Midtown Lunch

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Kyle who treks to Little Italy and Chinatown for lunch, but also has a fall-back generic deli.

Name: Kyle Lazarus

Occupation: Social media coordinator/project manager

Where you work: The Barbarian Group on Beach St. & Varick

Age: 24

Favorite Kinds of Food: Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Italian (in that order), banh mi. Fusion is always nice, when done well.

Least Favorite Foods: I haven’t come across any yet.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: The Jalapeno Truck for chorizo and bistec tacos; Nice Green Bo on Bayard (btw. Mott & Elizabeth) for soup dumplings, sauteed green beans, beef chow fun, and roast pork lo mein; Tataki on Lispenard (btw. Church & W. Broadway) for the lunch special only! Too pricey otherwise. Usual suspects with the sushi (spicy tuna, salmon, eel); Alleva Dairy on Grand (at Mulberry) for the best meatball sub in NYC. Their Italian special sandwich is amazing too; Korilla BBQ Truck for the bacon kimchi fried rice. If you get anything else you’ve wasted a trip; Num Pang Sandwich Shop on E. 12th St. (btw. University Pl. & 5th Ave.) for the classic banh mi – no reason to deviate. When I am in the area, Sammy’s Halal cart is a must stop. The original location is the corner of E. 4th and Broadway and the newer and larger (24-7) location is at W. 4th and 6th Ave.

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If you’re a regular at the Lane Cafe on Maiden Lane (nr. William) then you are going to have to find a new lunch spot for a while. The secret source of pernil had a fire sometime recently and according to the sign out front they’ll be closed until some point later this month. I peaked inside and it looked like tables and everything were stacked up front but the inside didn’t look destroyed. I’d have to say this is the first time I’ve ever seen a restaurant put a giant sign on the sidewalk telling everyone they were closed due to “Fire!” in red letters.

At times I stumble across things that at first confuse me, and then I just try not to think too hard about them. Take for instance this Mexican food cart called El Gringo that’s coming soon outside of Zigolini’s at Water St. (at Coenties Slip) – a  source of delicious pasta and burgers. I was checking on the progress of the Rhong Tiam Express (of which there seems little) going in next to Zigolini’s and instead found this cart. If anyone who works nearby sees it’s up and running let the rest of us know since good Mexican is fairly non-existent in that area.

It’s not every day that we fully endorse shelling out $17 (plus tax) for a lunch that may or may not fill you up, but if you like seafood-filled buttered hot dog buns at all you’re going to want to check out Luke’s Lobster. The shop opened on S. William St. (btw. Hanover Sq. & Broad) on Friday, joining two other locations in the city and the just-launched truck. Brian had absolutely raved about the lunch he had when the truck stopped in midtown, so I was excited.

There was a line when I got there for a later lunch but it had mostly died down by 2 p.m. It helped that they have a lobster roll express window where they only sell that one item. For everything else you have to step inside the small nautical themed shop, and that’s what me and a co-luncher did. Plenty of butter and seafood-straight ahead… Read more »

Now you can get one of these vegetarian gut bombs without a subway ride. Courtesy of Tribeca Citizen.

• While we may have wanted to eat Native American food, no one wanted to make it. [DNAinfo]
• Paris Sandwich serves a banh mi involving American cheese. [Lunch Studio]
• Here’s another take on opening day at Shake Shack. [Tribeca Citizen]
• A roundup of some good things to eat in Little Italy/Chinatown. [Serious Eats NY]
• Mexicue is going brick and mortar on Forsyth. [The Lo-Down]