Midtown Lunch

Thanks to Double Knot for inviting me to try the new lunch menu! 

I am normally exponentially more excited to try the food of a new restaurant than I am to see the designed space. But for Double Knot, Michael Schulson’s latest addition to 13th Street (with a passageway in to Sampan), I was really excited about both. Teaser pictures and the multi uses of the bi level space, complete with subterranean sushi bar and robatayaki grill, had me needing to see it for myself.  (Sidenote: how did I not know this spot was formerly a gay “movie” house?)

Here is the deal, in the morning, as early as 7am, you can enjoy coffee and pastries at the bar or 2 tops, along side the carefully curated shelves of knick knacks and wooden accents. Happy Hour begins at that same space at 4pm with just a sample of the food offered downstairs. After 5pm, you can head down the stairs for a loooong menu of skewers and sushi. But for lunch (and that’s 10pm-3pm), the menu is pleasantly streamlined: pick a protein (steak, shrimp, pork, chicken, tofu, meatball) and what form you would like it in (salad, banh mi, rice, noodles) in exchange for $7.

I do like a salad with minimal leaves and lots of herbs. South East Asia gets it. The Double Knot lunch salad is mostly citrusy cabbage, daikon, mint and cilantro.  Four lightly fried, plump shrimp came with it. It could work as a light lunch or shareable lunch appetizer.

I remember a few years ago when Sampan offered lunch, specifically the high quality banh mi they served. Double Knot brings it on back with a fresh baguette that doesn’t hurt the jaw (some banh mi bread does!) and nicely marinated steak that steals the show.  The daily punch was a light melon drink that worked so well with both the salad and the banh mi. That’s the thing with this menu, since everything is mix and match, it all has to make sense together, and it does.

More cocktails? Don’t judge, I sort of shared. Specialty cocktails during happy hour are all citrusy, like the sake, coconut, pineapple lime concoction called the Monkey’s Fist. And while I am not even a coffee drinker, the  chocolate, house coffee, and tequila drink was something I would order again.

If tequila, coffee, and chocolate have you wanting more dessert, the rich lemon bar will make up for that light shrimp salad.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Easy, healthy lunch menu with big flavors
• I’d eat that steak in multiple formats
• Bright and welcoming space to linger at

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• I could use another shrimp

Double Knot,  120 South 13th Street,  215-631-3868