Midtown Lunch

A couple of weeks ago a friend who also works in the Financial District told me they had eaten at Burger Burger on Pearl (at Stone) and had an extremely disappointing experience involving a way overdone patty and fries that were nearly cold when they got them. I’ve never eaten there and Daniel reviewed this place way back in January of 2009. He seemed impressed with his Aussie burger (which did look pretty good from the pictures) but a lot of things can go so very wrong in more than two years, so I decided it was time to do the only reasonable thing and go eat some grilled meat and fried potatoes.

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I don’t know how excited you all will get about food court Earl’s Court opening in the Financial District, but at least it has a decent bakery and milk shake bar! The big space will have seven eateries, which were outlined in a previous post, and I can’t say I will be first in line to try any of them, but I am thankful that none of them is a Subway. You can expect a full report later in the week on whether this is any different than eating at an airport.

What’s that you say? Forcella has fried pizza? Courtesy of Slice.

• Beware the creepy music at Hampton Chutney Co. [Lunch Studio]
• A look at the new fancy pizza shop Forcella, on the fringe of Soho. [Eater NY]
• Also, Nolita is getting a branch of Taim! [Eater]
• Tribeca Treats has all of your pumpkin dessert needs met. [Serious Eats NY]
• Let’s all hope that we can at least afford a sandwich at the forthcoming Kutsher’s. [Bowery Boogie]
• Smorgas Chef has a farm for growing its produce. Your move FIKA. [WSJ]

There are times when you want a greasy New York-style slice and others when something more refined sounds good. Since we are lacking in fancy, affordable Neopolitan-style spots in the general downtown area, I decided to go check out the newish Piazza Seventeen on Cleveland Place (at Lafayette), purveyor of square Roman slices. When they first opened the gimmick was that you could buy slices of pizza and pay by the pound so I was curious as to how much pizza I could get for my $10 budget. My dreams were dashed when I stepped inside the small shop, heeding the call of the “Eat Pizza Here!” sign out front.  Read more »

The Financial District now has two food trucks (here’s the other one) with patriotic themes, as I’ve seen the USA Halal truck parked in the same spot on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Pearl) two days in a row. The menu seems pretty by-the-book with lamb/chicken in pita or over rice, along with falafel and fish. I had already eaten so I didn’t actually try the food but you can’t miss the insane American flag decals enveloping the entire truck (or the string of lights on one side). Somehow this is still less showy than Gyro House’s gigantic scrolling electronic sign.