Midtown Lunch

You know how you have that list of places you keep meaning to check out for lunch and then keep pushing to the back of the list as laziness and other options overtake you? Or is that just me? Anyway, La Esquina up in the greater Soho/Nolita area on Kenmare (at Lafayette) is one of those places for me. Every time I see a posting on their tacos or tortas I think “I should go eat that,” and then I don’t. Well, I remedied that the other day and was glad I finally made the subway ride.

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There are a lot of lunch places that try to make you seem like a better, more healthful person by eating there and it’s rare I step into these places. However, I’m not above trying a place that proudly declares it’s organic and serves food that just might make me live an extra day if there’s some intriguing reason to. When I saw a post about the Katchkie Truck, permanently parked in the lot behind City Winery (site of this ML’s Fifth AnniversaryParty!) I was intrigued. They’re open five days a week for lunch and the menu sounded simple and tasty, with all of the food coming from an organic farm upstate that also sells at farmers markets and has a catering company in the city. Lots of greens and grains straight ahead.

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What I love about having SoHo in my coverage area is that a lot of its lunch options aren’t chains and can be within ML price range if you stick to the basics. Pepe Rosso To Go on Sullivan (btw. Prince & W. Houston) had been on my radar for a while after being mentioned in some profiles and also on Lunch Studio. Most of their panini are less than $10 and some of the pastas are if you go meatless. The reason I headed up there was for the lunch special, and I ended up being happy I hopped on the subway for something as lame sounding as pasta.

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The Broadway Gourmet Food Market is not somewhere I would ever think of getting lunch. First of all it’s in the super touristy block of Broadway between Prince & W. Houston streets, and second of all it’s first impression is of a terrible overpriced generic deli. But a couple of weeks ago I was in desperate need of something to drink and popped in, only to discover that they serve legit-looking tacos and burritos…and bibimbap. The low price of the second item called to me and I decided to return and try it out. Read more »

It’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but a good cheap lunch is not often found on a cobblestone street surrounded by designer clothing shops. Yet this is where Kelley & Ping is on Greene St. (btw. Prince & W. Houston), on a block that you probably wouldn’t walk down unless you were looking to spend a paycheck. Lunch’er Alexandra tipped me off to it and a look at the menu was a little shocking because most of the dishes were less than $10. Not since finding the lunch special at Peep have I been happy to head somewhere other than Chinatown for some Asian food.

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I don’t know about all of you, but normally when I want Indian food I don’t head to a place that’s a transplant from Long Island and touts how healthy its food is. In Soho the options are somewhat limited for Indian food options at ML prices (other than Lahore Deli), and Hampton Chutney Co. on Prince St. (btw. Crosby & Lafayette) is also one of the only places nearby that serves dosa. I was a little leery that the attempt at making my food healthy would sacrifice flavor, but I headed there anyway to see if it was Downtown Lunch worthy.

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At least two people have recommended I head up to Soho’s Rheon Cafe on Spring St. (nr. Thompson) for the roast duck sandwich. One fellow lunch’er offered no explanation what was so amazing about this sandwich that I would take a train to get it, other than saying it was “really good.”  It was featured on Serious Eats last year, and last week, profiled lunch’er Rachel recommended the sandwich. I thought it might be time to head north to see what this roast duck concoction was all about. Read more »