4:00pm cookies

A reliable standby, when experiencing dessert uncertainty, cookies from Hampton Chutney never disappoint. The peanut butter (below) is a no-brainer, but selecting the second cookie can be a bit challenging. Chocolate Chunk (on top) is what we settle on today.
Hampton Chutney, 68 Prince Street btwn Crosby and Lafayette

Motorino, with Dennis

If Motorino's deliciously delectable pizza was not reason enough to go to East Williamsburg, let their $10 lunch special (soup or salad and pizza) persuade you to head over. We squeezed in the back with DK, near the ovens and settled in for a truly lovely lunch. At Slice's timely tweeted recommendation, I had the Soppressata Piccante although I probably would have gotten it anyway. For $10, it's a fabulous deal and sure beats a $5 slice of cheese. Although we have never been so maybe it's worth it. In the meantime we'd go back to Motorino anyday.
Motorino, 319 Graham Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211 (at Devoe)

4:00pm raspberry bomboloni

It's a good thing we're generally open to trying something more than just once. Especially since in our memories, Caffe Falai's bomboloni was just so-so. Either they changed the recipe, our memories are faulty or we got a particularly fresh one today. I'm going to vote for faulty memories and be content that we bothered to try again.
Caffe Falai, 265 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (below Prince)

The Smile

Newly opened The Smile on Bond is a little too hip for us, especially since we forgot to wear our skinny jeans and converse kicks today. A light touch characterizes the decent lunch offerings, pleasant but nothing particularly special. The decor is typical of the new chic, which is to say that old is chic. Or as friend Eva calls it, dark nostalgia. The Smile is another miscellany-made-cool concept store/cafe, joining the growing overabundance of similarly styled hipster joints.
The Smile, 26 Bond St., NY, NY 10012 (east of Lafayette)

4:00pm vanilla cupcake

Hopefully this charming vanilla cupcake makes up for the lack of image earlier today. Another day of dessert brought to you by Oro. It makes us really lazy since (one) it's around the corner and (two) their desserts are so reliably good, why even walk that half block further?
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Carl's Steak

Boohoohoo. I accidentally deleted today's lunch from the camera. Which is a real pity because it was goooood. Short of having cheesesteaks in their city of origin, Carl's Steaks is considered pretty damn authentic considering we're 100 miles away from Philly. Our only complaint would be the inefficiency of their setup, as we watched sandwich after sandwich pile up on the counter, waiting to be served. The woman preparing the orders was wrapping as fast as humanly possible but it still took FOREVER before we escaped the cramped hole-in-the-wall with sandwich in hand. We did manage to make an urban picnic of it, sitting on the steps at 33rd and Park Ave, and making it back to the office in time to miss the rain.
Carl's Steaks, 507 Third Ave, NY, NY 10016 (above 33rd St)

4:00pm blueberry meringue tart

The violet colored meringue of this tart from Oro was so pretty we could not resist. It could have used a touch of tang, but the soft meringue and the salty tart crust were a nice complement to the blueberries. The wee baked meringue bit (cookie) inside was a nice touch too. It's all in the details my friends...
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome Street btwn Mulberry and Mott

McNally Jackson Teahouse

We are pretty fond of reading and books yet it never occurred to us to have lunch at the McNally Jackson Teahouse until we happened to be there for a meeting today. A hot pressed grilled sandwich on whole grain bread is so much nicer when surrounded by books. The sandwiches were better than we expected from cafe fare and almost certainly fresher than cold sandwiches left all day in a refrigerated case. It's a limited selection (there are only 2), but we tried both and were pleased with both.
McNally Jackson Teahouse, 52 Prince St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Lafayette & Mulberry)

4:00pm chocolate desserts

Oofta, we're still undergoing some major chocolate overload over here at Front Studio. But it was all worth it to see Jacques Pepin whip together the desserts you see above in about the space of half an hour. Here I will try and recreate one: line a ramekin with frozen raspberries, crumble in bits of a cookie, sprinkle some sugar, crumble in chocolate, some bits of butter, bake and PRESTO. Delicious dessert. Seriously, that a word for word replay. Scharffen Berger Chocolates - thank you!
French Culinary Institute, 462 Broadway, NY, NY 10013 (at Grand St)

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Luncheon at FCI

Dang there is some benefit to this whole lunch blogging thing! We were so kindly invited today to participate in a luncheon hosted by Scharffen Berger Chocolate at the French Culinary Institute with Jacques Pepin himself. A blind chocolate tasting started off the lunch with John Scharffenberger narrating a discourse on chocolate making and tasting. Then Jacques took the stage and basically flew through a series of super simple chocolate desserts, all the while being super charming. At various points throughout the event servers came by passing out trays of delectable luncheon plates, everything made, of course, with bits and bobs of chocolate. What a treat to spend a couple of hours this afternoon in the company of other food lovers.
French Culinary Institute, 462 Broadway, NY, NY 10013 (at Grand St)

4:00pm pistachio donut

I guess it doesn't matter if they run out of plain sugar donuts from Dreesen's at Balthazar since the pistachio and even the chocolate kind of taste the same as the plain ones. That is to say, very lovely.
Balthazar Bakery, 80 Spring St., NY, NY 10012 (at Crosby)

Jobee, with Ray

A total cultural displacement, lunch at Jobee's has that strange transporting effect of making us all, Ray included, feel like we were not quite in NYC. Something about the utter lack of ambient noise, the abrupt and offhand service and of course the uncommon Taiwanese dishes. It's a slow, lazy place as if no one had anywhere particular to be, including our waitress. Today we tried some chicken vegetable mixture wrapped in tofu skin (yum), the five layer pork over rice (so good) and an odd moo shu vegetable pancake thing (interesting).
Jobee, 3 Howard St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Centre & Lafayette)

4:00pm chinese cakes

The cart at Grand and Bowery calls them "hot mini cakes". The one on Canal between Mulberry and Baxter has a sign labeled "chinese cakes". Intensive Google searching says the mini cakes can be found all over Hong Kong. And one lady, Joanna, claims they are traditionally called dangao or mienbao. But truthfully it doesn't matter one whit to us what they are called. $1 buys a bag of hot, heavenly delight is all we ever need to know.
Chinese Cakes street cart, Canal Street, NY, NY (south side btwn Baxter & Mulberry)

Ed's Lobster Bar

A hankering for good lemonade has been floating around our office these past several weeks. It's not so simply satisfied unless you happen to work a couple blocks away from Ed's, which we do. Their muddling method produces a lemonade that is refreshing, not cloyingly sweet and the perfect accompaniment to a summer meal of lobster roll and bibb salad.
Ed's Lobster Bar, 222 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (below Spring)

4:00pm banana cake

Yowzers! This is so sweet you can almost feel your teeth melting! On our way back to the office from our lunchtime field trip to the High Line, we stopped to pick up our 4:00pm dessert at Billy's Bakery in Chelsea. Everything looked so pastel sweet-a-licious that we had a hard time choosing, and ended up asking for their best-seller. They generously cut us what felt like a 3lb slice; a 3lb sugar bomb, that is. Do not attempt to eat this without coffee or milk, unless you're a sugar fiend.
Billy's Bakery, 184 Ninth Avenue btwn 21st and 22nd

Hector's Cafe, with John

Long overdue, we wandered the High Line with John today for lunch. And wow, what a wonderful walk with an equally satisfying lunch. Sadly there aren't too many places to pick up lunch in the now too hoity toity for words Meatpacking District, but happily Hector's Cafe nestled under the High Line was just the right place. It is a proper old-school diner type greasy spoon and whereas the food could have been just average, instead it was wow pow good. The perfect accompaniment to an urban park that is pretty damn wow pow itself.
Hector's Cafe, 44 West Little 12th St, NY, NY 10014 (at Washington St)

4:00pm chocolate eclair

Ah if only we had the fortune to have eaten this eclair in its prime. A day later the choux shell is patently stale. And although the chocolate remains dark and fine and the proportions perfectly pleasing, nothing can make up for a stale pastry. Not even TK himself.
Bouchon Bakery, 10 Columbus Circle, NY, NY 10019 (in the Time Warner Center)

salty chicken sandwich

Here is a simple and cheap dish that we call salty chicken for lack of a better description. Steam some chicken legs until the meat is ready to fall off the bone. Shred all of it into small pieces. Heat a generous amount of butter in a sauce pan, thin slice a couple of shallots and toss that into the pan. Add the chicken with a little sugar and several healthy splashes of nứớc mắm. Stir everything together and then saute on low heat for at least half an hour to achieve a nice brown color. You can have it in a sandwich, although be sure to add something tart like pickled jalepenos or shredded cabbage with vinegar dressing. Or be even more simple and eat it with a bowl of hot steamy white rice.

4:00pm madeleines

On the way back from lunch I discovered the following things: (1) The Alessi store in Soho no longer serves Joe coffee and apparently they bake their own desserts "in-house", at least according to the cash register person, (2) the Prince Street post office is closed, and (3) it costs $61 to send a small envelope to France by Fed Ex.
Alessi Cafe, 130 Greene St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Prince & Houston)

Hiroko's Place, with Hong

Normally Hiroko's Place is pleasantly slow but today it was a little more slow than nice. And to top it off - no potato salad! It's a good thing hamburg comes with more than just a ground beef patty and rice. The diversity of the plate kept us happily eating till the end, but next time no potato salad, no go.
Hiroko's Place, 75 Thompson St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Broome & Spring)

4:00pm peanut butter cupcake

Don't you agree this dark and stormy peanut butter cream over chocolate cupcake is the perfect accompaniment to the darkening sky outside? We're on the cusp of a summer thunderstorm waiting to burst. Whatever frustrations may arise from Dean & Deluca's not-always-great service have been today tempered by the discovery of their "baked on premises" cupcakes. The chocolate cake was moist, the frosting light and airy. All in all, quite nice.
Dean & Deluca, 560 Broadway, NY, NY 10012 (at Prince)

Philly's Cheesesteaks

The menu tossed in our front lobby has been taunting me for weeks - cheesesteak! eat me! cheesesteak! cheesesteak! With very very low expectations, the cheesesteak turned out edible enough, although on the bland side and the onion rings were pretty decent. But the buffalo wings were literally the weirdest ones we have ever come across. They tasted alternately of garlic, sesame oil or melted popcorn butter covered in a tasteless atomic orange sauce. They were not in the least bit spicy and so truly strange that we couldn't bring ourselves to eat more than one.
Philly's Cheesesteaks, 191 E. Houston St, NY, NY 10002 (btwn Ave A & 1st Ave)

4:00pm fruit tart

An old favorite standby, the fruit tart from Ceci-Cela is a particularly refreshing afternoon treat. Kind of necessary these days since the afternoon sun pours into our non air-conditioned temporary headquarters, bringing with it a sweltering sensation of lethargy.
Ceci-Cela Patisserie, 55 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Lafayette & Mulberry)

Fresco by Scotto, with Liz and Pietro

Fresco by Scotto was the perfect place to catch up with some old work colleagues today. The pasta is freshly made, the calamari large enough to share and the lemonade sweet and tart. The lunch crowd hustles and bustles but in a civilized white table cloth way. If you need Fresco's freshness but don't have the time for civility then you can always pop next door for some On the Go action.
Fresco by Scotto, 40 E. 52nd St, NY, NY 10022 (btwn Park & Madison)

4:00pm mocha roll

I swear someone is lacing our lunches with soporifics as we have been feeling some serious lethargy these past several afternoons. Or maybe we should take the hint that it's summer time and relax already, forget about this whole "work" thing.
Cafe Zaiya at Kinokuniya, 1073 6th Ave, NY, NY 10018 (btwn 40th and 41st)

An Choi

Some days deciding what to eat for lunch taxes our brains overly much. So we've recently taken to walking in a random direction and stopping when inspiration hits. Today inspiration found us as we crossed Broome on Orchard and wandered into the newly opened backyard patio of An Choi. What a beautiful day day to sit at the shaded tables dappled with sun. We really wanted to try the un chả cá, a Hànội speciality seldom found here, but it seems that's for weekenders only. No matter, the bánh mì thịt heo quay (crispy roasted pork) and the đặc biệt (special) were more than adequate substitutions. Their proportions have gotten heavier than from our first visit, but the ingredients and bread remain just as fresh.
An Choi, 85 Orchard St, NY, NY 10002 (below Broome)

4:00pm strawberry cheesecake

Here's a lovely surprise to accompany our daily afternoon dessert post of a mini strawberry cheesecake from Eileen's - the ever discerning MUG: Manhattan Users Guide listed LUNCH as one of its 39 Newww.York Favorite websites.
Eileen's Special Cheesecake, 17 Cleveland Place, NY, NY 10012 (at Kenmare)

broccoli and sausage orechhiette

As promised! Lunch today features garden grown broccoli running rampant in our friends' side yard. A fairly easy lunch to whip up for eating on the back terrace on yet another non-summer summer day. Saute up some minced garlic in olive oil, crumble in a fat sausage link from Alleva down the street, toss in the broccoli chopped up into nice bite size pieces and finally mix that whole ensemble in with some just cooked orechhiette and fresh pecorino ramano. You will not be disappointed!
Alleva, 188 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (at Mulberry)

4:00pm chocolate chip cookies

It doesn't seem to matter one whit whether you buy Tate's cookies close to the source or back here in the big bad city. They're still just as fresh and the chocolate chip to cookie ratio is still just as pleasingly light to us.
Hampton Coffee Company, 194 Mill Rd, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978

Alidoro

So far our method of random ordering at Alidoro has yielded pretty good results. And we seem to never order the same thing twice until... today. But here's the weird thing, this picture says it's a Mischa and lists the same ingredients as what we got today: proscuitto, provolone cheese, hot peppers and arugola. But the Mischa doesn't even exist on the Alidoro menu! And what we clearly ordered today is the Michelangelo. So... what happened?
Alidoro, 105 Sullivan St, NY, NY 10012 (above Spring)

4:00pm madeleines

M. recently started carrying around a couple of paper coffee sleeves with her at all times. She's gotten me hooked on the habit too so now whenever I buy a cup of coffee to-go, I offer up my own paper sleeve instead of using and discarding a new one. It's a small gesture but an easy enough one to make.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Lahore Deli

Some days it's nigh impossible to coordinate lunch with just ourselves, what with meetings all over the place, phone calls to make and emails to answer. It's a good thing our temporary office situation comes with a back terrace. In this strangely wonderful not-summer weather, it's been perfect for taking a short break. And makes eating Lahore's ragout of lamb curry, peas and potatoes over rice by oneself somehow very enjoyable.
Lahore Deli, 132 Crosby St, NY, NY 10012 (below Houston)

4:00pm red velvet cupcake

We love the vanilla cupcakes from Oro Bakery, but this afternoon we decided to go for the red velvet one. We forgot if we liked them or not. We were reminded that we do in fact, like them, but still prefer the vanilla ones.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Wah Mei

Wah Mei or May Wah it doesn't matter to us, still dirt cheap, still delicious, still a great deal. Even with the extra egg. We had plans to meet Gordon at the Excellent Pork Chop House but got delayed due to some last minute hub-bub, however the craving for a well seasoned chicken leg dunked in a vat of frying oil couldn't be delayed any further. Not to worry Gordon, plenty of things for us to eat in Chinatown, n'est-ce pas?
Wah Mei Fast Food, 190 Hester St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Baxter & Mulberry)

4:00 carrot cake

The nicely intense carrot cake from yesterday has made it into round 2 of eating. After spending overnight in the refrigerator, it emerges well positioned for today. As it turns out cream cheese frosting is much better eaten slightly chilled.
Grandaisy, 250 West Broadway, NY, NY 10013 (at Beach St)

Parigot

Parigot has turned out to be a surprisingly nice addition to our regular lunch roster as it continues to provide decent tasting and decently priced sandwiches, a mildly bustling atmosphere and a nice wait staff. We couldn't find the $9 lunch special at Parigot today, or maybe we didn't look hard enough but it doesn't matter because we still had a reasonable lunch of hanger steak with fries and merguez sandwiched between a baguette, toasted to perfection.
Parigot, 155 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (at Lafayette)

4:00pm carrot cake

Sometimes when I'm checking our stats and I see City of New York I like to think it's Mayor Bloomberg looking for a lunch suggestion nearby or something to pick up for dessert. So if you are Mayor Bloomberg and you are reading this, try this carrot cake from Grandaisy. It's nicely intense. And if you're not Mayor Bloomberg, try the carrot cake anyway.
Grandaisy, 250 West Broadway, NY, NY 10013 (at Beach St)

Grandaisy, with Astrid & Lyn

Grandaisy's newest West Broadway location was a little sparse today when we walked over to meet newest friends, Lyn and Astrid, for lunch. Which is the perfect reason to add a couple of tables in the center of the space so we won't have to sit railroad style next time. But at least the pizzas, of which we had many, are easy to eat perched on a chair with a napkin in the lap.
Grandaisy, 250 West Broadway, NY, NY 10013 (at Beach St)

4:00pm donut twist

Oh give me a home where the donuts will roam and I will be happy all day. Especially if it's a donut twist from the Donut Pub accompanied by a freshly brewed pot of coffee percolating in the background.
The Donut Pub, 203 W. 14th St, NY, NY 10011 (near 7th Ave)

OK 218 Restaurant

Good Dumpling House had better not be permanently shuttered because then we will be forced to eat sub-par cheap Chinese food at its next door neighbor, OK 218 Restaurant. Which isn't to say we wouldn't go back to OK 218. After all, $4 for a heaping mound of fill-in-the-blank over rice is reason enough to return, no matter the slight loss of quality.
OK 218 Restaurant, 218 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mott & Elizabeth)

Simon Sips

We had some errands to run, and this was on our way. The sandwiches were petite in a nice way and all the stuff well proportioned to the bread. People forget how important that is. The olives were a nice and spicy lemony accompaniment. Happy fourth of July y'all!
Simon Sips, 72 E. 1st St, NY, NY 10003 (near 1st Ave)

4:00pm lemon cake

Summer thunderstorms remain as romantic now as they did when I was 18 and dancing in the rain barefoot. This city isn't really built for walking around barefoot, actually, is any city? But I did deliberately walk outside in the middle of the heavy downpour to pick up a tart and sweet lemon cake.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Li Hua, with Jean-Francois et Chloe

What brilliance it is to serve entrees on a hot stone that continues to brown and heat the food, clear through to the end of a long lunch? That's some Korean brilliance. I guess it's a cuisine not found everywhere because when Tasha was in town a couple weeks ago it was her request. And today a couple of old classmates from my days living in Paris requested Korean as well! We pop down the street to Li Hua for a classic shared meal of: beef bulgogi, seafood pajeon and kimchi jjigae. Brilliant.
Li Hua, 171 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (at Baxter)

4:00pm cupcakes

What a graphic cupcake photo! Today's lunch at Boqueria meant that we could swing by to pick up our favorite cupcakes from Cupcake Cafe. We prefer the mini vanilla on vanilla ones, and this time in addition we tried the walnut cake with maple buttercream frosting, which was just as delicious. The chocolate ones can be a tad on the dry side, so we stay away.
Cupcake Cafe, 18 W. 18th St, NY, NY 10011 (btwn 5th & 6th Aves)

Boqueria with David

Circumstances bring about a surprise lunch guest today. We meet up with David at Boqueria for a nice schmancy lunch to thank him for being such a supportive friend. We shared a bunch of tapas and a sandwich. The Pintxos Morunos and Pintxos de Pulpo (both pictured) were the best of the bunch.
Boqueria, 53 W. 19th St, NY, NY 10011 (btwn 5th & 6th Aves)