Midtown Lunch

Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.)

BurgerBurger is located at 77 Pearl street, amid a row of quick lunch spots for the downtown worker bees. At first glance I thought it might be a bit expensive for Midtown Lunch because I was staring at the special of the day, the Aussie, served every Tuesday. There’s a different special 7 days a week, which includes fries (or salad), and a soda. At 11.99 it’s a bit steep but if you’re just looking for a cheeseburger and fries we’re only talking $8.50.

Despite the price, I had to try the Aussie because I’ve never had one before. Between a gently toasted brioche bun they stack and squeeze a mound of toppings on each other. First there’s a 6oz angus patty topped with lettuce, tomato, a thick slab of roasted beet, and a fried egg for good measure, all slathered in a special sauce.

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.)

For some reason whenever I hear someone mention Big Wong in Chinatown, I hear a gong sound go off in my head.. maybe I’m just thinking of an association with the Sixteen Candles character (of a different but similar sounding name). Word on the street is they have one of the cheapest lunch specials in the city, but I had never tried it so went with a friend to scope out the situation earlier this week. I was impressed with the number of lunch specials, all around the $4.50 range.

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.)

Wah Ji Pork Chop fast food has a bigger name than the space it occupies, having recently opened in a small cubbyhole on Allen street. Word of this spot came through a tip by our Midtown Happy Hour correspondent Mamacita, who saw it posted on chowhound ….gracias mama! After reading a few of the reviews I wanted to check it out for myself, having seen several posters compare (and ultimately diss) Excellent Pork Chop House.

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) This week he hits up Mix Grill, a newly opened Middle Eastern place that is practically an indoor street meat vendor.

Mix Grill is a recently opened addition to the cheap downtown lunch scene. Located at 165 Church street, it is essentially a standard lunchtime street cart- situated in a small brick-n-mortar. Even the menu is similar to what you would find while standing on line at cart on the sidewalk. With the weather getting chilly though, this might be a good place to check out for all your shawarma, falafel, and shish kebab desires.

I’m a fan of chicken shwarma so I wanted to check this place out, especially when I saw the large spit of rotating greasy chicken pieces stacked on top of each other slowly spinning around. After drooling for a few minutes by the window the owner said either come in and buy something or I’m calling the cops.

I went in.

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) Today he’s all about meat on a stick… without actually geting meat on a stick!  Unless they skewer the whole thighs.  Do they skewer whole thighs?  Holy mackerel…

Mr. Skewer & Co. just sounds like a bad porn name… and yet despite that fact, I still went in to scope out the joint. When you enter their new downtown location situated on Broadway between Worth and Thomas street, you’ll find large metal skewers rotating with juicy hunks of chicken on them.

I was tempted to get the chorizo sandwich as it passed by in front of my face and the fragrant scent of spicy pork scent awakened my taste buds… but I decided to go with an economical but satisfying combination platter. The “light spicy chicken thighs” served with 2 sides for $7.45.

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) Today he tackles something near and dear my heart: Dim Sum. I’m more of a Jin Fong man, but Golden Unicorn isn’t bad… and if they can get Daniel to eat (and enjoy!) chicken feet- than they have a new special place in my heart.

There’s something exciting about going to an old school Dim Sum restaurant where the waitstaff wheels around carts with pipping hot steamed buns, different types of shumai, dumplings, and various parts of animals I never would have thought you could eat. I’ve always steered away from the uncommon parts of an animal (intestines make me, well, sick to my stomach.) But I felt if I was going to go for some traditional dim sum, at the storied Golden Unicorn restaurant, I should try something I’ve never had before. Luckily I had with me the prolific flickr poster Wendalicious (or Wendy if you will) whose food photography has been on my radar for about a year now. I don’t know anyone who photographs their meals with such enthusiasm and vigor. She’s a Chinatown regular (having grown up there), so I thought she’d be the perfect dining companion.

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Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) Today he clues us in to secret Korean chicken wings, from a by the lb. buffet inside a generic deli.

Park Lane Deli is situated at 56 Reade Street and to the curious passerby would appear to be a typical sandwich slinging deli with a hot/cold buffet for the lunch crowd. Go inside, and wait on line for the buffet- and at the end of it you’ll be greeted with large trays filled with some of the best fried chicken in NYC. Fat little drumsticks and wings, heavily coated and perfectly seasoned, the meat is tender and juicy in the middle. Also available are sticky hot and sweet wings, equally irresistible.

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