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 John who is a street cart connoisseur and also likes a good noodle or some kimchi every once in a while.

Name: John Dillworth

Occupation: Project manager for the City of New York

Where you work: Maiden Lane (although we will be moving to Metro Tech in Brooklyn soon)

Age: 51

Favorite Kinds of Food: Street meat , sushi, noodles (udon, pho) Middle Eastern, Soma by Nature’s kimchi

Least Favorite Foods: Burgers & fries (got to watch my cholesterol), deli salad bars,  fast food chains (with all the street options why would anyone want to eat this stuff?)

Favorite Lunches Downtown: Zak’s Halal cart on Broadway (btw. Cedar & Liberty) for chicken over rice with hot sauce and just a bit of white sauce; Pho at Nicky’s Vietnamese on Nassau (btw. Ann & Fulton); Soma by Nature for either the kimchi soup, or any of the bibimbaps – especially the kimchi.  Ramen is good there too.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Zak’s Halal cart, Sam’s Falafel on Cedar (btw. Broadway & Trinity).

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If you’re like me you’ve been wondering when the location of Crisp – the falafel place with the crazy flavors –  is going to open on Fulton St. (at William). They’ve been teasing us with that confusing falafel handbag sandwich sign for a while now and when I walked by yesterday a real sign was finally up, although the front door was still papered over making it difficult to tell if the store was ready to go or not. I’m told it will open soon, but there’s no solid date set.  The store was originally slated to open in December but we’ll just have to wait a bit longer for those falafel burgers.

It’s rare that a new truck hits the streets under the ML radar, but that was the case with Big D’s Lunch Truck. It parked in the Financial District last week serving its Korean fusion food of tacos and grinders although from its previous Twitter posts it seems they’ve been parking in Long Island City most of the time. The truck joins others like Korilla BBQ Truck and the forthcoming Kimchi Taco Truck (which is supposed to start serving food today). I was excited about Big D’s Korean-fusion grinders so I headed out to see what they were adding to the increasingly crowded field. Read more »

You had me at shrimp paste. Courtesy of Serious Eats.

• Never have the words “bean curd sheets” sounded more appealing. [Serious Eats NY]
• Thank you Parks Department for trying to bring us frybread and ceviche from a cart. [NYDN]
• The nachos at South’s are apparently large enough to feed a small family. [Tribeca Citizen]
• Un-fancy sandwiches at Parisi hold their own with their counterparts. [Lunch with Front Studio]