Midtown Lunch

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.) If everybody else on the site is given the opportunity to vent, I figure Daniel is entitled too. Here’s a little story of what happened to our Downtown Lunch reporter when he bypassed his goto Pakistani lunch spot, in favor of a cheaper option down the street.

Who doesn’t get the craving for Indian food every once in awhile? Spicy, flavorful lamb mixed with vegetables I never knew existed before moving to NYC. And of course the Naan… one of my greatest third-wordly pleasures is a fresh piping piece of naan peeled off the inside of a red hot tandoor.

A few nights ago I decided to save myself a buck and eat at Taste of Tandoor on Church street, walking past my normal go-to, Pakistani Tea House. The food is similar, good cheap steam table Pakistani/Indian food. Neither place gives you what you can get in Jackson Heights, but it works.

Then things went all wrong…

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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.)

Last week I ventured into the deep fried underbelly of the city known as Sea World. It was the food equivalent of a whorehouse, and just being there was like bathing in a pool of oil… delicious oil. In an attempt to even out my arteries, I tried something a bit healthier this week. Columbine (on West Broadway, near the corner of White St.) is where I went for my weekly cleansing. Everyday you’ll find different specials, which are quite often the best thing to go for.

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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.) Everyone knows how much I love fried food, and this week Daniel has found a fried food palace…

At the amusingly named Sea World, located on the corner of Church and Lispenard, there are only 26 items on the take out menu and the word “fried” appears 27 times. How is that possible? Well, take item #23. Order that and you get FRIED squid, FRIED shrimp, FRIED rice. That’s alotta fried.

Sounds good to me though… and after Zach was robbed of his weekly grease intake a few days ago when lunching at Empanada Joe’s, I wanted to let him live vicariously through me today.

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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 (insuring 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.) 

Capri Caffe is a real “Midtown Lunch” Downtown gem of a spot (does that even make sense?) located on 165 Church street between Chambers and Reade. It was recommended by a random guy I met early this week who lives in the area and swears by it. He eats there “once, sometimes twice a day.”  Not sure if he was exaggerating a bit but I had to check this place out.

When I first walked in I got the immediate feeling the dishes were going to be a bit too pricey to fall within the rigorous Midtown Lunch guidelines. Luckily everything seemed to fall under the $10 price cap, like the oh so attractive to me manicotti, which was $8.50.  Toss in the fact that the pasta for that particular dish was made fresh in-house and I was pretty stoked.  I may have even exclaimed “Mama Mia!” but if questioned I’ll deny it.  (It just doesn’t sound that authentic coming out of my New York Jew mouth.) The owners who seem just as authentic as the food will greet you with smiles, wearing their Italian bicycle hats with the fronts turned up. If you ask what’s the best thing to order, you’ll get a confident albeit not surprising “everything is good!”   Read more »

Making Downtown office workers jealous is something this blog has been doing for awhile now. 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 (insuring 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), and seems to be particularly fond of Chinatown (my dream lunch location).  This week, he ventures away from Canal St. to hit up the Pakistan Tea House, (Paki to those in the know) a favorite of many Downtown lunchers that can’t help but remind me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry convinces the restaurant owner to stop calling his food Indian, in favor of his native Pakistan.  I think I found it extra funny because my best friend from Junior High was Pakistani, and his family owned a restaurant called “House of India”.  Hilarious!

Pakistan Tea house, on Church street (btw. Duane+Reade) is a downtown stalwart. The place has been there over 15 years and the recipes haven’t changed (a good thing), but neither have the tables, chairs, and decor (not so good).  Just like most of the food in Midtown, if you want the best you are going to have to travel to the outer boroughs.  And for Pakistani food, it’s no different (the best in New York can be found in Jackson Heights, Queens).  But for those of us stuck in Downtown for lunch, there isn’t any better, fresher food, from this part of the world, and at these prices, than the Paki Tea House. Read more »