Yes, there are many chain places that have cluttered Downtown Lunch territory, but there are also the two Biryani House carts, Dirty Bird To-Go, Nish Nush, the Luckyim Thai cart, Halal Gyro Express and its Afghani food, Mooncake Foods and GRK, which has some of the finest meat carved off a spit that I’ve ever put in my mouth.

After spending nearly four years writing about my lunches and chronicling openings and closings, it’s time for me to say goodbye as a new job has taken me to Midtown. You will be able to find me occasionally contributing to Midtown Lunch on all of the finest eats near Grand Central.

Sadly, my leaving means Downtown Lunch will be down for the count, at least temporarily. The site will go on hiatus while Zach figures out what direction it should take. If you’re interested in taking over as head Downtown Lunch’er, you can e-mail editor@midtownlunch.com.

It’s been my pleasure suffering through many, many food comas (and one case of what I’m pretty sure was food poisoning) to report on lunch options in Lower Manhattan for you fine folks. I’m sad to leave, but happy to have new food options to explore.

Wait, why are we getting all sad? Go eat something deliciously gross for lunch!

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Many of you are excited about Tres Carnes coming to Maiden Lane (nr. Pearl St.), and I’m happy to report there is a solid opening date on tap. They open Thursday for your lunching needs, only a week or so behind schedule. You can check out some of their offerings from the review of the Flatiron shop, and get excited about not having to stand in that heinous Chipotle line anymore.

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First things first: Pakistan Tea House is up to a B rating from the Department of Health! The Pakistani standby on Church St. (at Reade) was saddled with the dreaded C the last time I ate there, not that I care about such things when there is a cheap, quality steam table lunch at hand.

I was here to try their three-item vegetarian combo, which we’ve somehow not reviewed on this site, instead focusing on the chicken dishes. They have several vegetarian items on offer every day and while none of them were labeled, I found that pointing and asking “What’s that?” worked just fine. I ended up with two hits and a miss using this system.

I went with yellow lentils, spinach, and a dish that looked interesting and involved black chickpeas, onions and chopped tomato (combo $7.99). The latter wasn’t my favorite as it had a sort of bitter taste that I did not appreciate, but that doesn’t mean you won’t. The spinach was my favorite and, in my opinion, you can rarely go wrong with lentils.

You get either white or brown basmati rice at the bottom of your melange of dishes, but I gilded the lily and also got a naan ($1.50). They had one ready to go, and it was nicely puffed around the edges and charred in spots.

While I haven’t eaten many of the meat dishes at Pakistan Tea House, you really can’t go wrong going vegetarian here. And you’ll save a buck or two as well.

Pakistan Tea House, 176 Chambers St. (nr. Reade), (212) 240-9800

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• Musings on eating a slice of pizza. [Gothamist]
• Veg-centric Sun In Bloom gets opening date. [TC]
• Mooncake Foods gets a healthy shout-out. [FitR]
• Kam Hing diversifies its sponge cake. [SENY]

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Winter weather doesn’t exactly lend itself to standing outside near the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge ordering Mexican food. That being said, Nixtamalito on the south side of 1 Centre St. is still going strong in this winter weather (and you can order online if you don’t want to venture out) and I had the craving for something meaty and saucy. While the mole was just fine, the enchiladas verdes surprised me with how delicious and spicy they were. This is just the dish to warm you up in single-digit temperatures. 

You can get chicken or cheese enchiladas verdes ($9.50) and like the mole, there’s three to an order, topped with lettuce, crema, cheese and that glorious sauce. It’s got quite the kick to it that builds so make sure you have a beverage or at least napkins handy to wipe your brow and nose. The tortillas were excellent, as usual, but it was the chicken that stole the show. The poultry is of the pulled variety and there were parts that were browned and crispy. Really, there was nothing about this dish that was off-point, although paying nearly $10 is a little painful. Still, if you ordered three tacos you’d be out about the same amount of money.

Nixtamalito is easy to forget in its hidden location, but you shouldn’t. Sometimes Chipotle just doesn’t cut it.

Nixtamalito, 1 Centre St. (south side of building), (646) 652-9986

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In case you haven’t noticed, an annoying thing called the Polar Vortex has made walking outside to grab lunch an exercise in quickness and finding something warm to eat. The other day a craving for chili hit, and there aren’t too many places that regularly carry this specific dish. Then it dawned on me that Potbelly, of which there are four locations downtown, had chili on its menu every day and I had never tried it. While I may not flip my lid for their sandwiches, the chili is delicious.

You can get a cup ($4) or a bowl ($5.90) and since I wanted it as a meal I got the larger size. The bowl is still probably not going to fill up most people but throw in a cookie or bag of chips and you’re in business! The chili has ground beef, kidney beans, onions and bell peppers and to my surprise had a bit of a kick to it.

It’s not the chunkiest chili but I didn’t mind, especially with the two packets of top-notch oyster crackers you get with the bowl. I’m not saying this is the best chili you’re ever going to eat but I’ve had some really bad renditions from places that aren’t chains. This will at least warm you up and fill you up without the blandness that you find from most soups made for the masses.

Potbelly Sandwich Shop, 101 Maiden Lane (btw. Gold & William), (646) 289-4201; 127 Fulton St. (btw. Nassau & William), (646) 307-4896; 90 Broad St. (at Stone), (646) 289-4211; 280 Broadway (btw. Chambers & Reade), (646) 289-4206

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I know that paying more than, say, $7 for a banh mi is painful. I also know that I do not regret the amount of money I spent on the soft shell shrimp banh mi at Khe-Yo on Duane St. (near W. Broadway), and you probably won’t either.

There are two choices of banh mi at a time, neither of them vegetarian in case you don’t eat meat. One option involves beer-braised pork belly, green papaya, pickled daikon and au jus for dipping; the soft shell shrimp version has pickled jalapeño, sriracha mayo and shredded baby iceberg lettuce.

This is the first banh mi (or sandwich in general) I’ve eaten where the main ingredient was staring at me. Yes, these are head-on shrimp and they’re fried a bit to make them crunchy, much like soft shell crab. There are about six of them nestled atop pickled carrot and daikon, lettuce and cilantro. There’s a healthy dose of that sriracha mayo that has a good kick to it, but beware it getting everywhere as you eat. The bread is not quite as light and crispy as what you get in places like Paris Sandwich or Banh Mi Saigon, but I have no real complaints.

If you work near Khe-Yo and don’t mind spending $11 on a banh mi, you should definitely try one of their varieties. It seems they switch them out every so often so check the Khe-Yosk menu on their website before heading out.

Khe-Yo, 157 Duane St. (btw. W. B’way & Hudson St.), (212) 587-1089

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