; the most amazing shrimp tacos from Cafe El Portal on Elizabeth (btw. Kenmare & Spring); and the Bronte/Bondi burgers from Ruby’s on Mulberry (nr. Spring). Sweet chili sauce on a burger/chicken sandwich? Yes, please.

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