Midtown Lunch

I was wandering down West Broadway one day when I walked past two seemingly nameless restaurants, each with the same black and white striped awning.  Then I saw the words “Vietnamese sandwiches” inside the smaller one and may have squealed a little. It turns out the larger place is a sit-down Southeast Asian restaurant Mangez Avec Moi, or “Eat With Me.” They had some tasty enough sounding lunch specials for $7.50, but my heart was after the restaurant’s “Express” take out sandwich shop next door.

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For those of you who work or live in Tribeca, I apologize for what I’m about to say, but on the other hand, I’m sure you’ll probably agree with me when I say that Tribeca is a little hoity-toity.  A tad highfalutin.  Perhaps a skosh grandiloquent.  But you’re lunch’ers nonetheless and for that, we love you.  So this one’s for you, Tribeca.

Just yesterday I found out that a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in nigh 6 years and hadn’t even spoken with since I moved to New York had taken up residence in our fair city.  In fact, they were living mere blocks from my old apartment and also worked within lunching distance of my office.  So the natural thing to do was to meet up for lunch ASAP.  Meeting somewhere in the middle, I suggested we give Columbine (on the corner of West Broadway and White St.).  Daniel Krieger swung by this spot more than a year and a half ago (took some awesome pictures too!) and made the dreaded mistake of ordering a salad, but I had heard they know their way around a sandwich and a cup of soup. And boy howdy, did they. Read more »

I had been meaning to meet my buddy Dan for lunch for ages by the time we finally sat down together a few days ago. We’ve worked not more than 5 minutes away from each other for about 2 years now and hadn’t managed to grab a bite to eat in that entire time. It was ludicrous. So after a series of texts, it was decided: he’d show me a couple of places in his neighborhood and I’d tell him if he was getting a raw deal by working in west of Broadway Downtown. Dan’s response was to bust out the big guns and take me to Portobello’s Pizza and Sicilian Kitchen. Read more »

Seth talked last week about how downtown dining is all about location, location, location. We may not have the variety of midtown, but we boast loads of places to eat that are pleasant places to be as well.

Kiva Cafe on Reade Street is just such a place, and the food is terrific to boot. Kathy over on Serious Eats tipped me off to Kiva’s $8.50 soup and sandwich deal, and her picture was so enticing that my friend Gigi and I went the next day. The food was just as excellent as I had hoped, and the cozy feel and super-friendly staff make this a place I’ll be returning to often.

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) This week he accidentally stumbles into a pub serving my favorite Italian sandwiches in the city.

While wandering around Tribeca earlier this week, I found myself licking the windows of Chanterelle. Luckily they were closed or I would have gone in for lunch… who am I kidding I can’t afford to lunch there. The seafood sausage appetizer alone (which is delicious by the way) costs as much as two normal lunches. So I turned around and stumbled across the street into a bar where I saw large hunks of crusty looking bread and sandwich fixins calling my name. I checked out a menu which boasted “The best sandwiches in New York”. Yeah I know, you and everyone else.

I was hesitant viewing the menu, which had sandwiches in the $8-9 range. I figured they probably didn’t come with anything, and if they did it would be some tiny salad that was more for looks than actual sustenance. I asked, just to be sure.

“They come with a free beer”

WHHHAAAA? I was like really? any beer I want? She said, “Yes but you have to drink it here.. you can’t take it out obviously. This ain’t Amsterdam”

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) This week Daniel hits up the Downtown location of a place we are all familiar with in Midtown: Sophie’s Cuban.

Sometimes all ya gotta do is ask. I have to admit that I’ve been quite jealous the past month or so, watching all these great new sandwiches go through the pages of Midtown Lunch. That duck pastrami sandwich made me insanely jealous and then when I saw the Pernil with a Twist, I knew I had to do something. I called up the downtown location of Sophie’s Cuban and asked if they made it… to which they obviously had no clue because Downtown gets no love!

That was about to change.

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) This week Daniel hits up the brand new Farinella, which from his description of $3 slices of potato pizza, and small sandwiches for $7, sounds almost like the Downtown version of Sullivan St. Bakery (if Jim Lahey was an Italian hip hop artist.)

“What have I done to deserve this flavorless pizza????” (Said in my butchered Marlon Brando voice). That’s what I used to ask when sampling most downtown pizza joints. There wasn’t really a decent spot for a slice until Farinella, a new Italian bakery/pizzeria, opened this past Monday. I checked in on opening day with high expectations and was not disappointed.

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