Midtown Lunch

It’s rare that I actually want to step foot in a fast food restaurant although there have been a couple of gems discovered through reviews including Checkers and more recently, Potbelly Sandwich Shop. Popeyes is one of those places that I feel I can eat at every once in a while and not feel ashamed of it – completely unlike all those people who look embarassed to be eating at the Blimpie’s at John & Nassau every time I walk by. Normally, my go-to at Popeyes is spicy fried chicken but I’ve been intrigued by the BBQ chicken sandwich pictured in a giant sign on the window. It coincidentally came out around the same time as the BBQ pulled pork sandwich at Subway, although I trust the people at Popeyes more with making an edible lunch. The other day I took the plunge and stopped at Popeye’s on Fulton St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau) to see if they could do anything good with chicken besides fry it.

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Our fellow bloggers over at Grub St. brought the sad news late yesterday that cheap (and delicious) Korean lunch spot Jup She on Grand St. ( at Baxter) has closed and the inside empty of furniture. It was one of the only affordable spots for Korean in that area and the lunch boxes were a good deal for anywhere in the city. Perhaps the allure of dozens of cheap Chinese and Vietnamese (and Italian) restaurants nearby was enough to keep people from eating here?

I’ve eaten at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches a couple of times for a banh mi and to try the pho but recently realized that I’d never had their classic sandwich featuring the holy trinity of crumbled pork, pate and cold cut. It just so happened that the next day was miserably rainy and I didn’t want to venture more than a couple of blocks for lunch, so Nicky’s sounded perfect. It was time to see how three varieties of pork stacked up against the pork chop sandwich I’d eaten on my first visit there.

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Thanks to lunch’er Matt for sending along a post on Bowery Boogie breaking the good/bad news that Little Lad’s Basket has found a new home. The vegan spot shuttered its location in the 120 Broadway building at the end of last week while promising they were looking for a new location. It looks like they finally did…in a church at 41 Delancey St. on the Lower East Side and according to a post on their Web site the opening will be “as soon as possible.” So if you want some more of that $5 meat-free buffet you’re going to have to travel to get it.