LUNCH STUDIO

3:31pm madeleines

2012-02-29T18:10:00.005-05:00

I don't know this could possibly be, but the taste and flavor of the Oro madeleine today was really really good. It was a tiny bit dry, which is good, because if it had been too perfect I might not have been able to resist the temptation to run right out for another.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Wah Mei

2012-02-29T17:30:00.000-05:00

We contemplated walking all the way over to Congee but it was just too icky out, so Wah Mei instead. They win the best resurrection award for reopening the little dining space a door down from the cooking space. It's fine to get your chicken leg to go, but it's even more stellar to sit in the bare bones dining room and have a fresh container brought straight out of the fryer directly to you.
Wah Mei Fast Food, 190 Hester St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Baxter & Mulberry)

4:48pm cookie

2012-02-28T18:57:00.000-05:00

I really wanted oatmeal raisin but Hampton Chutney didn't have any today. We had white chocolate and macadamia nut instead. It wasn't as good as it usually is.
Hampton Chutney, 68 Prince St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Crosby and Lafayette)

Noho Star, with Mark

2012-02-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

I ran into a colleague over the holidays and we agreed with his office on Broadway and Prince and ours down the street, we simply had to have lunch. So we did, a very proper and civilized one at that classic New York City mainstay, Noho Star. The high lofty ceilings, wooden booths, colorful mosaic columns and even kookier facade, it's the perfect place for conversations over reading clubs, Iceland and architecture. We finished every drop of the onion soup and I watched enviously while the waiter mixed a raw egg into Mark's caesar salad.
Noho Star, 330 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (at Crosby)

4:10pm chocolate cupcake, peanut butter frosting

2012-02-28T16:23:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I made some cupcakes using Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil's Food mix and Susan Spicer's peanut butter cream cheese frosting for a birthday party. Wild success with the 3-year old I have to tell you, and easy peasy to make. The hardest part was having the patience to sift through 2.5 cups of confectioner's sugar for a double recipe.

Saha Thai

2012-02-27T16:17:00.001-05:00

Kind of a boring lunch for you today, but it's Monday and we were feeling uninspired to think or travel too hard. A pity because it's full on springtime outside at the end of February and a long walk would have been lovely. The great thing about Saha Thai is their lunch specials. Almost everything is in the $7 range, and that gets you a full plate of spicy whatever you want to eat with whatever meat or tofu you want, plus rice. Love love love.
Saha Thai, 227 Centre St, NY, NY 10013 (above Grand)

4:50pm tropical caveman cookie

2012-02-24T17:28:00.000-05:00

Somehow I am not entirely surprised to learn that Patrick and Kristy were involved in the insanely cute packaged gluten and grain free cookies from Caveman. It was only by chance that I picked up one downstairs with my afternoon coffee and happened to be taking a photograph as Karen walked by and casually mentioned the relationship. I'm happy to be a supporter, albeit by happenstance.
Lafayette Espresso Bar & Marketplace, 189 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10013 (below Broome)

Menkui-tei

2012-02-24T15:55:00.000-05:00

Since M. was leaving work before lunch today, I decided it would be no big hassle to pop up on the 6 train to Ippudo for a steaming hot bowl of ramen. It wasn't a hassle except for the 30 minute wait for 1 person at 1:30pm. That seemed mostly absurd so I walked briskly over to tried and true, has never failed us yet, Menkui-tei. Where I promptly had a steaming hot bowl of ramen.
Menkui-tei, 63 Cooper Sq, NY, NY 10003 (near Astor Place)

3:50pm spiced smore

2012-02-23T18:27:00.003-05:00

Instead of cutting this in half and risking the graham cracker breaking into bits, I told M. to stand it up vertically and cut through the marshmallow. When she did, we both yipped in surprise at the bit of chocolate hidden in the center. Very lovely idea Dominque Ansel.
Dominique Ansel, 189 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Thompson and Sullivan)

456 Shanghai

2012-02-23T18:23:00.001-05:00

The waiter at 456 Shanghai actually smiled politely at us while kindly taking our order. The atmosphere is like that though, quiet and refined. The table next to us had a plate of preserved vegetables, soy beans and tofu skin that looked so good, I couldn't focus on anything else. It was precisely the same taste as the rice cake dish at Shanghai Cafe that we love so much. The soup dumplings were fine, although smaller than typical. The spicy wonton dumplings were not at all spicy and perhaps the only disappointment at lunch today.
456 Shanghai, 69 Mott St, NY, NY 10013 (below Canal)

2:25pm sponge cake

2012-02-22T19:31:00.002-05:00

Two doors down from Bluebird Sky Cafe is the New Kam Hing Coffee Shop. It looks sketchy but not when you see the fresh sponge cakes being baked in rows and rows of racks in the back. They're stored in plastic bins but if you tell the guy you want to eat it in the here and now, he might grab one hot from the rack. When eaten piping hot, they will remind you of the hot cakes that we love so.
New Kam Hing Coffee Shop, 119 Baxter St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Hester and Canal)

Bluebird Sky Cafe

2012-02-22T18:54:00.002-05:00

Bluebird Sky Cafe is often lauded for its breakfast menu so it doesn't usually pop up on our lunch radar. Imagine our surprise to find the place packed at lunchtime, we just grabbed the last available table. The sandwiches were also a happy surprise, we tried the flank steak (yum) and the roast chicken (pretty nice). Next time we have a breakfast craving for lunch, we will certainly head here.
Bluebird Sky Cafe, 121 Baxter St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Hester and Canal)

4:35pm chocolate creme brule cake

2012-02-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

One of the greatest office traditions, in my mind, is birthday cake. It's not just for the birthday girl or boy, but us! The office mates! That is especially true when it's a chocolate creme brule cake from Almondine. The rich denseness of the chocolate cake relieved only by moments of creme brule that reminded me of that lovely vanilla pudding found in cream puffs. Happy Birthday K-Ku!
Almondine Bakery, 85 Water St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (btwn bridges)

Taka Taka

2012-02-17T16:54:00.000-05:00

As I walked out of Taka Taka, I was contemplating how to describe this strange hybrid of Mexican Japanese cuisine. Their tag line is Mexican sushi and Japanese tacos, which is 100% accurate without actually telling you anything about the food. The best I can say is it tasted like Mexican ingredients tossed together with Japanese sushi rice and the typical sushi fish, salmon, tuna, etc. Although that doesn't really explain what a thin slice of salmon wrapped over a rice ball, topped with slivers of jicama and a jalapeno mayonnaise tastes like.
Taka Taka, 330 West Broadway, NY, NY 10013 (at Grand)

3:30pm coffee roll

2012-02-16T18:23:00.001-05:00

It was raining so I took an umbrella and walked M. to the J/Z subway, stopping on the way back for a coffee roll that I devoured in less than 10 minutes. Good thing I did not have to share with M. today.
Fay Da, 191 Centre St, NY, NY 10013 (at Hester St)

Nyonya

2012-02-16T17:39:00.000-05:00

Nyonya, we do love you. You are so tried, so true. You are always there for us when we need you. Like today when M. had a plane to catch and a chilly rain had just started outside. We call and you are there for us. There will never be a young chow fried rice that I love more than yours.
Nyonya, 199 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry and Mott)

4:20pm brownie

2012-02-15T19:31:00.000-05:00

It seems impossible that we haven't ever (ever?!) had the brownie from Oro. We're not chocolaholics but still, you would think in the 4 plus years we're been recording lunches and desserts that at least once we would have been tempted to try a brownie from our favorite local bakery. Well we did today and can now report to you, two thumbs up. It's dense like fudge, but with that lovely yielding crusty edge. If we were the type of gals to eat brownies, we would eat this one much more often.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

The Bowery Diner, with Raymond

2012-02-15T17:18:00.000-05:00

We had lunch with Raymond today, at the Bowery Diner, so we could talk about diner food, food trends, concepts of food, favorite restaurants now gone and places we love. The chicharron and sausage in the Colombian breakfast, aka Bandeja Paisa, were outstanding, truly delicious. Overall both the breakfast and the smoked meat sandwich lacked an oomph factor, or maybe we like our meals with a little less dryness
The Bowery Diner, 241 Bowery, New York, NY (below Stanton St)

4:18pm simply divine

2012-02-14T18:44:00.000-05:00

I was a little worried nothing would be as picture-perfect as the strawberry heart tart we found last night but I should have known M Payard would not let us down. He calls it simply divine, we think it tastes like milky candy in the shape of a pristine heart.
FPB Francois Payard Bakery, 116 W. Houston St, NY, NY 10012chip

Na Thai, with friends

2012-02-14T18:08:00.003-05:00

You would think as doyens of the downtown lunch, we could successfully arrange a group meal but today marks the second time we have failed at this simple task. Scott and I both independently thought of Miss Lily's, AND their website says they serve lunch, but they don't. Sandwiches can be found at the juice bar around the corner, but not seating for the 5 of us. We tried Na Thai next door, where the incredibly affordable $8 lunch special (1 appetizer and 1 entree!) almost made up for the over-sweetened dishes. I did enjoy the fried shrimp dumplings and M. thought the papaya salad was pretty straight up. It's not the best Thai food out there, but at $8 for a 2-course meal? That's a good deal.
Na Thai, 138 W. Houston St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Sullivan and Thompson)

4:15pm cookies

2012-02-13T23:14:00.000-05:00

Got a message this morning from Christopher, cookies from the momomilkbar cookbook! Well now, we will never be the one to refuse free homemade treats. Good thing there were plenty to go around because by the time we made our way over to the batch of cookies, they were near gone. Christopher says he might be trying out some more recipes, we will be looking forward to that quite eagerly.

Dos Toros

2012-02-13T17:29:00.001-05:00

There are certain moments in one's life when the combination of a day long anticipation with a stomach growling in hunger produces a moment of pure bliss. Such was today when we sat down to lunch at Dos Toros, each of us eagerly biting into a pollo asada quesadilla with guacamole. For 5 minutes nothing could be heard but the sounds of satisfaction. In fact the whole place was strangely devoid of conversation and I wondered if everyone else was also experiencing such heavenly delights that words escaped them.
Dos Toros, 1111 Lexington Ave, NY, NY 10075 (btwn 77th and 78th)

4:24pm mango tart

2012-02-10T18:55:00.001-05:00

When we asked for the lemon tart, in addition to the bread M. had been looking forward to all day and the baguette I can't wait to make sandwiches with tonight, the guy behind the counter of Bien Cuit didn't even blink. He just put it in a box and we took it back to the office for afternoon snack. It took us about 3 bites before we stopped looking for the lemon and accepted it as what it was, a mango tart. It reminded me of a fancy version of the mango pudding served in dim sum restaurants. Naturally it was way more sophisticated with the toasted coconut bites and the slivers of mango.
Bien Cuit, 120 Smith St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (btwn Dean and Pacific)

Shake Shack

2012-02-10T16:59:00.000-05:00

If the wait at highly anticipated Mile End Delicatessan is too long (half an hour!) and you can't stay but have to leave with the mouth watering scent of smoked meats trailing you out the door, then only the next best thing will do. Which is why we walked 10 minutes back north to Shake Shack. Where we also had to wait in line, but luckily they are a well oiled machine of burger producing delight and we were not even all that late to our 2pm meeting.
Shake Shack, 409 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (at Boreum Pl)

3:50pm heart strawberry tart

2012-02-09T18:30:00.000-05:00

It's a little early for heart shaped tarts, but this one from Tarallucci was clearly irresistible. It was also oh so lovely and classic in the layer of chocolate beneath the yummy vanilla custard, the crunchy tart shell and the fresh strawberries. If you happen to be near a Tarallucci you might want to pick one up too.
Tarallucci E Vino, 15 E. 18th St, NY, NY 10003 (btwn Broadway & 5th Ave)