Picnic From the Financial District

For my birthday this year, I was given a membership to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. So far, the only thing I have used my membership is the monthly members only "Sunset Picnics." Each Wednesday in the summer, the garden stays open an extra two hours just for members and one Wednesday a month is picnic night. Normally, picnicking is not allowed in the garden, so these are rare opportunities to sit and relax with food and wine in this lovely setting.

What does this have to do with lunch in the Financial District? Well, not much exactly. Except that the three times I have done this over the summer, I have brought my picnic from one of my favorite FiDi lunch spots: Alfanoose.

When I go to Alfanoose for lunch, I usually just get a falafel sandwich, but my picnicking has given me the opportunity to try a huge section of their menu. I have yet to try anything from Alfanoose that was not delicious.

Since this blog is technically about lunch, I'll start with my lunch choices:

(1) Falafel Sandwich: Alfanoose makes the best falafel I have tried. Seriously. It is always made fresh for your sandwich and is beautifully crisp on the outside and so so tasty. A little pricey at $5+tax, but well worth it!

(2) Foul Mudammas Sandwich: The foul (fava bean salad) with tahini is incredible, and a nice substitute for falafel in summer if you want something cold. (Also $5)

When I pick up a picnic for two, I usually get a Shish Taouk Platter and a Vegetarian Kibbeh Platter. The chicken is tender and really flavorful. The vegetarian kibbeh is stuffed with spinach and has a nice minty flavor.

With each of these, you get one additional vegetable, and I will add Stuffed Grape Leaves to one and Foul Mudammas with Tahini to the other. The platters are $9 for vegetable and $11 for meat and come with a large serving of mojadarra (you can choose between 3 options: cracked wheat with lentil, cracked wheat with red pepper, or rice with lentil). The platters are way too much food for me at lunch time.

To top off pretty much anything I get from Alfanoose, I request hot sauce. It has a complex and wonderful flavor that is not too overpowering and is complemented (and softened) beautifully by tahini.

The biggest drawback about Alfanoose comes at lunch time; it gets packed. If you go at the height of lunch hour, between 12:15 and 2:00, there is likely to be a line nearly to the door and it will take you a while to get your food. It's prefect for a late lunch (or after work when it is typically empty).

To complete my picnic from the Financial District, I pick up a bottle of wine from The Greene Grape Downtown, where they have a great selection of affordable wines. For picnicking, I recommend the Raats Family Vineyards Chenin Blanc. It's a dry-ish Chenin Blanc that tastes good even when it's gotten a little warm and it has a screwtop, so you don't have to remember your corkscrew.

Alfanoose is at 8 Maiden Lane, between Broadway and Nassau Street.
The Greene Grape Downtown is at 55 Liberty Street, also between Broadway and Nassau.

A Pocket Full of Lunch

A couple weeks ago, I made a very exciting discovery; one I thought would have a significant impact on my lunch-life. After work one evening, I was walking north on Nassau Street, a little beyond my usual cut-off point at John Street. I looked up at a small storefront decorated with triangular flags in a "Grand Opening" style and saw that it was a Ruben's Empanadas.

So, this may not sound life-changing, but let me step back...

I occasionally make trips to work out of an office in Washington, D.C. and around the corner from that office there is this wonderful little place called Julia's Empanadas. From my first visit to Julia's I developed lunch envy for my D.C. colleagues - why was there no place like this near me?

So, I beheld the Ruben's and I said to myself, "I am going to have lunch here tomorrow!" and "I might eat here all the time!" and "Oh, Joy!"

However, a couple weeks passed, and I never really felt like walking up Nassau street that far, though I considered it often. Then one fine day I set out for lunch - not totally sure where I was going to go, but generally aiming for Hanover Square. I was walking down Pearl Street and I came to the intersection at Coenties Alley and there it was: another (closer!) Ruben's Empanada's!

I had my old stand-bys from the East Village location: a spicy chicken empanada and a broccoli empanada. Both are excellent. From my visits to other locations, I can also recommend the corn and the spinach empanadas. Two empanadas and a can of soda came out to $9 even, which seems a little high. They have some combo specials that might be a better deal.

Empanada fans in the Financial District will be pleased to learn that there are, in fact, 4 Ruben's locations in lower Manhattan: 64 Fulton Street, 77 Pearl Street, 76 Nassau Street, and 149 Church Street.

The Perfect Sandwich

I love sandwiches. My biggest problem when it comes to sandwiches is that many places that prepare them fail to understand the meatless sandwich. (Or, for that matter, the meat and cheese sandwich, in the form that I want it: approximately equal amounts of each rather than a pound of meat and 2 slices of cheese.) Frequently, when I order sandwiches at delis or bodegas requesting, for example, swiss cheese with lettuce, tomato, and mustard, I get confused stares and am forced to repeat myself and explicitly state that I don't want any kind of meat. (This is then often followed by the sandwich preparer having also to doubly explain the sandwich to the cashier, which occasionally works nicely in my favor because some places just have no idea how much to charge for a meatless sandwich.)

Yesterday, my morning was very busy, so I wanted to spend lunch quietly, which for me nearly always means a trip across West Street Rector Park. Just around the corner from Rector Park is Samantha's New York Trattoria and Salumeria. I had walked by Samantha's a number of times and had been intrigued by its old-school Italian decor, but had never gone inside. I decided to check it out. It's pretty small inside, with basically just an L-shaped counter where you order food, a cashier, and a few fridges/freezers. The sandwich menu was extensive: 35 sandwiches (order by number) divided among a range of categories: heros ($6.50), focaccia sandwiches ($6.95), brick oven muffalatta sandwiches ($6.95), plus panini (which I hope is the real thing, not the corporate deli-style on crappy flat bread) and wraps. To my delight, there were many meatless options. I had #32: the Mozzarella, Tomatoes, Basil & Roasted Peppers Muffalatta Sandwich. As the menue says, "All [muffalatta sandwiches are] topped with tri-color salad, balsamic vinegar, virgin olive oil & oregano." The sandwich was delicious - excellent mozzarella, fresh basil, just the right amount of vinegar, well-complemented by the peppers, and the bread was really tasty (if a bit on the greasy side). With an over-priced seltzer ($1.75), my meal came out to $9.45: a little steep, but delicious enough that I was okay with it.

Samantha's New York is at 235 South End Ave., just north of Rector Street to the west of West Street. There are a couple of tables you can eat at out front, but I would recommend taking your food to Rector Park instead.