Midtown Lunch

Looking back through all of the lunches I consumed in 2013 made me wonder, once again, how I am not morbidly obese. There was BBQ chicken lo mein, pizza with bacon and jalapeños, cheese steaks, fancy hot dogs, and one uncooked lunch that I’ll talk about later. All in all it was a great year for lunching downtown, and we gained options like Jersey-style subs, Philly-style hoagies and Japanese curry.

While digging through all of these lunches, there were several that stood out and I whittled them down to 10. You’ll find those straight ahead, along with an honorable mention and a bonus spot for perhaps the most memorable lunch I’ve eaten in my tenure as editor of this site.  Read more »

Earlier this year, an unconventional veggie burger caught my eye. This city has a lot of crappy versions of them, but when Birdbath Bakery‘s earned the top nod among the city’s non-meat burgers I took notice. After all there is a location in Tribeca at Church & Thomas streets, and I can’t often get to my favorite source. The other day I stopped in to see if they had the burgers (I was told they don’t have them until close to 1 p.m.) and a pile of them greeted me behind the glass divider.

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I went to check out the new Dirty Bird To Go on Chambers St. when it was supposed to open on Monday, but alas, the windows were still papered up and it didn’t look close to serving fried chicken. (The opening has since been confirmed as indefinitely delayed). I surveyed my options nearby, and ended up at Birdbath Bakery on Church St. (at Thomas). I’d had an awesome chicken cilantro sandwich there soon after it opened and there were several other sandwiches that looked great, including a catfish variety, but then a turkey sandwich with potato chips and beer mustard caught my eye. I wasn’t entirely sure what beer mustard was, but it sounded promising.

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Tribeca seems to be a magnet for a certain type of bakery/ lunch spot hybrid, especially the farther north you go in the neighborhood. That’s why I wasn’t too surprised when Birdbath Bakery opened the latest in its continuing expansion of “green” stores on Church St. (at Thomas) late last week. I had been meaning to check out the SoHo location that opened not too long ago, strictly for the chicken cilantro sandwich which had been recommended. But thanks to my procrastination, I didn’t even have to take the subway! Find out what a “green” bakery looks like, after the jump.

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