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 Jillian who is a food blogger but works in the Financial District scrounging up lunch during the day.

Name: Jillian Nadell

Occupation: Graphic designer and food blogger at Eat Like a Lady (http://eatlikealadynyc.tumblr.com/)

Where you work: Wall & William

Age: 24

Favorite kinds of food: Mexican, Indian, Malaysian, Thai, Greek and good BBQ

Least favorite foods: Olives and oysters

Favorite lunches downtown: The Financial District is great for lunch. Most days I tend to be boring and stick to Pret A Manger, Chop’t or Hale and Hearty (Multiple Locations for all) both for financial reasons and my waistline. However, I’ve been spicing it up – no pun intended – with tandoori chicken salads from Hot Clay Oven (Maiden Lane & Gold), the “Indian Chipotle.” As for Zeytuna (Maiden Lane at William), they have the best variety and quality in terms of their hot bar and salad bar. And I think Koyzina (William at Cedar) makes the best sandwiches around. I usually have them make one with grilled chicken, pepper jack cheese, spinach and grilled onions with chipotle mayo toasted on their pumpernickel roll. Since I’ve been introduced to Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine (Multiple Locations) I find myself there more often than not. My favorite is the baked chicken with salad and rice and I cover the whole thing in their amazing green aji sauce (this stuff is “crack”). Toloache Taqueria (Maiden Lane btw. William & Gold) has the best quick Mexican food I’ve had in the city.  They have $3 taco Tuesdays and $7 burritos on Fridays, and I always go for the puerco. When I am looking to splurge or sit outside during the warm weather, I hit Stone St. btw. Broad & Hanover Sq., which really does have great food. Mad Dog and Beans has awesome Mexican food and the margaritas are strong. My favorite here is the quesadilla and their spicy guacamole. Adrienne’s Pizza Bar has some of the best pizza in the city. I like to get spinach and garlic or their pepperoni. Harry’s Café and Steak has the best steak sandwich I’ve ever had, Ulysses has the best cheddar and bacon burger and Smorgas Chef, a Scandinavian restaurant, has killer Swedish meatballs if you’re looking to do something different.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: I think that would have to be Sophie’s. We’re addicted to the green aji sauce!

Places downtown you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Downtown? You guys were the ones who alerted me to the opening of The Growler Bites & Brews on Stone St. I haven’t had any food there yet, but it’s become the most popular after work spot for drinks.

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes, and why: Chelsea is great because it has the cheap chains like Pret or Hale and Hearty necessary for everyday eating, and also has a number of solidly good and fairly affordable options like my favorite Westville, Cafeteria and anything in Chelsea Market.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch: Downtown readers? Other than Adrienne’s Pizza Bar, I’ve been unimpressed with pizza in the FiDi. You also can’t just get a slice at Adrienne’s. So where is a good place to go?

The pizza at Harry’s Italian on Gold (at Platt) was tasty but also only offers whole pies. Other than that, I can recommend the grandma slice at Majestic Pizza on Cortlandt St. (nr. Broadway) although you have to contend with the Century 21 crowd. What other pizza options can you recommend to Jillian?  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.