Midtown Lunch

The collection of carts along the water outside the World Financial Center has been a mixed bag since they launched a couple of years ago with burgers, lobster rolls and tacos among the foods on offer. The choices have changed, as the food scene at the WFC has.

Now that the indoor food court is closed for renovations, the carts and food trucks that park outside daily have picked up the slack. I was surprised to see a crop of mostly new vendors among the carts alongside mainstay Quality Burger, among them hot dogs, tacos and rotisserie chicken. Check out my experiment with mixing a Moroccan sausage with Vietnamese sandwich toppings straight ahead!  Read more »

If you work in Battery Park City (or the far edge of Tribeca) you may have gotten lunch at some point from Battery Place Market which has two locations in that neighborhood. I decided to visit the larger of those locations at Battery Place and 3rd Pl. after an online perusal of their sandwich selection showed some promising options.

It turned out many of the more interesting sandwiches are more than $10, and that’s all you get. I wanted to eat you, Singapore roast beef sandwich, but I would not pay $11.95 for you.

That was how I ended up order the half rotisserie chicken and two sides. While this was a lunch made from better-quality ingredients than you’re going to find at the generic deli down the street , be prepared for a little sticker shock when you hit the cash register.  Read more »

Cambodian sandwiches: Soon to be found in BPC. 

Those of you who work in or near the World Financial Center in Battery Park City know that it’s definitely gotten some upgrades over the last three years. The offerings were fairly grim and food court-like with a burrito place, Cosi, Au Bon Pain, Yushi, a deli, steam table Chinese and some more upscale options. Then last week the situation started getting a foodie upgrade.

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It’s not only the Financial District that’s having a flurry of new lunch spots opening: Battery Park City is having its day in the sun with the previous Japanese curry invasion announcement and word that Bill’s Bar & Burger is coming to the neighborhood. It’s already been approved by contributors over on the Midtown site, so maybe we should start getting excited about the beef influx coming our way. Read more »

Good news if you need a break from the regular burgers and fries at Shake Shack as today through Oct. 21 is Shacktoberfest. This means you’ll be able to get currywurst, two kinds of bratwurst, a burger topped with a griddled cheddar brat, and two special concretes including one involving chocolate truffle cookie dough. As if this weren’t enough, you can top all that off with a giant beer in a special stein. Sounds like the perfect fuel for a post-lunch nap! Photo courtesy of Schaller & Weber.

I can’t remember the last time I got a lunch for less than $10 from a place where the greeters wear suits. Au Mandarin in the World Financial Center is a hybrid of classy Chinese food being served to finance workers in a food court. If you look at the signboard in front of the restaurant, you’ll notice a piece of paper announcing an $8.95 lunch special which seems like a good deal since everything on the menu is more than $10. The catch is there’s only one dish for the special every day and you have to go around the corner to the cheapskate’s entrance to get it from a lady at a steam table. Read more »

If you don’t want to stand outside in the drizzle at the World Financial Center food truck lot, you’ll be happy to know there’s another event inside at the Winter Garden today called Noodlepalooza. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. you can check out some actual noodles and vaguely noodle-related items for less than $5 from some of the restaurants in and around the WFC like Harry’s Italian, Wei West, Milk Truck, Table Tales, Blue Smoke and against all odds…Starbucks?!? (the full list can be found here). It’s a good chance to try out some upper crust restaurants’ food on a Midtown Lunch budget.