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 Matthew who works about as far down in Manhattan as you can get and has a trio of favorite lunch places.

Name: Matthew Bruckner

Occupation: Law clerk to the Hon. Allan L. Gropper

Where you work: The Bankruptcy Court, which is located at the very south end of Manhattan Island.

Age: 32

Favorite Kinds of Food: Spicy, bold flavors.  Lots of Asian foods, and particularly Thai, Vietnamese and Korean.  I also eat a lot of foods from the American South, such as grits, BBQ, etc. Ethiopian is also a favorite.  Ramen on a cold wintery day (or after a trip to the baths) is usually where it’s at.  And what would I do without pork? Oh, and salt, which is almost a food group itself.

Least Favorite Foods: The bland and the boring. Cold cut sandwiches, chain restaurants, well-done anything, bland, American-ized ethnic foods.

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Trinidad & Tobago cart on Whitehall St. (btw. Bridge & Pearl). I’ve never had anything bad from them, but particularly like that they expose me to lesser-eaten proteins, such as goat and oxtail.  I’d say that the goat curry is probably my go-to T&T dish; Sophie’s Cuban (Multiple Locations), although not as good as Margon in midtown, is a standard lunch option. Oxtail, goat stew, pork chops and pernil are my favorites from Sophie’s.  Their cuban sandwich, though, just isn’t pressed long enough.  It lacks the crispiness that it should have.  Maybe it’s the bread too.  In any case, I don’t get their sandwiches, although I love a good, hot sandwich; Bian Dang (formerly NYC Cravings) truck on Wednesdays when they are in the Financial District.  I usually get the porken, but sometimes I’m feeling more poultry or porky and go solely with the one protein.  I always make a mix of the sriracha & thick “Beijing” sauce to add though.

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If you watch reality TV shows involving food you may have heard of America’s Next Great Restaurant. Since I don’t, it came as a surprise when I saw that the winning restaurant, Soul Daddy, was simultaneously opening three locations yesterday including one on Front St. at the South St. Seaport. There’s nothing I like better than having my lunch destination handed to me. Click through for a look at the “new home cookin'” menu. Read more »

Ever since Tokyo Kitchen closed Cajun Maggie’s has become the last remaining dodgy place to eat on the block of John St. between Nassau & Broadway. They are even classy enough to have someone handing out samples outside the store, just like at the mall. I knew Kevin went there to try out the oh so Cajun specialty of bourbon chicken, but I was interested in their take on some other actual Cajun items on the menu like shrimp etouffee and blackened fish. I wasn’t going in with high expectations of having the food transport me back to New Orleans but would it even be vaguely passable?

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Can I get mine without the twig? Courtesy of Eater NY.

• The chicken may trump the beef at the $5 Lunch Truck. [Me So Hungry]
• The Frying Dutchman truck enters the fray next week selling frites. [Village Voice]
• Soy custard is dirt cheap at Tung Woo. [Bionic Bites]
• Another look at Oxley’s Carvery’s sandwiches, which are “acceptably tasty.” [Lunch Studio]
• The Burger Shoppe’s mac & cheese burger may not be as you envisioned. [Feisty Foodie]
• A look at the $20 Eater Burger Week submission from SHO. [Eater NY]

At first when I saw this in the forums I got excited that someone was finally going to start serving breakfast banh mi. (Seriously: Pate, pork sausage patties, some pickled veggies, maybe some egg – somebody needs to make this happen!). But a walk past the No. 1 Banh Mi cart on Hanover Sq. (at Pearl) revealed a sign that said starting Monday they will be dumplings, sweet buns and coffee and tea in the morning. If anyone tries this out let us all know how it is!