Midtown Lunch

A tip of the hat to a couple of people on Twitter who sent word that Patuca on John St. (btw. Dutch & Nassau) has closed.  A walk by yesterday afternoon confirmed it as the doors were wide open and things inside were already boxed up and being moved out although there was no note on the door giving a reason for the sudden closing. I can’t say I ever got anything there other than the odd bagel in the morning but it seemed to be a step above most of the generic deli-type places in the area so I’m sure a lot of you will be bummed.

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, we have Aaron who lunches on everything from eel banh mi and is looking for some specific Japanese food recommendations.

Name: Aaron S.

Occupation: City planner

Where you work: 55 Water St.

Age: 31

Favorite Kinds of food: Dim sum, Central Asian stuff (samsas, lulya kebabs, lagman), all that super-heavy Quebecois stuff (poutine, pouding chomeur, cidre de glace), Staten Island pizza (shout-out to that awesome clam pie at Salvatore’s), almost anything with Sichuan chili oil

Least favorite foods: Green bell peppers, Greek yogurt, bottled salad dressing, flavorless chicken breast

Favorite lunches downtown: Chicken with extra pork sauce and a fried egg from the Bian Dang truck, the eel banh mi (when they have it) from the No. 1 Banh Mi cart on Hanover Sq. (at Pearl), quiche from Financier on Stone St., kati rolls from the Desi Food Truck. And here are some golden oldies from my previous office in Tribeca: Pho dac biet at Nha Trang on Baxter (btw. Bayard & Walker), and the veggie sandwich from Grandaisy Bakery on W. Broadway (at 6th Ave.).

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Bombay on Pearl St. (nr. Broad) It’s actually quite decent, but it slows me down for the rest of the day.

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Now that the weather is disgustingly hot 99% of the time, it’s always nice to find another source of frozen treat. Before the Nixtamalito kiosk opened, the word on the street was that they would eventually sell the La Newyorkina paletas popular at hipster events. Well, it looks like the kiosk finally has its treats on a stick, but they are instead from a company called El Sabor de Michoachan. There was a decent variety of flavors including avocado, coffee and Oreo and although I did not taste test one I’m sure they are delicious.

A couple of weeks ago a sign popped up in a window on Nassau Street announcing the forthcoming (and terribly named) Kortako coming soon from the people behind Bon Chon on John St. I’d never eaten any of their non-Korean fried chicken items so headed over with a co-luncher for an investigative look into whether we had any right to be excited about them bringing us a taco and sandwich shop. Read more »