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.)

Country Kebab is doing what many men do in a cart, but with seats and gelato! I’ve had this spot on my foodar for awhile now so I was excited to see what kind of Turkish food they were throwing down. Initially I was a bit put off by the fact that they were carrying gelato and ice cream, as I barely eat that stuff as it is, and if I do I don’t want to mix it with greasy chicken doner… ya dig?

Country Kebab has the same kind of meat you might find on a cart in midtown but since it’s in a brick and mortar shop, they’re going to charge more.  You can get a sandwich for $6.50, or a platter for $9.50- which they tout as being “double the size” of the sandwich.  Naturally I went with the platter, which comes with 2 sides and rice, or 3 sides.   a I went with the beef and lamb doner platter come with baba ghanoush, hummus, and some cabbage/carrot combo (rice is generally boring to me). I also asked to sample the lentils, which were awesome (should have gotten that as one of my choices in retrospect).

First thing I will say is they weren’t lying about the platter.  The portion they give you is quite substantial, and I wasn’t on the run to a photo shoot for Eater right after that, I probably would have brought a decent portion home. Instead, though, I inhaled as much as possible and despite my best efforts couldn’t finish the whole thing. The beef/lamb shavings were tasty but a bit on the dry side and not greasy at all (apparently this place claims to be borderline healthy?) The white sauce made up for it though (consisting of yogurt/dill/mint/cucumber). It was the catalyst that made the meal work, tasting great spread on a bit of the pita with a few chunks of the meat. The baba and hummus were both a bit under seasoned (could have used a bit more salt and garlic) but they were still worthy.

Although thoroughly stuffed, the pistachio baklava called out to me as I was leaving ($1 each or 3 for $2.50). It was not flaky and a bit soggy on the bottom- but it was soggy with sweet syrupy goodness and filled witch pistachio nuggets. I’d say that’s a decent deal for a buck and I would have to get it again if I was walking by.

The Country Kebab, 76 Fulton Street (on the Corner of Gold), 212-349-4290

Photos and post by Daniel Krieger