Midtown Lunch

Eateries serving Mexican food alongside Chinese food are fairly plentiful in the city, with at least a couple within Downtown Lunch boundaries. One of those is called New Fresco Tortillas III on Reade St. (btw. Broadway & Church) and it’s just out of the way enough that if you don’t know it’s there, you’d miss it. There aren’t too many hole-in-the-wall Chinese spots left in Tribeca, with China Red on Chambers St. perhaps the most visible. I’m happy I didn’t walk right by New Fresco because I got served some of the finest Americanized Chinese food I’ve had in recent memory at a cheap price. Win win! 

The lunch special is your choice of dish with white or yellow Mexican rice for between $5 and $5.75 depending on whether you go vegetarian or  not. Regardless, those prices are a deal for this area, even if you don’t get crappy soup or a leaden egg roll with it. I ordered up a standby of sesame chicken with white rice and it was cooked and in my hands within five minutes.

There’s nothing crazy happening here, but the chicken (white meat) was fried just right, did not have an inch of breading on it, and was not obliterated by overly-sweet, goopy sauce. I was also impressed that there were five whole pieces of broccoli underneath the chicken and am going to pretend that eating this meager amount of vegetables balanced out the  lack of nutrition in the rest of the meal. Some may complain that there wasn’t enough chicken, but for $5.75 I thought it was just enough food. And if you need soup you can get some for $2, which still makes for a cheap meal.

I have no idea if the Americanized Mexican side of the menu here is any good, but the Chinese food has my endorsement.

New Fresco Tortillas III, 63 Reade St. (btw. Broadway & Church St.), (212) 791-2436, 791-2437