4:00pm fruit tart

We stood on the corner of Cleveland Place and Kenmare, sweating in the hot sun, not a speck of shade in sight. Across the way, beyond the park, Cafe Select's light and airy fruit tarts beckoned. We heeded the call.
Cafe Select, 212 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 (at Kenmare)

Pomodoro

Recently a big plate of classic American style spaghetti and meatballs found its way into our heads and we couldn't shake it. We didn't feel up to braving the crowded streets of Little Italy, opting for off the beaten track at Pomodoro's instead. True to form, the sauce was tart and under-flavored, the meatballs too large and meaty, and the spaghetti soft and almost squishy. Exactly what we were looking for. Now if only they would fix their air conditioners because we're never going back on a hot summer day again. And neither should anyone.
Pomodoro, 51 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (at Mulberry)

4:00pm creamwich

Our officemates took a walk earlier today and brought back sandwiches from 'wichcraft, including some creamwiches, of which there was only this lonely looking quarter left by the time I got back to the office.
'wichcraft, 568 Broadway, NY, NY 10012 (entrance on Crosby above Prince)

Ed's Lobster Bar

Kind of fancy for a Monday I know, but sometimes a lovely lunch of bibb salad and a fat lobster roll can really perk up an otherwise manic Monday.
Ed's Lobster Bar, 222 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (below Spring)

4:00pm gummy bears

Less dessert, more eye candy to leave you with something pretty and multi-colored on this Friday evening as I contemplate a weekend made for the beach.

Aurora Ristorante

We meant to head north for pasta but ended up walking west instead. The last time we had the tuna tartare at Aurora it felt a bit heavy-handed but they must have changed the proportions a little, because it was far more enjoyable today. Mostly because it felt like an avocado salad with a bit of yellowfin tuna on top instead of just tuna tartare, making it a perfectly refreshing salad on a warmish summer day.
Aurora Ristorante, 510 Broome St, NY, NY 10012 (west of West Broadway)

4:00pm madeleines

Waking up to sunshine this morning was such an abrupt and deliriously bright departure from the past several days of constant rain that I almost thought it was the weekend and not a work day.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Bun & Co, with Thu

The name change to Bun & Co doesn't do much for us, an odd departure from the far more elegant Kampuchea. But the trendy bare bones name more aptly reflects the newly opened, super casual feel, with handwritten chalkboard menu, ordering counter and self bussed tables. We tried the veal meatball, sloppy joe and pulled pork sandwiches along with a side of curly fries and cole slaw. Overall everything was pretty nice although in our humble opinion the meats could have been a smidgeon more salty and a trifle less sweet, ditto for the cole slaw. Or maybe more spicy and tart and less sweet? Still, it was an enjoyable lunch and one we'd probably have again.
Bun & Co, 78 Rivington St, NY, NY 10002 (at Allen)

4:00pm reeses brownie

This reeses brownie was way too intense for us so we cut it up into itty bitty bites and left it on the kitchen table for everyone else to partake as well.
Dean & DeLuca, 560 Broadway, NY, NY 10012 (at Prince)

Snack, with o

Benefiting from a late lunch today we ended up Snack, which is usually too small and thus too easily crowded for normal, non-rainy lunch times. I don't know what normally is, but it felt like the wet weather got into everything today, not just our shoes and socks. The noodles in the pastitsio were super soft and squishy while the moistness of the lamb in the lamb sandwich made the bread a bit soggy.
Snack, 105 Thompson St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Prince)

4:00pm jelly donuts

A couple weeks ago we were headed back from the beach, which naturally led to a detour through Greenpoint for Peter Pan donuts. Unfortunately it was 10 minutes before closing time and the donuts were sadly lacking. The memory and disappointment lingered on until finally today I was able to reset it with a super fresh, super good, jelly doughnut from Donut Pub.
The Donut Pub, 203 W.14th St, NY, NY 10011 (near 7th Ave)

Pho Bang, with Thu

Inspired by this photo from Village Voice's 100 daily eats and memories of Cyclo as one of the first non-Chinatown restaurants to do Vietnamese food with flair, but yet too lazy to venture far on a rainy cool day, we decided to make do with Pho Bang. We didn't want to get our hopes up because it was already 1pm when we left the office (and thus late) but lucky for us they still had plates of bánh cuốn (Vietnamese rice crepe) available.
Pho Bang, 157 Mott St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Grand and Broome)

4:00pm fruit tart

Yowsers! Intense fruit spread on this pretty shortbread like tart from Grandaisy. Either too much or too sweet, the first bite made me shout eep! Eep!
Grandaisy Bakery, 73 Sullivan St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Broome and Spring)

Grandaisy and Bread

"Grandaisy and Bread" is kind of a nice title, although "Sandwich and Soup" would be far more descriptive. I went west to satisfy a bresaola craving, M. went east to fulfill a tomato soup craving. We met back at the office to divvy up the goods and satisfy everyone on all counts.
Grandaisy Bakery, 73 Sullivan St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Broome and Spring)
Bread, 20 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Elizabeth & Mott)

4:00pm peanut butter cookie

The cars are piling up outside on Broome, headed out of the city to enjoy these last fleeting days of summer. Time for us to go to! Happy Weekend.
Roasting Plant Coffee, 75 Greenwich Ave, NY, NY 10014 (near West 11th)

Shanghai Cafe, with Thu

Aaaaaah. We ate too much. But honestly, Shanghai Cafe really had their game on today. We started with soup dumplings that must have just been made, the freshest yet that I've had there. Then string beans with the slightest bit of crunch, seasoned with a smattering of salty ground pork. Finally the pièce de résistance, a whole braised ginger and scallion fish, laden with a brown sauce, but proving to be incongruously light in taste and texture. We didn't stop eating until there was nothing left to eat.
Shanghai Cafe, 100 Mott St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Hester & Canal)

4:00pm custard bomboloni

I blame it on our absentmindedness today for allowing ourselves to pay $3.54 for a not altogether fresh custard bomboloni from Falai but actually purchased at D'espresso.
D'Espresso, 100 Stanton St, NY, NY 10002 (btwn Stantona and Orchard)

Liebe, with Greg

In an astounding display of lunching incompetency, it took us an hour of walking around with new friend and neighborhood luncher, Greg. Missed information, confusing directions, long wait times and many blocks later found us back in Nolita, deciding, on a hunger enforced whim, to try the just opened "Indian fusion" Liebe. Hopefully they will overcome the curse of the location. Since Rice left no one has managed to stay for very long. The wraps, while nice enough, were a bit small and maybe too pricey for that size. The owner, however, is super nice and offered us all sorts of samples from mango shakes to spiced hot tea.
Liebe, 227 Mott St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Prince)

4:00pm apple turnover

Technically they call this a chaussons aux pommes even though you might know it as an apple turnover. Because, despite the incongruous addition of cupcakes to their menu, Balthazar, thankfully, remains essentially French.
Balthazar Bakery, 80 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (near Crosby)

Pio Pio, with Thu

At long last, a lunch neither boring nor lazy, Pio! Pio! Even though the lunch special has increased by 45¢ to $9.95, it still remains one of our favorite lunch specials to date. 1/4 of a delectably salty Peruvian chicken, the most perfect iceberg lettuce salad I have ever encountered, your choice of starchy side and a soda to boot. Again, lunch became a silent rapture of pure happiness until we had digested enough to carry on a conversation.
Pio Pio, 210 East 34th St, NY, NY 10016 (btwn 2nd and 3rd)

4:00pm peanut butter cookies

If I do a search on our site for "peanut butter hampton" most of the results point out our inability to choose only one type of cookie from the always delicious cookies at Hampton Chutney. But our laziness prevailed! And instead of debating which two or three we should get, we just stuck to the one.
Hampton Chutney, 68 Prince St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Crosby and Lafayette)

Soho Park, with Thu

The theme for this week seems to be laziness, because after some debate whether we should go to 5 Guys for the burger or Lorelei for some sausage, we just couldn't bring ourselves to motivate beyond Prince and Lafayette for some hot dogs and french fries at Soho Park.
Soho Park, 62 Prince St, NY, NY 10012 (at Lafayette)

4:00pm ginger cookies

It is time to move the bag of cookies from our own private domain to the greater world of the rest of the office. Meaning there are now a small handful of very delicious ginger cookies sitting on the kitchen table, help yourself!
Grandaisy Bakery, 73 Sullivan St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Broome and Spring)

Nyonya

From Nyonya, a classic order-in lunch: a bowl of young chow fried rice accompanied by shrimp puffs wrapped in bacon. For use when we're (1) too lazy to think about lunch and (2) have too many inconveniently scheduled meetings.
Nyonya, 199 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry and Mott)

4:00pm ginger cookies

I am madly in love with the zenzeri ginger snaps from Grandaisy. They're not too sweet, crunchy as all get out and have a zinger of a ginger kick.
Grandaisy Bakery, 73 Sullivan St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Broome and Spring)

Tartinery, with Karen

With the addition of a $13 lunch prix, Tartinery catapulted onto our list of places to have a reasonably civilized ladies lunch. It's a slightly bustling but very proper atmosphere in a space that is architecturally enjoyable. The tartines feel much improved since their opening or we just made better selections today with the rosbif and a saint marcellin.
Tartinery, 209 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Kenmare)

4:00pm carrot cake

Another instance of grab and go, the packaged carrot cake from Pret a Manger is slightly more high brow than the Oreos we had the other day, but not necessarily better.
Pret a Manger, 857 Broadway, NY, NY 10003 (at 17th St, Union Square)

Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria w/ Eugenia

Eugenia, relatively new to the city, is finally getting around to seeking out all the nooks and crannies of NYC. Pulino's seemed like a perfect place to meet up for lunch, being that it's the new hip kid on the block, decidedly new york, and very downtown. The food was tasty enough, but considering that the conversation overtook the meal, maybe it wasn't all that. However the homemade pepperoni and olives on the Salame Piccante Pizza were so great that it bumped up an okay pizza into a good pizza.
Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria, 282 Bowery (corner of Houston), NY, NY 10012

4:00pm strawberry tart

Sometimes I think we only get strawberry tarts for their photogenic qualities. Except for the fact that strawberry desserts are very girly desserts and we are girls like that.
Ceci Cela Patisserie, 55 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Lafayette and Mulberry)

Brick Lane Curry House

It seems we have an expert assembler of Indian food in the house and today he, being Sri, ordered a lovely array of foods for an in-office lunch from the East Village's Brick Lane. If you ever needed to feed 7 mixed vegetarians and non, try the following: vegetable pakora (fried potatoes), goat vindaloo, chana masala (chick peas and spices), butter chicken masala and some aloo gobi (potatoes + cauliflower). Don't forget plenty of rice, some naan and my favorite nibbling treat, papadums.
Brick Lane Curry House, 306-308 E. 6th St, NY, NY 10003 (near 2nd Ave)

4:00pm oreo cookies

We can't really endorse the conversion of the old bank building on the corner of Spring and Lafayette into yet another Duane Reade, but it's worth pointing out that the Oreo cookies we bought there today were very, very fresh.
Duane Reade, 225 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (at Spring)

Shake Shack

We usually try and hold off until at least 11:00am before starting to wonder what's for lunch. Today we made it until 11:45am before the question was asked and no sooner had I mentioned wanting something happily satisfying than M. mentioned Shake Shack. Quickly confirming via Shack Cam that a noon lunch might be reasonable, we headed out. The line was bearable, even in the sun, but sadly the shack burger was not so bearable. Have they changed the patty? It was much thicker than normal and had no taste at all, as if a hunk of ground beef been carelessly cooked in a saute pan. What happened to the usual glorious piece of divinely grilled patty? Lunch mission: failure.
Shake Shack, Madison Square Park, NY, NY 10010 (closer to 23rd St)

4:00pm snickerdoodles

When I asked my panel of two what we thought of snickerdoodles, the response was YUM. I think that says alot. Or enough. Oro, of course, did not disappoint.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Nha Toi, with Thu

When I read James Boo's description of the pho banh mi at Nha Toi on Havemeyer, I knew it would be only a matter of time before we found ourselves on the J train to Williamsburg. I mean seriously, could you resist the words "happiness on a hero"? Fred turned on the AC for us as we proceeded to chomp our way through the pho banh mi, a basa fish one and the bi heo. It takes a creative mind to successfully make a sandwich out of a noodle dish. The pho banh mi captures an essence of pho while strongly establishing its own new identity. Our real favorite, though, was the fish banh mi. But mostly because the Maggi flavoring really came through and I'm a sucker for anything with Maggi on it. It helped that the bread was the correct rice flour based baguette and not a generic hoagie roll.
Nha Toi, 160 Havemeyer, Brooklyn, NY 11211 ( btwn South 1st and 2nd)

4:00pm chocolate chip cookies

It's hard to resist a recommendation from Serious Eats, especially when they go to such great lengths for something as important as the Chocolate Chip Cookie Championship. And while we mostly agree with their assessment, the baked in-house, Roasting Plant chocolate chip cookie, made with batter from Tom Cat bakery, is, in fact, pretty good - it's still a bit too chocolaty chip for us. But not too chocolaty chip to have again.
Roasting Plant Coffee, 75 Greenwich Ave, NY, NY 10014 (near West 11th)

Jup She

Our lunch requirements today were a short walk and air conditioning. It's not even the heat that is so terrible but the oppressive humidity that kills us. A departure from our regular order we decided to share a sundubu stew and a seafood pajeon. Although when the table next to us got their hot stone bibimbap, I almost regretted it.
Jup She, 171 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (at Baxter)

4:00pm apple tart

New neighborhood eatery, Bluebird Sky, is not really an afternoon dessert place, so we won't say much about the apple tart we picked up too late in the day to be good. Rather, we'll be stopping back for lunch to let you know the real scope. The space is cute though, that much we can say for certain.
Bluebird Sky, 121 Baxter St, NY, NY 10013 (below Hester)

Bar Bossa

It's been at least 2 years since Palacinka closed but I still can't walk into Bar Bossa without having fond memories of afternoon sunlit crepes. And while M. has found her egg sandwich and I am content with the steak sandwich, it's just not quite the same. I wonder how long it will take before the two places disassociate themselves in my mind? If you search Palacinka on our site you will see that half of the 4 times it is mentioned are in relation to Bar Bossa and how much we miss it.
Bar Bossa, 232 Elizabeth St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Prince & Houston)

rice crispies

These are no ordinary rice crispies, but chocolate butterscotch rice crispies. Baked by Samara for our office potluck.

Banh Mi Saigon

We'd spotted the new location of the supposedly "jewelry-free" Banh Mi Saigon out of the corners of our eyes, and today seemed like a perfect day for a try out. The gossip was false! And the new location has jewelry shop intact! As we've never been a huge fan of their sandwiches (though yelpers seem to love them, and we're always willing to try again), the other stuff in the refrigerated case caught our interest. Bánh cuốn Salad was pretty refreshing, the noodles tender and the dressing nicely tangy, though the cha lua not the freshest.
Banh Mi Saigon, 198 Grand Street, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

4:00pm plum cake

Plum cake makes me want to say plump cake. The substitution of pecans for almonds either made this open faced fruit tart even better than it could have been or equally as good. A big hit both at lunch earlier and later this afternoon.

Office Potluck

The unintended theme of this month's summer potluck was feta. Feta mixed with olives and watermelon, feta tossed with arugula and feta crumbled in a peach, radish and tomato salad. The rest of us not in on the feta fete brought in more mundane things including (yay!) dessert.