Midtown Lunch

I can’t say I’ve ever actively searched for a way to combine chorizo and ground beef into one delicious lunch, but when I saw the frita on the menu at the Bongo Brothers truck (which is at Old Slip & Water today), I knew it must be mine. This monster melds those two types of meat into a patty, and showers them with those shoestring potatoes that come in a can and sauteed onions and then adds some ketchup so you don’t have to. This all sounded marvelous, but how would it taste? Was this going to be too much meaty goodness to handle?

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A couple of weeks ago we reported that kosher food hall Milk Street Cafe on Wall St. (nr. William) was on the verge of closing after a sharp decline in people eating there, and now it looks like that’s becoming a reality. They’ll close the doors for good after today. There was a whole lot of fanfare when the place opened in June, giving those who keep kosher a place where they could actually sit and eat lunch and didn’t only sell falafel. In the months since then the presence of barricades has increased on the street outside the restaurant due to Occupy Wall St., and Milk Street’s owner said that was the main reason for a 30% drop in business. Now the massive space will be empty, and hopefully not filled by some terrible chain restaurant. I only ate at Milk Street once when it opened, but were any of you regular customers who are going to miss this place?

There are so many small cafes in Soho that it’s hard to distinguish which of them could possibly have food that’s not expensive without scouring their menus. I recently saw a couple of reviews of sandwiches at Fiat Cafe on Mott St. (nr. Spring) on Serious Eats and while the visuals didn’t blow my mind, the prices were pretty unbelievable for the neighborhood. It’s pretty rare to find a great, filling sandwich here for less than a 10 spot, but Fiat Cafe’s top out at $7.50 – even the ones with meat on them! I could definitely get behind this place.

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