Midtown Lunch

There’s an interesting new by-the-pound buffet option in the Financial District at Justino’s Pizzeria (formerly Pizza Pizza) on Pearl St. (nr. Stone). Why is it interesting? Because it’s $6.95 per pound and from the quick scan I made during lunch yesterday it looked like there weren’t a lot of scale-friendly options. There were a couple of kinds of pasta, a baked dish with cheese on top, broccoli, sliced Italian bread and then a few tureens off to the side that I’m guessing were soup. Pasta and broccoli are not the lightest of items, so it wouldn’t be hard to spend $10 or more here if you’re really hungry. It might be a hard sell when you can get a couple of plain slices there for $5.

There was some intrigue surrounding the replacement of Pizza Pizza with Justino’s Pizzeria on the stretch of restaurants between Pearl St. and Stone St. Pizza Pizza was serviceable but not remarkable, but Justino’s seems to be another branch of an NYC mini-chain that used to have a location in Midtown and also exists in Staten Island. A look at the online menu showed some intriguing options including clam pizza and one modeled after the L&B Spumoni Gardens square variety. Lunch’er famdoc called for an investigation, and I was ready to do it.  Read more »

While walking past the row of lunch spots between Pearl & S. William streets, I noticed that Pizza Pizza had changed its name to Justino’s Pizzeria. A search online shows that it’s a third location of an NYC mini-chain that’s also on Staten Island and Midtown. The menu looks pretty standard, although they do offer clam pizza and an “L and B style Sicilian” which I’m guessing is an homage to L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn.