Midtown Lunch

What I love about having SoHo in my coverage area is that a lot of its lunch options aren’t chains and can be within ML price range if you stick to the basics. Pepe Rosso To Go on Sullivan (btw. Prince & W. Houston) had been on my radar for a while after being mentioned in some profiles and also on Lunch Studio. Most of their panini are less than $10 and some of the pastas are if you go meatless. The reason I headed up there was for the lunch special, and I ended up being happy I hopped on the subway for something as lame sounding as pasta.

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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 Jonathan who has strong opinions on his burger options and also wants Schnitzel & Things to come back to the FiDi.

Name: Jonathan Ku

Occupation: Information technology

Where you work: 80 Pine St

Age: 29

Favorite Kinds of Food: Anything from a food truck. Red meat, no veggies: Cows eat grass, I eat the cow, the Circle of Life is complete.

Least Favorite Foods: Chain fast food restaurants

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Sophie’s Cuban (Multiple Locations) for the pernil with rice – instant food coma for the rest of the day. Zeytuna on Nassau (btw. Maiden Lane & John), although I always go there, look at the other stations and in the end I always order the same thing: Chicken adana over rice from the grill. Pita Press on Cedar (btw. William & Pearl) is something I recently discovered and submitted a tip for. I might’ve eaten here almost every day when they first opened. I especially like their sliced chicken and pork with lemon potatoes. Wall St. Burger Shoppe on Water (btw. Broad & Coenties Slip) and Five Guys on Fulton (at Dutch) are my go-to burger joints. Don’t get me started on Goodburger, although that $1 Wednesday happy hour makes them bearable for now. The Bian Dang truck is like Christmas to me when they show up on Wednesday. Schnitzel & Things truck please come back! I haven’t seen you in a while since you opened your brick and mortar, don’t leave me hanging bro. Koyzina Cafe for the pasta made right in front of you, the chef when done flipping your pasta always gives you the sprinkle sign, you give him the thumbs up, and he sprinkles some parmesan on it like it’s a controlled substance. And what Midtown (Ed.- and Downtown!) Lunch would be complete without your favorite street meat cart? For me it would be the Xpress Power Lunch cart on Wall St. (at Pearl) for chicken and rice, and Michael’s on Wall (at South) for when I want some charcoal grilled lamb over green rice – order the house hot sauce and get a fist bump.

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About a month ago, signage went up on a location of Roll And Go on Broadway (at Franklin) advertising $1 slices and an odd assortment of other food options. Well, according to lunch’er Geaufrite in the forums it looks like it’s finally open and we can all get our grubby hands on cheap-ass pizza. Since that’s kind of a lunch dead zone it’s probably best that this opened instead of yet another Subway.

To anyone who says there’s no good Mexican food downtown (or in NYC…or anywhere outside of some shack in the back of a gas station in California), I would say you should go out of your way to eat at Nixtamalito. Or if you get called for jury duty at least you can look forward to a torta come lunch time. I’d gone when they first opened and ended up ordering tacos which were good and all, but I wanted to try some of the other items on the menu that you can’t readily find downtown. That was how I ended up standing in front of Nixtamalito in the pouring rain, despite intending to go somewhere else (indoors) for lunch. Read more »

Fried dumplings always trump boiled. Courtesy of Bionic Bites.

• The oyster po’boy at Cheeky Sandwiches is untraditional, but still great. [Eating In Translation]
• Xi’an Famous Foods opened a more convenient shop for all of your cuminy, lamby needs. [TONY]
• Shake Shack BPC is set to open in June. [Tribeca Citizen]
• Veggie dumplings at Prosperity are good…if they’re fried. [Bionic Bites]
• Good news lunchtime drinkers: We’re getting a beer garden serving brats and pretzels! [Zagat]
• After looking at this sandwich, it might be time to hit up Battery Place Market. [Serious Eats NY]