Dominick's Italian Sausage - Whitehall and Bridge

On my first visit, I ordered a cheesesteak and was sent to wait on the sidelines with the other cheesesteak-eaters while the sausage sandwiches were prepared. I felt a little ghettoized, particularly when the cook said "sorry, guys - this is a sausage stand not a cheesesteak stand." Perhaps you should think about changing that sign, buddy. OK, I decide that maybe I'll order correctly on my next visit, if I'm allowed back. Aside from me, the clientele is 100% male, perhaps because, in addition to the meat-heavy menu, the line for the cart is situated over a particularly wide-meshed subway grate. My heels got stuck about 12 times before I made it to the front of the line. The colorful banter between the cook (who is NOT Dominic) and the customers is a little too manly for me too. My cheesesteak "with everything" was sprinkled with bright orange "cheddar" (not cheese whiz), bbq sauce, hot sauce, peppers, onions and mushrooms. For such a variety of ingredients it tasted surprisingly bland. A few bites in the center had a good sauce-cheese-veggie ratio and were pretty satisfying, but nothing too special. (Report from 3 hours later: my stomach is achy and rumbling and my fingers still smell like cheesesteaks, in spite of repeated washings.)

Ravioli King cart - Nassau and Cedar

Ugh. The fun of buying your lunch from a cart is watching its preparation. This cart is the equivalent of a vending machine, its metal slots stuffed with premade heros and pastas. I opted for the eggplant parmesan sandwich, which was ridiculously large and flavorless. The bread had the texture that you might expect bread from a vending machine to have, soft on the outside (the overmicrowaved kind of softness), stale and dry in the middle. Inside the bread was a little bit of tomato sauce, a tiny bit of tasteless cheese, and thin slices of overbreaded eggplant. I'm not allergic to carbs or anything but this is ridiculous. Only recommended for lunch if you move heavy objects or run marathons for a living. The only saving grace of my lunch was the setting - I found a nice shaded bench in the Trinity Church courtyard.

Mexican cart, Nassau and Cedar

Could this really be a Mexican street food cart in the Financial District? The limited menu of burrito, quesadilla, nachos or enchilada tamped down my excitement a bit... then I noticed that the signage looks a little too manufactured and standardized to be homemade...then I noticed the kicker - signs that say "no lard" and "no pork." No thanks! My "enchilada" was just shredded chicken scooped into a flour tortilla, topped with bright yellow liquid nacho cheese sauce! I ate it anyway, then I felt like I swallowed a brick. In my dreams a Red Hook vendor or a Sunset Park restaurant like Rico's or Tacos Matamoros will open a taco stand down here. But for now, if you want a burrito it might be worth waiting 3 hours at Chipotle.

I love Franny's...

And not just for those perfectly blistered crusts. Franny's attention to sourcing their ingredients locally and organically really pays off in the taste department. Appetizers of farm fresh vegetables have such bold, explosive flavors - usually enhanced by crunchy sea salt, generous pours of delicious olive oil and dashes of artisanal vinegars. The vegetables really sing and are the highlight of meals there. On one recent trip with a couple of friends, we had a beautiful salad of dandelion greens, nectarines and huge strips of guanciale; the tastiest squash dish I've had all summer - just thin, wide strips of yellow squash and zucchini, dressed with lots of lemon juice, olive oil, pine nuts and parmesan cheese; a salad of heirloom tomatoes, all perfectly ripened and gorgeous shades of rose, red, yellow and green, with thinly sliced marinated cucumbers; and a slice of the pork and beef terrine with toasted buttered bread. (Yes, the four of us managed to put all that away and still eat four perfect pizzas - everything is just so incredibly tasty that it's hard to stop. I actually hoped that someone would order the blackberry gelato for dessert, but I didn't want to admit it. I went home satisfied and happy anyway.)

Financier - Stone Street

The mini-chain Financier is a good reliable option for a quick lunch in the Financial District. I'm usually disappointed in the sandwiches, which sound great on the menu but end up being dry and a little bland (though still better than most sandwiches around here). My favorite option is the ratatouille and goat cheese tart. On a good day, the pastry is fresh and flaky, the ratatouille is chunky and garlicky, and the goat cheese crust is warmed all the way through. Sometimes the crust is a little stale, the ratatoille is lifeless and mushy, and the goat cheese is cold in the middle. On the good days, this is a crazy delicious lunch - what with that topping of a half-pound of warm, browned goat cheese, how could it not be? The atmosphere at Financier is much more charming than most of the dingy spots down here, with the black and white tiles, those cute woven bistro chairs, and a beautiful array of pastries. A good place to meet a friend for lunch, especially a friend who thinks your "Wall Street street food" project is really gross. The pastries are beautiful and are definitely good, created with care in the French tradition, a world away from the ubiquitious Starbucks variety. In this area, they win hands down - best place by far for an afternoon coffee and pastry. Compared to the wider world, I don't think they're winning any awards, but Financier is the best thing going down here.

Shela's Pot, St. John USVI

St. John is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but the food generally sucks. Everything - all of the vegetables and even alot of the fish - is flown to St. Thomas from far, far away, then shipped on a boat to this tiny island. Thank the stars for Shela's Pot, a little stand in the square right in front of the ferry dock in Cruz Bay. A lunch plate from Shela's is about $15, but for that you get a meat or fish and about 25 side items. I don't even know what all she piled in there, but some things, like the rice and peas, cabbage salad and cornbread stuffing, were delicious. (Other side dishes, like the canned veg-all, not so much.) The fried fish, served whole, was fresh and flaky. It had been covered in a cornmeal coating, then fried, then stewed in tomatoes, peppers and onions - definitely the best fish we had all week. Topped with a few squirts of her homemade hot pepper sauce, this yummy lunch fortified us for another tough day at the beach.

Alex's Greenmarket Feast

My genius husband cooked up some greenmarket goodies: wild mushroom bruschetta, fresh corn kernels sauteed in butter and tossed with cilantro leaves and sea salt, penne with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil, cucumber dill salad, avocado, cherry tomato and basil salad, and homemade strawberry frozen yogurt with wild blueberries. And some champagne. Inspired by our massive cookbook collection - recipes from Alice Waters, Patricia Wells, Jacques Pepin and Richard Olney.