4:00pm Burdick cake

L.A. Burdick, local chocolatiers, recently opened a shop in the Flatiron District with two counters - one serving their famous chocolate mice, the other baked goods and gift packages. We had the Burdick cake, a confection of "layers of almond wafers and rum ganache, topped with white chocolate and pistachio". While certainly well-balanced and pleasantly textured, the overall cake was just this side of too milk sweet for our bittersweet preferences.
L.A. Burdick, 5 East 20th St, NY, NY 10003 (btwn 5th Ave and Broadway)

La Pizza Fresca, with John

La Pizza Fresca does not usually pop up on the city's best Neapolitan pizza lists but it deserves some attention. The crust was just lovely, the sauce tart and light and the salame piccante, nicely crisped. The center of the pizza was rolled too thin so the sauce made it overly soggy but the crust made up for it. Salty with a bit of give and a bit of crunch - just how we like pizza crusts to taste. John joined us for the impromptu lunch, we split a Margherita and a Salame Piccante. We think you got a lot of potential, La Pizza Fresca.
La Pizza Fresca, 31 East 20th St, NY, NY 10003 (btwn Park So and Broadway)

4:00pm chocolates

No time to think about desserts today, but did find some tasty left over sweets in the refrigerator. Still tasted pretty fresh, and the Earl Gray chocolate (the one with the faint stripe) was devine.
Jacques Torres Chocolates, 350 Hudson St, NY, NY 10014 (at King)

Katsuhama with O

Ostap and I's failed attempt at sitting down face to face with Ms Abramovic this morning, ended with having lunch at Katsuhama. I hadn't been there in a while, and katsu (Japanese breaded pork cutlet) had been on my mind of recent. I really should have stuck to my guns and gotten the katsu lunch set, but was lured away by today's special the steak hamburg (hamburger without the bun or more like meatloaf, a national favorite especially w/ the kids). It wasn't that good, and they got my sauce wrong too. I think I was too deep into conversation to notice until two bites in.
Katsuhama, 11 East 47th Street, NY, NY 10017 (btwn Madison and 5th Ave)

4:00pm brownie w/ walnuts

I'd been wanting to pay a visit to the recently-ish opened Northern Spy Food Co. near my apartment as they've been getting some good press. So on a cloudy Sunday afternoon, I took a stroll to run some errands and had in mind to pick up little something for today's dessert. I quickly remembered about Kathy's recent review of their brownies, so decided to give it a go, though I very rarely feel the need to reach out for a brownie. It's nice - not too sweet; cocoa-y but not chocolaty. Does that make sense?
Northern Spy Food Co., 511 East 12th Street, NY, NY 10009 (btwn Avenues A & B)

Central Buffet

Having a Monday meeting at 1pm, pretty much obliterates the chances of lunching normally. Starving after the meeting, dying to get something in my stomach, stopped at the reliably cheap and filling Central Buffet on the way back to the office. How good the food is, is slightly questionable - a bit of a hit or miss. Today I would say it was leaning more towards a hit. Can't go wrong with their eggplant, and greens.
Central Buffet, 195 Centre Street, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Howard and Hester)

4:00pm chocolate chip cookie

Munching on a chocolaty chocolate chip cookie from Oro Bakery, this Friday, we are daydreaming about being tourists (like the many we see around our office, looking perplexed, trying to orient themselves along with the map in hand), soon-ish when we are in Berlin and then Gdansk. In fact, we might even get ourselves unwieldy sized maps so that they can flap in the wind and make us look like fools. Yes, we are willing to look like fools, as long as we are happy that we are not here.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Yung Kee

Every time we head over to Shanghai Cafe, one of our new favorite places, we walk right past Yung Kee, a storefront covered in hundreds of photos of their extensive menu. Next time I suspect we will keep walking right past. The lunch specials are $1-2 more than their neighboring compatriots and frankly not that much better. All in all a meal not worth writing home about and certainly not worth going back for.
Yung Kee, 104 Mott St, NY, NY 10012 (below Hester)

4:00PM nutter butter

It's a wonder we have never blogged about nutter butters for afternoon treats before. They're such a perfect tea time sweet, small and compact but yum peanut butter and oh that crunch. Best of all they can be picked up at your local drugstore for next to nothing and a pack of 4 is great for sharing. All our lunchtime talk of classic school lunches must have made us nostalgic for this childhood memory.

Village Tart, with Storefront and Josh

Both ourselves and our Storefront friends have been looking forward to meeting at Village Tart since they launched a lunch menu. It's a lovely place to have lunch, civilized and charming with a light menu of tarts, sandwiches and salads. We all enjoyed the flavors but with mild commentary like the ham and cheese baguette (a little messy) or the mushroom tart (more open face pastry than classic tart). It's not a repast kind on the wallet as the portions tend to be on the small side but it's a delightful place to meet some friends or to impress a girl.
Village Tart, 86 Kenmare St, NY, NY 10012 (at Mulberry)

4:00pm citrus tart

Something beautiful and tasty to make up for earlier today. We keep going back to Falai to achieve this one citrus tart we once had but instead we keep getting the new version. Which isn't bad, but that first one we had was so yummmy we keep looking for it. Next time we will know to look for telltale signs of a glaze and super thin crust versus the more custard finish of today.
Caffe Falai, 265 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (below Prince)

AIA Center for Arch and LMNOP

Pretty unsatisfying lunch and photo, n'est-ce pas? It wasn't actually all that bad. LMNOP hosted a lunch and learn at the Center for Architecture, with sandwiches from Panera's. As we all stuffed our faces, crunching on potato chips, they walked us through the basic tenets of cost estimating. Exciting!
LMNOP at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Bleecker and Third)

4:00pm carrot cake

Day 2 of the most amazingly delicious carrot cake with dulce de leche creme frosting. Still quite delicious.
Village Tart, 86 Kenmare St, NY, NY 10012 (at Mulberry)

Cafe Mogador, with Snehal and Kazem

Snehal invited us out to his neighborhood haunt and long time local favorite, Cafe Mogador. We hadn't been by for years and were happy to see it was still as bustling as ever and the food as nice as it always has been. It's a good selection of Moroccan and Mediterranean dishes, but more importantly they feature a $9 lunch special that can't be beat. Your choice of soup of the day OR salad AND chicken tagine OR pasta of the day. Honestly, that's a damn good deal. Which we thoroughly enjoyed with some damn good company today.
Cafe Mogador, 101 St. Marks Place, NY, NY 10009 (btwn 1st Ave and Ave A)

4:00pm carrot cake

You gotta love birthday cakes. Especially when it involves intrigue and rushing around to "surprise" the birthday boy. And more especially when it is the most amazingly delicious carrot cake with dulce de leche creme frosting. I repeat, most amazingly delicious.
Village Tart, 86 Kenmare St, NY, NY 10012 (at Mulberry)

Bon Chon, with Kacy and Mags

Kacy and Maggie work downtown blocks from one another but have never had lunch together. We don't really work downtown but decided to join them anyway. Particularly after they made plans for Korean fried chicken at Bon Chon. Well worth the trip, we split a large order of mixed regular and spicy. The spicy was pretty perfect, not too crazy spicy and with a hint of sweetness to mitigate the hotness. It's to be preferred over our other downtown option, Bon Bon. Google maps time: 11 minutes. Real time: 15 minutes.
Bon Chon, 104 John St, NY, NY 10038 (at Cliff St)

magdalenas de ines rosales

As part of our glorious lunch spread from yesterday, these magdalenas were surprisingly good. Surprising because they were amazingly fresh tasting considering that they were pre-packaged. The world wide web says that in Spain, they are typically eaten for breakfast with cafe con leche. That sounds good to me! Mmm gets me thinking about what to eat for lunch over the weekend.
Despana, 408 Broome Street, New York, NY 10013 (btwn Lafayette and Centre)

Hecho in Dumbo

Since we are on a roll this week checking out newly opened restaurants in the hood, we were excited to hear about the new Hecho en Dumbo location on the Bowery (R.I.P. Marion's). We'd heard good things about it while it was in Dumbo, and after this week's coverage on salsas, it quickly made it to our "must eat" list. While everything was fresh, it was also a bit dry. Good thing that the trio of salsas were indeed delicious - it almost seemed like the food was the accompaniment. Maybe the problem is that the food is no longer "hecho in Dumbo" (made in Dumbo. Regardless, we'll go back to check in again, knowing they must be still working out all their kinks in their new space.
Hecho en Dumbo, 354 Bowery, NY, NY 10003 (btwn Great Jones & 4th)

4:00pm flourless almond tort

Included in the catered lunch and learn from Despana earlier today was this lovely Tarta de Santiago, a flourless almond tort imported from Galicia.
Despana, 408 Broome Street, New York, NY 10013 (btwn Lafayette and Centre)

Despana, with Get Real Surfaces

Lunch and learn today, brought to us courtesy of Get Real Surfaces. A bunch of local architects, friends really, joined us for free lunch, a continuing education credit and all you ever needed to know about polished concrete. A win-win lunch, not to mention 2 enormous plates of Despana sandwiches AND dessert.
Despana, 408 Broome Street, New York, NY 10013 (btwn Lafayette and Centre)

4:00pm chocolate stout cake

This morning I got on the subway, sat down and looked up across the aisle to see (I kid you not): a man wearing a pale lime tie, a woman with chartreuse pants, a kid in a forest green tee with his mom who had one too, a girl next to them with an emerald wool scarf and finally a lady holding a lovely beryl striped bag. Happy Lá Fhéile Pádraig!
Village Tart, 86 Kenmare St, NY, NY 10012 (at Mulberry)

Tartinery

The north-eastern corner of our lunching map is seeing a slew of new restaurants, so of course we have to try them all. First was Pulino's on Monday, just now we had tartines at Tartinery and this Friday we plan on checking out Hecho en Dumbo. Today's lunch was spatially marvelous, we watched sunlight seeping into the 2-story, cellar level dining room of exposed brick and black cage mesh. From a culinary point of view, the tartines were enjoyable but not fantastic. A bit pricey, no doubt bread from Poilane's has something to do with that, but that's not deterring the blossoming lunch crowd. We'll probably head back one day to try some of the other tartines, but probably not any time soon.
Tartinery, 209 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Kenmare)

4:00pm almond snickerdoodle cookie

Brand new to the Village Tart display case - almond snickerdoodle cookies. The snickerdoodle is faint, it leans more towards the traditional sugar cookie, but labels don't actually matter because it's just a damn good cookie.
Village Tart, 86 Kenmare St, NY, NY 10012 (at Mulberry)

Torrisi Italian Specialties, with Sarah

The scent of spring is everywhere today, it really puts us in the mood for sandwiches in the park. We went back to Torrisi, with Sarah this time, and thoroughly enjoyed yet another of their sandwich creations. So much that we forgot to pay, got halfway back to the office and then happily turned around, conveniently extending the time we spent outside for lunch.
Torrisi Italian Specialties, 250 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012

4:00pm chocolates

The yellow plate is a precursor to the sunny days we've been promised for later this week. It's that time of year when spring is on everyone's mind but winter still clings too fiercely.
Jacques Torres Chocolates, 350 Hudson St, NY, NY 10014 (at King)

Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria

Today's meal at Keith McNally's new hotspot, Pulino's, was strangely reminiscent of our lunch last week at Big Wing Wong. All hustle bustle with lots of din and cacophony, only this time with a polar opposite crowd. The place never stopped moving. Across the aisle was SE's own Adam having a tasting for himself. We'll wait to see what his discerning taste buds say, but personally we found the pizza too charred and the bang for buck not quite worth it. A little too much hype methinks. Although holy yum the sunchoke and red cabbage salad we would go back for.
Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria, 282 Bowery, NY, NY 10012 (at Houston)

4:00pm apple turnover

I'm not sure how we lived without a toaster oven in the office before. For one, it's impossible to have apple turnovers without a toaster oven to reheat them into wonderful loveliness. And then it makes great early evening snacks in the form of mini beef tacos from Trader Joes. Quite possibly two of the best reasons to own a toaster oven. Oh and peanut butter and jelly on toast is a good reason too.
Patisserie Margot, 2109 Broadway, NY, NY 10023 (entrance on 74th St)

Salumeria Rosi

Yum yum yum, we had a meeting this morning in the Upper West Side so conveniently located near the family owned salumi shop, Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto. Nothing makes me happier than to walk into an obviously well loved shop of food and ask for "two sandwiches please, whatever you feel like making". And then to hear the guy behind the counter say, " no problem, two fantastic sandwiches coming up". And so fantastic they were. We got back to the office to a salami and caponata and a prosciutto and mozzarella. Both were fresh and reminiscent of Alidoro in the lightness of ingredients. The one small tiny criticism has to do with cost for quantity, not that we need large meals, but even so, $10 felt a trifle high for the size of sandwich.
Salmueria Rosi, 283 Amsterdam Ave, NY, NY 10023 (btwn 73rd and 74th)

4:00pm brownies with strawberries

A friend brought over dessert last night and I am reminded of why chocolate and strawberries works so well together. Especially fresh strawberries and caramel brownies from Fat Witch.
Fat Witch Bakery

Big Wing Wong

There were no English speakers at Big Wing Wong today aside from the two of us trying to speak over the din and cacophony of loud voices. It's usually a raucous lunch but today even more so than normal - to the extent that I could almost imagine we were in Hong Kong having lunch. Who knew Big Wing Wong could be so transporting?
Big Wing Wong, 102 Mott St, NY, NY 10013 (below Hester)

4:00pm swiss leaves cookies

The nice counter guy at Falai called these "swiss leaves cookies" or that's what it sounded like he said over the bustling din of their lunch time crowd. But when I look for more information on the internets, there is nothing. Any Swiss readers out there who can enlighten us? Because whatever these are, they're pretty delicious. They're like a slightly flaky, crunchy and thin version of a sugar cookie.
Caffe Falai, 265 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (below Prince)

Cafe Select, with Christine

Sometimes we come across people who work in the neighborhood who don't have a supportive lunch network so we immediately make plans to meet as we are such big fans of this most underrated meal of the day. Today's guest luncher is Christine who works on Walker. An hour passed pretty quickly discussing the merits of Pittsburgh, the importance of lunch and how cappuccinos could possibly be hard to digest.
Cafe Select, 212 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 (at Kenmare)

4:00pm donuts

Sorry we missed posting this yesterday! But preparations were underway for the opening of the Landscapes of Quarantine and we lost our heads. I'm happy to report we're back on track with good old reliable Dreesen donuts picked up from Balthazar earlier yesterday morning. Which we did actually eat yesterday afternoon.
Balthazar Bakery, 80 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (near Crosby)

An Choi, with Dee and Jess

Last night our good friend Dee emailed to see if we were free for lunch (yes) and then this morning came: "so far this trip we've eaten at Prune, the Spotted Pig, Tipsy Parson, Crif Dogs, Carteles, Yerba Buena... so our expectations are high and our pockets are approaching zero." Pressure! Lucky for us it was a gorgeous day for a walk to the LES for An Choi's expanding menu and a place we could reasonably be assured would live up to Jess's discerning palette. I opted for the classic banh mi thit heo quay (roast pork sandwich) while M tried the banh mi ca sot ca chua (sardines in tomato sauce). I think Dee and Jess tried everything they thought would reasonably fit in their stomachs before heading out to the rest of the LES for more foodieness.
An Choi, 85 Orchard St, NY, NY 10002 (below Broome)

4:00pm seville orange cake

It's been a busy couple of days as we put some finishing touches on Q-CITY, a work we developed for the Landscapes of Quarantine exhibit at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. By dessert time we all needed a break from the installation and where else to head but across the street to Village Tart? There we knew would be guaranteed goodness. Today it took the form of the seville orange pound cake, along with a built in break waiting for the hand dripped coffee.
The show opens tomorrow night at 7pm, free to everyone, and will run until April 17 - so if you're taking a lunch break then pop on by.
Village Tart, 86 Kenmare St, NY, NY 10012 (at Mulberry St)

Malaysia Kitchen for the World 2010

Malaysia, the country, kicked off a campaign today with the very official title of "Malaysia - Kitchen for the World 2010". We attended the inaugural lunch where a handful of chefs demonstrated some classic Malaysian dishes, my always favorite - the roti canai, some chicken satay, a curry laksa and the beef rendang. What we learned is that Malaysian food is incredibly ingredient intensive, not to mention labor intensive. I imagine that's what gives the food it's richness of flavor and balance of tastes. A lot of chances to brush up on your knowledge of Malaysian cuisine in the upcoming year. I know we will be.
International Culinary Center, 462 Broadway, NY, NY 10012 (at Grand St)

4:00pm madeleine

We needed a no-brainer of an afternoon treat, and frankly there wasn't that much to choose from in that department this afternoon. We're getting geared up for our upcoming exhibit next week at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, and need the sugar kick, but nothing that would distract us from our laser sharp concentration.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Otto Enoteca Pizzeria

The last time we went to Otto, all we remember is how memorably horrible a day it was to be walking around. Fortunately today, we were blessed with crisp air and a little bit of sweet sunshine. In addition, it's just so nice to eat lunch at Otto because otherwise the place is a bit of too bustling and loud. It yet again reinforces how much we love to lunch, and also how much we love the fact that we get to share it all with our readers.
Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, One Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10003 (entrance on 8th St)

4:00pm lemon coconut crostata

This is a lovely lemon coconut tart from Grandaisy Bakery, similar in texture to the inside of a Mounds or Almond Joy, but lemony in flavor, but not too lemony and not too tart. A tart ray of sunshine on this increasingly cloudy afternoon. Wait, was it even cloudy today? I've already forgotten.
Grandaisy Bakery, 73 Sullivan Street NY, NY 10012 (btwn Grand and Broome)

Balthazar Bakery

I wish I lived in Paris so I could walk outside and pick up a jambon beurre sandwich from any street vendor for a handful of euros. Instead we have to make due with pre-packaged ones from Balthazar Bakery for a whopping $7. They're not even all that great. Although, as in the case of yesterday's apple turnover, popping the baguette for a couple of minutes into the toaster oven works wonders.
Balthazar Bakery, 80 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (near Crosby)

4:00pm apple turnover

Yow! This is some apple turnover! Village Tart's desserts continue to win us over. The pastry is more a pate sable, rather than your typical puff pastry, but it's a good thing in this case. Flaky, salty and melt in your mouth tender, the apples are stewed to an applesauce texture, and studded with golden sultanas. Ugh.
Village Tart, 86 Kenmare St, NY, NY 10012 (at Mulberry)

Jup She

Lunch conundrum today - we weren't feeling inspired, but we just knew we were hungry, had to eat, and get out of the office a bit. We headed outside with hamburgers in mind, and ended up at Jup She for some hot Korean food. I'm planning on going out for Korean food this evening, but didn't see anything wrong in having it for two straight meals. I mean, isn't it what most Korean people do? I had Indian food for all three meals while I was in India...
Jup She, 171 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (at Baxter)

4:00pm banana bread

I was a little worried about having banana bread today for dessert because the foil we wrapped around the pan last night did not seem so secure. It could have gotten too dry to eat but it didn't. Happy for us and the rest of our office mates who devoured it throughout the day.

New Malaysia Restaurant, with Kathy

We were chatting with Kathy on email about the Malaysian Kitchen luncheon next week when we figured why wait till next week when we could see one another today for Malaysian! (Not that this will stop us from going next week) It's been ages since we've eaten at New Malaysia in the arcade sandwiched between Bowery and Elizabeth. We each picked a personal dish: I always love roti canai while M. went for a dish from her memories - the egg and beef fried noodle and finally Kathy recommended a chinese herbal soup, the Bak Kut Teh, which neither of us had ever had. We shared it all, topped off with a plate of chicken curry.
New Malaysia Restaurant, 48 Bowery, NY, NY 10013 (in the arcade btwn Bowery and Elizabeth)

4:00pm leftover birthday cakes

Our contribution to today's potluck was leftovers from a 1-year old birthday banquet last night at Red Egg. Perfect because there was plenty of food and birthday cake to share with everyone. And unintentionally, the lemon tart I picked up at the last minute went stunningly well with the chocolate birthday cake.

Office Potluck

Don't freak out but it's March already and the second monthly office potluck is upon us. We joked about judging the dishes but I would have been hard pressed to pick one clear favorite. Danny brought in a ratatouille type dish served over homemade polenta. Shawn baked us a loaf of banana bread. Saha made two types of cauliflower based dishes although I only tried the gratin. Karen cooked up a soup that she recommended we eat with pieces of Ryvita crispbreads. Patrick pleased everyone with 2 cold dishes, a pasta flavored with peanut butter and some green string beans that were simply divine. And finally Matt capped the meal off with freshly baked biscuits that he had just pulled out of the oven and dashed over to the office with.