Midtown Lunch

Cambodian sandwiches: Soon to be found in BPC. 

Those of you who work in or near the World Financial Center in Battery Park City know that it’s definitely gotten some upgrades over the last three years. The offerings were fairly grim and food court-like with a burrito place, Cosi, Au Bon Pain, Yushi, a deli, steam table Chinese and some more upscale options. Then last week the situation started getting a foodie upgrade.

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If you work in the World Financial Center, you may want to leave your lunch at home tomorrow. An event called Noodlepalooza is happening again in the Winter Garden (there was one back in May) and this time there are more food trucks involved. You can find the full menu and a map to plan your eating strategy here, but participants include Blue Smoke, Chinese Mirch, Valducci’s truck, Noodle Lane, Rickshaw and Wei West. There will be Asian noodles and dumplings, Tibetan momo,  pasta, macaroni & cheese, and some sandwiches thrown in because, why not? Everything’s $5 or less and it’s happening from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

I can’t remember the last time I got a lunch for less than $10 from a place where the greeters wear suits. Au Mandarin in the World Financial Center is a hybrid of classy Chinese food being served to finance workers in a food court. If you look at the signboard in front of the restaurant, you’ll notice a piece of paper announcing an $8.95 lunch special which seems like a good deal since everything on the menu is more than $10. The catch is there’s only one dish for the special every day and you have to go around the corner to the cheapskate’s entrance to get it from a lady at a steam table. Read more »

If you don’t want to stand outside in the drizzle at the World Financial Center food truck lot, you’ll be happy to know there’s another event inside at the Winter Garden today called Noodlepalooza. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. you can check out some actual noodles and vaguely noodle-related items for less than $5 from some of the restaurants in and around the WFC like Harry’s Italian, Wei West, Milk Truck, Table Tales, Blue Smoke and against all odds…Starbucks?!? (the full list can be found here). It’s a good chance to try out some upper crust restaurants’ food on a Midtown Lunch budget.

One day late last week I was absolutely starving come noon and that coincided with spying a new food truck making an appearance at the World Financial Center lot. Palenque, a truck serving arepas and other Colombian food, was going to be there, the weather was gorgeous and all of the stars seemed to be aligning for me to get meat-and-cheese-topped ground corn in my belly. That happened eventually, but during the hour-plus in between I realized that it really is important for food trucks to get their bearings before attempting to feed the hungry masses.

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If you aren’t one of the people standing in line this very minute for (or eating food from) Kimchi Taco, Taim Mobile or Gorilla Cheese at the new WFC Food Truck Lot, you may be in the minority. When I stopped by a while ago the lines were huge for those three trucks, and non-existent for Van Leeuwen Ice Cream if you need something cold and sweet right now. A note on the location, too, you have to take a left at N. End Ave. off of Vesey and you’ll see the trucks parked at the far end, complete with ridiculous lines of people.

I’ve got to say I’m a little jealous of some of the new food options in Battery Park City, and now we all have more reason since the World Financial Center’s getting a food truck court. As we’ve all noticed, food trucks have been getting hassled in Midtown, and also in Soho and the Financial District so this will give them a place to park without fear of getting ticketed or asked to leave in the middle of lunch service. Brookfield Office Properties teamed up with the NYC Food Truck Association to make this happen, along with the Battery Park City Authority. And the best part? Trucks will be there from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays through 2013. See a list of those participating after the jump. UPDATE: The schedule for next week’s up!   Read more »