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.) This week Daniel discovers the Vinny Vincenz pizza truck parked down near the South Street Seaport. The cool thing is, this could double as a Midtown Lunch because rumor has it there is also a new VV truck parked on 40th btw. Broadway+6th.

For the next month, the Vinny Vincenz pizza truck will be testing out the waters across the street from the South Street Seaport. I swung by to try a slice and ended up chatting with the man himself and trying a slice to see if it was worth the price tag.

He’s going to give it a try for 7 days a week, while keeping another truck at the Union Square location. I’ve seen that one before in USQ but was deterred by the somewhat high price tag for mobile pizza. $2.50 for a slice of cheese is steep, but by South Street Seaport your options for a good cheap lunch are somewhat limited. (Who wants to spend 13 bucks on a Heartland Brewery cheeseburger? Not me, that’s who.)

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Daniel’s official Downtown review will be up in a few minutes, but in the meantime he sends word that Mix Grill (on Church btw. Reade & Chambers) is now closed.  The new owner is already renovating, and plans on naming the new spot Baba Ganoush. Also, I completely missed this yesterday- but it turns out that new cupcake truck is actually the Staten Island Pizza Truck that used to park on Pine off Broadway. I guess this is why Daniel had so much trouble finding it!

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.) The appearance of the Happy Well Being House Cart spawned a lot of “what’s with Korean carts and fried fish?” questions this week. Of course there is also Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart that is popular for their fried fish sandwiches, but also serves bulgogi. Well, it seems as if Downtown has got a Korean/Fried Fish cart of their own.

When Ruth Reichl twittered about the Korean BBQ cart on the corner of Charlton and Varick last week, Zach emailed me immediately with a call to action. You all know how I feel about street carts- but clearly I had to do it. For Zach. For my Midtown Lunch cred. But most of all… for Ruth!

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Hazard of the job I guess… our Downtown Lunch columnist Daniel Krieger appears to have a blog-stalker.  The Feisty Foodie (who contributed the very first Downtown Lunch) has spent the past six months following Daniel around, first to vietnamese on Baxter, then there was Capri Caffe, and Sam’s Falafel.  More recently she might have been spotted in the shadows at Burger Burger, Leo’s Bagels, and the new Banh Mi Cart (which she discovered has raised their prices.  Bastards!)  Just an FYI Yvo, Daniel has a girlfriend (and I’ve met you both, and she could probably beat your ass. And mine for that matter.  And Daniels.)  Wanted to put that out there before any feelings (or faces) get hurt unnecessarily.

I was hoping WNYC was in Midtown, but no such luck… the cart is on Charlton & Varick two blocks below Houston. Sorry, but this is much more exciting to me than that new pizza truck from last week (what can I say, I’m a sucker for the Asian food.) Has anybody tried this cart yet? If it has a line, I’m guessing it’s better than the Midtown Korean cart on 49th btw. 6+7th. Our Downtown Lunch correspondent Daniel has got his work cut out for him! (Speaking of Daniel, his actual review for this week is coming up in just a few…)

In other Downtown Lunch news, this came in earlier in the week from a tipster: “There’s a new pizza truck on Pine Street, off Broadway.  It’s called John-John Pizza (a small spinoff of its Staten Island pizzeria).  I tried their grandma slice today and was very pleased.  In particular, its crust was PERFECT and its sauce was delicious.”  Confirmed by another Dowtown Lunch’er, who also sent along the photo: “I work at 2 Broadway downtown and I noticed John Johns Pizza truck parked right outside on Broadway so I decided to stop by. I got a Thin Grandma’s Slice for $2.50 and it was awesome.  The crust was perfectly crunchy and the sauce with the sprinkled cheese was great.  They have a special for 2 slices and a can of soda for $5. Also they guy inside said that this would be their new spot Monday – Friday.”  Our man Daniel Krieger is on the case! (His actual review for today will be coming shortly…)

First the banh mi cart, and now this: Dim sum style “sticky rice stuffed into fried boneless chicken wings” at the Rainbow Cafe in Chinatown. Are you kidding me? Does anybody know if you can get this somewhere in Midtown? Mr. Krieger, I may have to make a special trip downtown to try this one with you. [Serious Eats: New York]