Midtown Lunch

I know that paying more than, say, $7 for a banh mi is painful. I also know that I do not regret the amount of money I spent on the soft shell shrimp banh mi at Khe-Yo on Duane St. (near W. Broadway), and you probably won’t either. Read more »

My very first review for this site was the banh mi at Mangez Avec Moi Express on W. Broadway (btw Warren & Murray). Well, that was more than three years ago and I’ve never gone back. Since then they have changed their name to Banh Mi Vietnamese Sandwich and added steamed buns and dumplings to the menu.  Read more »

Last week the Banh Mi Cart at Hanover Sq. and Pearl started serving beef noodle soup (aka, pho) which was a departure from their roster of sandwiches, spring rolls and drinks. This is kind of great news for the winter months when a heart soup may sound better than a sandwich, but could pho from a cart be any good? The answer is yes, but with some caveats.  Read more »

Although we have a couple of spots serving banh mi and other basic Vietnamese dishes in the Financial District, A La Saigon is the only place down here with a more extensive menu. I had previously tried their bun lunch special, and it was decent, but on a recent day when I wasn’t feeling well I decided a bowl of pho was just what the doctor ordered. If you dig deep into the menu, you’ll see the shop on Liberty Lane (btw. Maiden Lane & Liberty St.) offers a few types of pho, and I headed over to see how theirs compared with the solid version from nearby Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches.

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I have never eaten a Vietnamese breakfast, but if I did I’d want it to be the egg and pork roll banh mi from the No. 1 Banh Mi Cart. We’ve eaten most of the conventional fillings from this cart but there are usually eight to 10 on offer and some (sardines in sunflower oil, roasted eel, tuna fish) are more on the edge. There was breakfast served at the cart for a time, and I’d like to think the pork roll and egg sandwich ($7) on the lunch menu is a legacy of that.  Read more »

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 »

There’s one thing you’re probably not going to find at one of the salad chains: Lettuce tossed with a dressing tasting strongly of fish sauce.

That’s what I like about Mooncake Foods (Multiple Locations) – that you can order something like a salad, and be surprised at the flavors you get, and likely for less than at a chain place.

It’s been hot out lately, and thus, I’ve had to rethink what I eat for lunch as slamming a giant burger or meaty sandwich doesn’t sound too awesome when it’s 90 degrees. Thus, the Asian salad comes into play as you can often get filled up, and for less than $10.  Read more »