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.