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 Aaron who lunches on everything from eel banh mi and is looking for some specific Japanese food recommendations.

Name: Aaron S.

Occupation: City planner

Where you work: 55 Water St.

Age: 31

Favorite Kinds of food: Dim sum, Central Asian stuff (samsas, lulya kebabs, lagman), all that super-heavy Quebecois stuff (poutine, pouding chomeur, cidre de glace), Staten Island pizza (shout-out to that awesome clam pie at Salvatore’s), almost anything with Sichuan chili oil

Least favorite foods: Green bell peppers, Greek yogurt, bottled salad dressing, flavorless chicken breast

Favorite lunches downtown: Chicken with extra pork sauce and a fried egg from the Bian Dang truck, the eel banh mi (when they have it) from the No. 1 Banh Mi cart on Hanover Sq. (at Pearl), quiche from Financier on Stone St., kati rolls from the Desi Food Truck. And here are some golden oldies from my previous office in Tribeca: Pho dac biet at Nha Trang on Baxter (btw. Bayard & Walker), and the veggie sandwich from Grandaisy Bakery on W. Broadway (at 6th Ave.).

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Bombay on Pearl St. (nr. Broad) It’s actually quite decent, but it slows me down for the rest of the day.

Places downtown you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Downtown?: Alan’s Falafel cart in Liberty Plaza (at Broadway), Bian Dang truck, Pita Press on Cedar (btw. William & Pearl).

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes, and why: Somewhere around Houston and 2nd Ave., convenient enough to tap into deliciousness in Chinatown (dumplings!), the East Village (ramen! porchetta!) and beyond.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch: Downtown readers?: I was a fan of the dearly departed Tokyo Lunch on John St. Does anyone have a tip for the best inexpensive Japanese home-style food in the greater FiDi (think katsu curry and donburi, not sushi)?

If you want cheap homestyle, I’d suggest Niko Niko on Pearl St. The curry is most likely from a box, but it’s cheap and filling. For more authentic fare, I’d head to Ise on Pine (btw. Pearl & William), although it’s not cheap. And as always, if you would like to be next week’s Profiled Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nominate), email us at downtown@midtownlunch.com.