Midtown Lunch

It’s sometimes hard to keep track of all the halal carts downtown – especially in the Financial District where they are fairly rampant. Yet, there are a few popular ones that serve things other than the lamb/chicken/falafel trinity that are easier to notice if they’re missing.

These reasons made it easy to spot the halal cart with a generic menu that was parked where Halal Gyro Express has been for at least a couple of years, at William St. and Maiden Lane. You may know this as the cart that added Afghani food to their lineup, including real lamb. They also have some pretty great falafel.

I don’t know where they’ve gone, but please come back Halal Gyro Express! The neighboring Biryani House cart is great and all, but it’s no bargain lamb.

Has anyone spotted this cart somewhere else in the downtown area?

Aroy Dee Thai Kitchen has been open on John St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau) for a while now, and on a recent gross, rainy day I decided to stop in again for lunch. I’d already tried one of their protein over rice options soon after they opened in March.

This time, I happened to have a weird cold that made eating in warm weather challenging. In defiance of the warming temperatures outside, I opted to order a noodle soup. And it both soothed my throat and gave me the seafood that I craved.

Read more »

Bad news to start your Monday: It looks like Baoguette on Nassau St. (btw. John & Fulton) is down for the count. I’d noticed the lights being off earlier last week, but by Friday a “for rent” sign had been strung above the space.

The chainlet was one of the only banh mi purveyors in the Financial District for a couple of years when it opened at the beginning of 2010, with the Banh Mi Cart at Hanover Sq. for company. Now of course we have Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches (and Yushi) selling a variety of the sandwiches. Still, I became addicted to the catfish sandwich at Baoguette soon after starting work in the FiDi, when I was across the street from their original location on Maiden Lane. I won’t miss the yellow turmeric stains I got from pieces of fish that fell out of the sandwich onto my pants, but I will miss those banh mi.

Does knife cut beat hand pulled? Via Eat to Blog.

• Paki Tea House is in the top 10 of cheap eats. [Gothamist]
• Fancy Italian sandwich shop Salume has been seized. [Grub St.]
• Barbarini will become Barbalu. [Eater NY]
• All Good Things: Now with pastries! [Tribeca Citizen]
• The roast beef option at Dave’s Hoagies gets a thumbs up. [SENY]
• Veering away from Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles‘s namesake. [Eat to Blog]

If the lines going out the door yesterday were any indication, you all were happy that Zigolini’s is open once again at Pearl St. & Coenties Slip. The grand opening came seven months after heavy damage from hurricane Sandy closed the doors of the popular deli and hot food lunch shop, and the sit down space next door. But wait, there’s more!

Read more »

This site has already checked out some of the more traditional lunch options at Tribeca’s Takahachi Bakery on Murray St. (at Church). There was the Japanese pizza and fried cream gravy sandwich (aka, croquettes), and then the ginger beef sandwich. The one thing we hadn’t really tried was the large variety of savory and sweet buns offered on a daily basis. With fillings like ham and cheese, red bean and curry beef, clearly these had to be sampled.

Read more »

In a shocking turn of events, Go Go Curry has added fruits and vegetables to its short and sweet menu. The above sign was spotted outside the location on John St. (btw. Broadway & Nassau), and a sign on the window showed greens with katsu sitting on top, with a price tag of $5. Sounds better than grilled chicken or more vegetables, right? No word on whether they put curry gravy over it instead of dressing.