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 Simon, who works in an expensive neighborhood so he seeks out lunches in a different one.

Name: Simon Portnoy

Occupation: Event coordinator

Where you work: Spring & Varick streets

Age: 29

Favorite kinds of food: There’s just too much good stuff out there to pick favorites but I do prefer the ethnic eats! Tripe tacos, sweetbreads, sushi, shellfish, brisket, and my mama’s cooking.

Least favorite foods: Fast food, pre-packaged anything, over-priced, over-hyped food trucks and lame corporate renditions of New York classics like Papa John’s pizza.

Favorite lunches downtown: Lunch can get expensive on Spring St. so I spend the majority of my time in Chinatown. I go for the roast pig at Wah Fung #1 Fast Food on Chrystie (btw. Grand & Bowery), and the fish balls over rice noodles with peanut sauce from the street cart off of Grand & Bowery. I love the hand pulled noodle soup from Sheng Wang on Eldridge (btw. Canal & Berry) or the cumin lamb burgers from Xi’an Famous Foods (Multiple Locations). Take the money you save on lunch and buy some gum ’cause you’ll need it after a couple of those lamb burgers.

The “go-to” lunch place you eat at too often: My fridge (nothing beats my PB&J).

Places downtown you discovered to Midtown Lunch: Downtown:I have had my share of misses but Nyonya on Grand (btw. Mott & Mulberry) was really cool and the turkey sandwich from Torrisi Italian Specialties on Mulberry (at Prince) was great.

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes and why: I thought this over and I am not going to say Spain or somewhere great and overseas because I rather stay local so I have two choices. Sunset Park in Brooklyn is great because you can wander from authentic Mexican on 5th Ave. over to 8th Ave. for delicious bánh mì and then up to Borough Park for authentic hummus foul. My second choice is Bensonhurst off of W. 6th St. There are great chicken rolls at Italia Pizza on Kings Hwy, hop into Meat Supreme Deli for some homemade rice balls as big as a softball and tasty marinated broccoli rabe salad. If you’re still hungry there are many solid Chinese restaurants near by along with some Mexican delis on the side streets off Highlawn Ave.

Anything you’d like to ask to ML: Downtown readers? Where can I get good BBQ without going broke?

Don’t even get me started on the lack of good BBQ at any price downtown! Are there any BBQ options in Soho that you lunch’ers can recommend? 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.