Midtown Lunch

Since we (OK, I) don’t do a happy hour segment on the site, I don’t go to very many of the drinking establishments downtown. This is kind of a shame since we have some very dirty and very classy places that are probably serving good food. A few of these bars do lunch specials that fall in the ML price range and I also kind of forget about them unless I happen to repeatedly walk by a signboard advertising a decent lunch special and then actually go check it out. This was how I ended up at Jim Brady’s on Maiden Lane (btw. William & Gold). The bar specials had called out to me too many times to resist. Read more »

The Ear Inn is one of those places that you really have to want to go to since it’s off the beaten path in SoHo, and not exactly a typical lunch destination. Despite that, when I and my co-luncher walked in for a later lunch on what was a holiday for some people, the place was still full and not just with people drinking at the bar. It had been recommended not once, but twice by profiled lunch’ers who work in the area and that was good enough for me.

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There’s been a conversation in the forums over who serves the best wings in the city, and lo and behold, Mudville 9’s name was tossed around. The beer-centric bar on Chambers St. (btw. Church & W. Broadway) is packed at lunchtime with people gnawing on wings and eating the occasional burger. Oh, and when I was there nearly everyone was also enjoying an adult beverage. None of this screamed “we serve amazing wings,” but the only way to find out was to place an order and get my hands dirty. Read more »

I don’t know if there’s a vent outside my window from McDonald’s or from the generic deli on the ground floor of the office building I work in, but the smell of cooking hamburgers is constantly wafting in to my desk. I guess it’s better than rotting garbage, but it’s annoying getting hungry at about 11 a.m. every day.

Most of the time I can ignore the meaty smell, but one day I just really wanted a greasy burger and fries for lunch. I thought about checking out the newish Go Burger Truck at the South St. Seaport (anybody checked this thing out?) but reviews have not been promising. So instead I went to the forums and saw that lunch’er boomshanka had listed a cheeseburger from the Blarney Stone on Trinity Place (btw. Exchange Pl. & Morris ) as one of his go-to lunches. I was doubly intrigued because while another Blarney Stone on Fulton St. recently closed, this one was featured a couple of months ago as the recipient of a make-over by some new reality show called “Construction Intervention” on the Discovery Channel.

And that was how I ended up at a newly classy bar at noon on a Monday with a burger on my mind. Read more »

St. Patrick’s Day here in New York is a thing of beauty. If you’re in possession of any Irish blood, this is the time of year it you can feel it bubbling to the point where you want to and quite often do dance in the streets, preferably after drinking copious amounts of green beer. I, however, am of German heritage. We don’t believe in fun, or saints for that matter. We believe in strict order, whether it’s in your drinking or in your work. And unfortunately, these same rules and regulations are enforced at my place of business, where bars and lunch shall not meet. But that shouldn’t stop you from having a good time, should it? Check out the list below for all the Irish pubs in the Downtown. And by “all” I mean “the ones I know about that sport something on the menu under $10.” If you don’t see the spot you’re planning to consume your liquid lunch, put it in the comments and direct the masses.

• Ryan Maguire’s Alehouse – 28 Cliff St. @ Fulton St.
• Jim Brady’s Restaurant – 75 Maiden Lane @ William St.
• Killarney Rose – 127 Pearl St. @ Hanover St.
• The Beekman Pub – 15 Beekman St. @ Nassau St.
• The Irish Punt – 40 Exchange Place @ William St.

Midtown workers shouldn’t have all the fun, so to even the score, I’ve brought on Daniel Krieger as an official Downtown Lunch Correspondent to write up some of the tasty stuff you can get in the lower half of Manhattan. He’s a great photographer (ensuring good food porn), but more importantly he is a lover of cheap, unique and delicious eats (or as I like to call it- Midtown Lunch’ish food.) This week he accidentally stumbles into a pub serving my favorite Italian sandwiches in the city.

While wandering around Tribeca earlier this week, I found myself licking the windows of Chanterelle. Luckily they were closed or I would have gone in for lunch… who am I kidding I can’t afford to lunch there. The seafood sausage appetizer alone (which is delicious by the way) costs as much as two normal lunches. So I turned around and stumbled across the street into a bar where I saw large hunks of crusty looking bread and sandwich fixins calling my name. I checked out a menu which boasted “The best sandwiches in New York”. Yeah I know, you and everyone else.

I was hesitant viewing the menu, which had sandwiches in the $8-9 range. I figured they probably didn’t come with anything, and if they did it would be some tiny salad that was more for looks than actual sustenance. I asked, just to be sure.

“They come with a free beer”

WHHHAAAA? I was like really? any beer I want? She said, “Yes but you have to drink it here.. you can’t take it out obviously. This ain’t Amsterdam”

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