Tasty Tasty Food

I've been enjoying reading Midtown Lunch lately, so I thought I'd write every now and then about what I'm eating for lunch downtown, and maybe wind up convincing myself to eat some more interesting food rather than so be repetitive at lunchtime while I'm at it. At some point, if it gets any momentum, maybe I'll spin this off into its own blog, but for now this is where my lunch commentary will reside.

Yesterday's lunch probably isn't the best starting point, because, well, I don't actually know the NAME of the lunch truck we went to. On the other hand, since my coworker John and I enjoy it so much that we actually had to set a limit of one trip per week, maybe it's a pretty decent starting point after all.

Lower Manhattan is, of course, replete with various trucks and carts that complement all of our other brick-and-mortar options. (Sam's Falafel is one of the best-known but the long lines have always been a turn-off for me.) The fact that we started (and continue) to go to this particular one is, I suppose, as much out of convenience as anything; more specifically, parked on Cedar Street just east of Broadway, it was close enough to my office to try one afternoon last winter when it was too cold to walk anywhere further.

The menu of Nameless Lunch Truck is typical of the genre. Basic options are lamb gyro, chicken, or falafel, all available in a sandwich on pita or (my preference and that of all my coworkers) in a platter (well, ok, a styrofoam container) over rice with various veggies on the side. (They also make a cheesesteak, but if you're in lower Manhattan and that's what you want for lunch, you're SO MUCH better off going to Carl's Steaks on Chambers between Broadway and Church, not far from the northwest corner of City Hall Park. Best I've had in New York.)

I haven't had the falafel myself, because I'm not a huge fan of falafel in general, so I don't have much to say about that. The lamb is excellent - I'm not sure if they have the skewer which I'm such a fan of, but at any rate it always is finished on a flat grill with some onions and peppers. It's nicely seasoned as well. Chicken is cooked in the same way; you can tell that they really just took a chicken and hacked it apart because there's occasionally some bits of connective tissue in there, and it's a bit more fatty than I'd prefer.

The rice is great too - it's actually the reason I prefer this truck to others. It's orangish, nicely seasoned (though I couldn't tell you with what). It's a little bit greasy, but not overly so. The platters also come with lettuce, tomato, and (depending what they have on hand), pickles, jalapeño slices, and/or banana peppers. The white sauce is standard and the hot sauce is genuinely hot. They also offer BBQ sauce but I have no idea why you'd put that on. (Nonetheless, I've seen people do so.) Platters are $5 for more than enough food; sandwiches are $4; cans of soda are $1. I think falafel platters and sandwiches are $1 less than their meaty counterparts; I'll look at the menu today to be certain. Perhaps if I get a chance I'll bring in my camera and take some photos as well.

Pros:
Tasty
Cheap

Cons:
Probably not all that healthy
Your stomach will occasionally not be happy with you
The line can be long when the weather is nice