3:15pm chocolate crinkle cookie

The guy behind the counter at Ground Support told me the gluten-free cookies from Jackie's Cookies are ridiculously good and I believed him so I bought a bag. They are pretty good but just now I realized that the "ridiculously good" came from the cookie's marketing slogan, which leaves me wondering if the guy thought they were genuinely ridiculously good or if he was parroting back their marketing claim or if he was just being silly.
Ground Support, 399 W. Broadway, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Broome and Spring)

L'asso, with Kasia

L'asso is usually a fine place to go when meeting new friends for lunch, but the music was a bit too rock-n-roll today for us to have a comfortable conversation with Kasia. Since she was coming to us via an old friend from Gdansk, we wanted a little more quiet so we could talk about city birds vs. country birds and un-built utopian cities abandoned in the dessert. Still, their pizza is always a nice choice and it was a short hop back to the office for a lengthier dialogue.
L'asso, 192 Mott St., NY, NY 10012 (at Kenmare)

4:08pm bourbon pumpkin cheesecake

This year's Thanksgiving was an overall success we were left with more than enough leftovers.  We have been very diligently making our way through our refrigerator. Y and I had originally thought to eat leftovers for lunch on Monday, but I just couldn't face another turkey or potato related food. And in this way lunch will continue to be my savior from dinner monotony. With the exception of dessert. I gingerly transported a wee slice of cheesecake this morning, which is not as good as last week, but still pretty darn good, I think.

Hoomoos Asli

I originally intended for a long leisurely lunch, then changed my mind to a quick one.  Hoomoos Asli used to be one of our neighborhood staples, but with its inconsistency in tastiness, we've stopped making regular visits.  But I'm still glad it's around, so close to our office and luckily  it was pretty tasty today.  It'll do until Taim graces us with their new Nolita location!!!
Hoomoos Asli, 100 Kenmare St, NY, NY 10012 (at Centre St)

4:41pm jelly donut

We learned a funny phrase last week, jelly for jealous. As in "oooh I'm so jelly you had donuts from Peter Pan". But then we thought it would be much more hilarious to say instead "oooh I'm so jelly donut you had pizza at Motorino".
Donut Pub, 203 W. 14th St, NY, NY 10011 (near 7th Ave)

Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles

Aside from the grease spots flung from itinerant flicks of soup water speckling our shirts (they should maybe consider handing out bibs for us not so tidy eaters), the hand pulled noodles at Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles are, as the name suggests, rather tasty. The cucumber salad is a shade spicy and super refreshing but after that and a bowl of noodles, I left feeling Thanksgiving style stuffed.
Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles, 1 Doyers St, NY, NY 10038 (at Bowery)

Forcella, with friends

No Thanksgiving themed lunch for us, but a long leisurely meal of delicious pizza at Forcella with a bunch of good friends is definitely the way to get ready for the upcoming holiday weekend. The centers are still a bit soggy but man oh man that chewy yeasty crust is something to die for. We are fans. The car horns are beeping outside on Broome, the office is rapidly emptying out and we are not far behind. Happy eating!
Forcella, 334 Bowery, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Bond and E. 3rd)

3:36pm chocolate chip cookies

We could pretty much eat Tate's chocolate chip cookies until the cows came home. I almost got the gluten free ones by mistake, which is great for our celiac sensitive friends, but not so much for us craving that perfectly balanced salty-sweet crunch with a sprinkle of chocolate chips thrown in for good measure.
Gourmet Garage, 453 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (at Mercer)

Wah Mei

We were feeling all sorts of ballsy at Wah Mei today so instead of the tried and true, known goodness of the chicken leg over rice we tried something new. I know, Heavens to Betsy! The pork chop was not as juicy as the Hua Ji one but we loved the crack addictive nature of the black pepper gravy sauce. I swear, they get that stuff out of a can or something. The Shanghai rice cakes were a big surprise because they tasted PRECISELY like the young chow fried rice from Nyonya. It was astonishing. As if there was some seasoning that all the Chinese kitchens use in common.
Wah Mei Fast Food, 190 Hester St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Baxter & Mulberry)

4:32pm vanilla cupcake

I feel like this Dean & Deluca vanilla cupcake has some nice potential, but sadly and completely unfulfilled. M. said it tasted like it had been made in a production hall where food oil got mixed into the cupcake batter. I liked the general taste but it was indeed a bit too salty and overly oily. Maybe next time.
Dean & DeLuca, 560 Broadway, NY, NY 10012 (at Prince)

Lovely Day, with Amy

We finally had our lovely lunch with the lovely Amy at the very Lovely Day. Amy, who created Stupidly Simple Snacks and spends her days building community for Foodspotting, did not try to resist our ginger fried chicken pitch. She fell in love with the spicy aioli, and we were happy to have introduced the two. I never know how to describe this place where pad thai and irish breakfast co-habitat the same menu.
Lovely Day, 196 Elizabeth St., New York, NY 10012 btwn Prince & Spring

Fiat Cafe

I  know people love mussels but I personally have always preferred clams.  And I especially love them with pasta "alle vongole".  I'm finally starting to see it as a pasta staple wherever I go.  I think it's always been around, but definitely considered a sub-popular dish and rarely prepared well.  It's really rather popular in Japan though, I think I ate it a lot there as young lady.  I don't know if I'd say it was really well prepared here, it was missing the bright kick, but I appreciated the lightness and the un-oiliness.  It's a good change up to tomato sauce.
Fiat Cafe, 203 Mott St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Kenmare and Spring)

4:36pm scone

Today's breakfast leftovers, courtesy of Harvest, comes from Oro Bakery and Bar.  As we mentioned a few days earlier, we looove their pecan sticky buns, but we equally love the scones.  In flavor and texture, it's the closest I've had to the real thing (in Scotland), which is a high compliment in my book!  Go get one for yourself today!
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

La Nueva Conquista

We decided to have a "silent reading lunch" today, as we both had some mandatory reading to do.  It doesn't help that we're in 2 book clubs, which we admit is horribly dorky, but simultaneously makes us severely happy.  And so does the Dominican food from La Nueva Conquista.  Super simple rice and beans (yellow rice and black beans to be exact), with succulent and flavorful roast pork.  We couldn't ask for too much more. 
La Nueva Conquista, 236 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (above Spring)

4:20pm assortment

We're reaping the benefits of free breakfasts these past several days, especially when the leftovers consist of strawberry tarts and chocolate croissants from Almondine.
Almondine, 85 Water St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (near Main St)

Cafe Select

We were not the only ones who thought the warm coziness of Cafe Select suited this gray rainy day, the place was as crowded as I've ever seen it at lunch. I ordered bratwurst and rosti, while M. opted for buckwheat crepes. Usually it's a pretty reliable meal but the bratwurst was beyond salty while the rosti was crunchy bordered on breaking teeth hard. Hopefully that's just an off day and not a trend.
Cafe Select, 212 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 (at Kenmare)

4:46pm sticky bun

We have been waiting and waiting for the return of the brown sugar pecan sticky bun at Oro and finally today we got one! The shape is round instead of the square of last year, but the textures and tastes are every bit as yum yum as we remember. Happy happy us.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Rubirosa

As soon as we saw this post on Serious Eats on the braciole sandwich, we had to try. I personally was having a mild craving for their utterly simple and delicious stromboli's, but couldn't resist something new. We split the sandwich and a salad. The sandwich is nice and messy, neither of us tried to eat with our hands. I really love the salad dressing, although they could be a little lighter with the pour since the leaves tended toward soggy. All in all, Rubirosa gets better each time we try, which means of course we'll keep going back.
Rubirosa Pizza, 235 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Prince)

4:08pm pumpkin whoopie pie

I was in the BK yesterday, coincidentally near One Girl Cookies, so of course I stopped for a dessert or two. The pumpkin whoopie pie is sweet intensity, too sweet for our non-sugary proclivities. After a couple bites I split open the pie and ate the two sandwich halves plain with a wee dollop of the sugary cream.
One Girl Cookies, 68 Dean St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (near Smith St)

Noodle Village

At Noodle Village we always get the small size bowl, it's thoroughly filling and I could not imagine eating anything more. But next to us were two older ladies who had ordered each a large bowl of noodle soup, a plate of fried fish skin AND a plate of green veggies! Impressive indeed. We did not wait around to see if they finished off every last bite.
Noodle Village, 13 Mott St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mosco St and Chatham Sq) 

4:30pm jelly zeppole

Of course we could not have lunch at Parm without zeppoles. The office mates said the plain were to die for but our waitress preferred jelly. We had one at the bar, fresh out of the fryer, and the rest in the office with afternoon coffee. They're tasty either way. And also messy.
Parm, 248 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Prince)

Parm

It's hard to be annoyed at the already one hour waits out the door of eagerly anticipated and just opened, Parm, when the food is just so damn good. We went at 12:15 pm, there was a 15 minute wait but 2 openings at the bar. By the time we left at 1, it was an hour wait for a table. What can we tell you about Parm? You know it's Torrisi expanded, which means everything was lovely and delicious. We opted to share brussel sprouts, pizza knots (could have used a marinara sauce to be perfectly honest) and the much lauded meatball sub. We polished off every last bit and licked our fingers clean.
Parm, 248 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Prince)

4:05pm peanut butter cookies

I'm pretty sure NPR said it would be cloudy and a little rainy today, instead it turned out gorgeous, warm and sunny. The lowering winter sun made everything hazy and more romantic.
Hampton Chutney, 68 Prince St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Crosby and Lafayette)

Vive la crepe!

We missed the memo on La Crepe Parisienne changing its name to Vive la Crepe, not that anything has changed. The crepes are still decent, although nothing like my memory of crepes from a year of living in Paris. I did appreciate that it was a super quick, hot lunch option, no cold pre-made sandwich for us ladies today. We wolfed down our crepes, sufficiently satiated for a panel discussion in Brooklyn.
Vive la Crepe, 51 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Lafayette and Mulberry)

4:30pm macarellas and s'mores

Walking by the Openhouse Gallery on Mulberry we were kindly stopped by a woman at the temporary CNET Gotham 5-day holiday event because she offered us free desserts from the Sweetery NYC truck parked outside. Never one to resist free desserts, we obliged by picking two and taking a tour of the super duper, high tech gadgets and devices inside. One guy demonstrated two different 3D TV experiences, we were dizzy afterward.
Sweetery NYC at Openhouse Gallery, 201 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012 (above Kenmare)

The Gray Dog

The Gray Dog will forever, for me, be associated with their original Carmine Street location. I moved to the city around the same time they opened up and we often meandered over for breakfast on the weekends. My memories fill the cafe with loud music and a perpetual bustle of people, seems Mulberry Street has not changed that for them. I had a classic turkey club, which it not something I normally crave, but the soft squishy challah, lightly toasted, certainly helped its enjoyment. M. liked her avocado sliders well enough but unlike my challah, her brioche was not at all soft or squishy.
The Gray Dog, 244 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Prince)

4:30pm pistachio financier

When the cashier at Balthazar said $5.75 for this pistachio financier, I gasped out loud. What insanity! Even if this pistachio financier was the best, most amazing, pistachio financier on the face of the earth, would it ever be worth $5.75? M. even went back in to see if perhaps they had misquoted us, mistaken the financier for a fancy layer cake. No such thing, through the window I could see the woman mouthing $5.75 to M. Now, as we have eaten this $5.75 financier and licked all the expensive crumbs off the plate, I can tell you that it is a very good financier. It's super dense with a bit of a lovely crust. But at its very best, probably still only worth a shade over $4.
Balthazar Bakery, 80 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (near Crosby)

Despana, with Ken and Haque

I'm guessing anyone living on the eastern seaboard today was feeling gleefully happy at the unexpected warm and sunny spring weather on a fall November day. Not a chance of eating indoors when we could just as easily pick up sandwiches and soup from Despana and head to the nearby park filled with kids and their moms also enjoying the gorgeous weather.
Despana, 408 Broome St., NY, NY 10013 (btwn Lafayette and Cleveland Pl) 

5:25pm donut twist

Good thing we added a last minute regular donut twist to the bag, the glutinous rice donut twist we were craving from Paris Baguette was less than stellar. So less than stellar, it was bordering on practically inedible.
Paris Baguette, 6 W. 32nd St, NY, NY 10001 (btwn Broadway and Fifth)

Gahm Mi Oak

Even though we infrequently frequent the same lunch spots, it doesn't mean we don't have our tried and true favorites. Like Gahm Mi Oak in Ktown, where we don't even look at the menu to know we want two bowls of seolleongtang and a heaping plate of kimchi. Ah, happiness.
Gahm Mi Oak, 43 W. 32nd St, NY, NY 10001 (near Broadway)

4:01pm graham cracker

These graham crackers from Peel's are outrageous.  Outrageously good that is.  I think it's because it simply tastes like baked, browned butter and sugar.  Who would have ever thought that a graham cracker would taste so decadent?
Peels, 325 Bowery, NY, NY 10003 (at 2nd St)

Lahore Deli

I've been craving Indian food, and while Lahore isn't quite capable of extinguishing those feelings (plus it's technically not Indian with a name like Lahore), it's often a quick and cheap way to enjoy some curry for lunch. I spotted the fish today, which I don't recall ever seeing, and realized quickly that I would regret it if I didn't try it.  I probably should have picked the peas for accompaniment, but thought the cauliflowers would be more nutritious.  Again, nothing I would go out of my way to recommend, but I can't say I didn't enjoy the fishy fish, and the oh so spicy cauliflower.  Now where should I go to really target my craving? 
Lahore Deli, 132 Crosby St, NY, NY 10012 (below Houston)

4:09pm monkey bread

Even if this slice of monkey bread from Peels was at its fullest potential and wasn't a touch on the dry side, we would still crave Oro's sticky pecan bun.
Peels, 325 Bowery, NY, NY 10003 (at 2nd St)

Forcella

We've not been to the original Williamsburg location of Forcella but considering how much we enjoyed the pizzas at the new location 5 minutes away on the Bowery, there's no reason to cross the river now. We tried the fried pizza, the Montanara, and a regular one, the Materdei (magherita with hot salami). The Montanara was nice and absolutely reminded me of eating fried dough at street festivals, fun but not something to eat on a regular basis. The Materdei, on the other hand, is a definite order again. The center was a touch soggy but we were adoring the chewy, slightly salty crust.
Forcella, 334 Bowery, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Bond and E. 3rd)

3:56pm lemon cake

While we wouldn't rule out Dominique Ansel's new bakery based on one lemon cake, I can't say we're stunningly impressed either. The fruit bits embedded in the cake were nice, and the overall presentation quite lovely but maybe pastries are the right way to go? Clearly another visit is in order.
Dominique Ansel, 189 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Thompson and Sullivan)

Mooncake Foods, with Thu

Both Mooncake Foods themselves and Serious Eats recommended the steak sandwich, and I have to agree, quite a nice and inexpensive lunch option. I wouldn't, however, order it while on a date. The hero gets pretty messy and is awkward to eat daintily, although my friends, I really tried. M. pretty much loved the whitefish salad banh mi, although it was a little heavy on the filling (who complains about that? Yes, we do). And I am tempted by the wonton over noodle soup that Thu tried. The portions are substantial and for the reasonable price points, I can see why Scott and the peeps at his office go again and again.
Mooncake Foods, 28 Watts St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Thompson and 6th Ave)

4:27pm vegan cupcakes

Thank you Jeanny for bringing us cupcakes! These vegan cupcakes from Babycakes are easy on the eyes without the over the top food coloring you see in many all-American desserts. The flavors are also much more subtle and the texture more toothsome. It's a nice treat for even those of us who aren't vegan. It's Jeanny's last day in NYC, and I'm sure she was thankful to finding more choices for the lactose intolerant than in Berlin, Germany! Bon Voyage, and come back soon!
Babycakes, 248 Broome Street, New York, NY 10002 (Btwn Orchard & Ludlow)

Ditch Plains, with Nicky and Scott

An unprecedented two photo post, but only because Nicky has been dying to be featured on the blog and I couldn't just leave you with just a photo of her seafood cobb salad when Scott's grilled cheese was looking so tempting. For the full scope, you can see the sloppy joe I had (yum), the very yummy shrimp po'boy that Scott recommended and M ordered, the french fries shared by all or the taffy that came with the check. I'm finding Ditch Plains an increasingly nice place to meet people for lunch, there is always a table or two free, the menu is extensive and the service exceedingly cheery. Ditch Plains, 29 Bedford St, NY, NY 10014 (at Downing St)