Midtown Lunch

In addition to steam table lunches, Bombay’s on Pearl St. (btw. Coenties Slip & Broad) offers a few other items that aren’t commonly seen at competing spots like Diwan E Khaas.

They sells good kati rolls, and also a couple of Indian snacks. And then there’s the Indian fried chicken on the menu. I’d been curious about it, and decided to bite the bullet and see how this fried chicken was anything like Korean fried chicken or just the regular sort.

It turns out it’s a mash up, and one you might want to try if you’re into fried poultry in all its forms.  Read more »

If you tried to eat at Dumpling House on Liberty Place (btw. Liberty St. & Maiden Lane) Monday, you may have been in for a surprise as it’s not only closed, and turning into something different.

The space is becoming A La Saigon and will be serving Vietnamese food, which I for one am pretty happy about. With the exception of Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches, the Banh Mi cart and Baoguette, we don’t have much in the way of Vietnamese specialties in the Financial District. And really, Dumpling House wasn’t anything special, so fingers crossed that the reincarnation will be an improvement.

Update: This place opened up the day after this post. Expect a review in short order.

The windows continue to be papered up at Zigolini’s, the popular lunch spot at Pearl St. and Coenties Slip that was heavily damaged by hurricane Sandy.

Zigolini’s and Obao next door are some of the only restaurants in that area not yet reopened, but it looks like work is going ahead on the former, judging by signs in the window. The deli sandwiches and salads will remain, while the space next door that used to be for ordering burgers and other hot items is turning into a place called Guacstar, selling Mexican food and margaritas. The corner space will be a bar and grill.

There’s no word on the signs when the reopening will happen, but it’s nice to see that Zigolini’s didn’t simply abandon ship since they have some consistently good lunch options.

The couple of times I’ve written about Baba Ghanouge (Multiple Locations), I’ve somehow gotten items with chicken – in a sandwich with fries and in man-ushi form – and never tried the falafel or other vegetarian items.

If you’re not in the know, this place has a falafel sandwich for just over $4. Yes, it’s utilitarian and doesn’t involve hummus or anything, but for $4 no one should complain. You can barely get the same thing at a street cart for that amount of money in the Financial District!

But is their bargain falafel any good? I’m here to tell you that it is, and they don’t skimp on your sandwich either.

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Lard bread makes everything better. Via SENY.

• Korean spot Kori was seized by the tax man. [Tribeca Citizen]
• Now you can eat pulled pork along with your shoe shine. [DNAinfo]
• Potato, egg, lard bread. Genius. [SENY]
• A closer look at the Mamak truck. [Eating in Translation]
• Are Grey Dog’s fries some of the city’s best? [FitR]

If you’re not sick of big, meaty sandwiches for lunch, then you may like to know that Shorty’s opened its shop selling Philly cheesesteaks among other things on Pearl St. between Coenties Slip & Broad earlier this week. This is another branch of the purveyor’s shop and bar in Midtown, and they also have a food truck that I’ve somehow never managed to eat at. I’m not going to lie – sometimes I can’t handle the food coma in a bun that is a cheesesteak for lunch.

Frequent commenter and tipster dbdtron did the dirty work…er, eating on opening day and wrote in with a short and sweet take on what he got from the downstairs takeout portion of the place. Find out what he has to say, straight ahead!  Read more »

The Luckyim Thai cart had a rough past couple of weeks. They, along with at least four other carts, were ousted from their spot on Liberty St. at Broadway by the installation of a Citi Bike rack. After a day or two, three of the carts moved around the corner to Nassau St. (btw. Liberty & Cedar), and I decided to go try another dish from Luckyim Thai.

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