“Help! I’m Trapped In…” is a semi-regular feature where we tell you how to make the most of being stuck in areas that are (fairly or not) regarded as culinary wastelands. You’re welcome.
True story: one summer, we had a temp job at a Downtown Crossing company that shall remain nameless. All day, we opened envelopes, took the letters out of the envelopes, stapled the letters to the envelopes, and put the envelopes in boxes. As you might imagine, we had a lot of time to think. As you might further imagine, the absolute highlight of our day was when we got to leave the office for a blessed hour and get some lunch. Due to these conditions, we spent most of our mornings seriously pondering the question of where to get lunch and every morning, it was a little bit depressing because there is really not too much in the way of decent food in Downtown Crossing. Or is there? Once we did a little bit more research, we learned that Downtown Crossing has more to offer the epicure than that delicious, delicious tourist lemonade outside of the Park Street T station. Because we’re all about the giving, here’s a week’s worth of lunchtime suggestions for all you Downtown Crossing office workers.
Monday: It’s the beginning of the week and you could already use a little pick-me-up. Head over to Viga and check out the lunchtime crowds. Bypass the meh pizza and pastas and go for one of their sandwiches (we suggest the basilcata with prosciutto, tomato, mozzarella and pesto. Authentic? Eh, not really. Delicious? Oh, hell yes.). Seating is very limited, so take your sandwich to the Common and sun yourself a little.
Tuesday: Here’s what few people realize about Downtown Crossing: it’s actually right next to Chinatown. Indulge in a sit-down lunch (the service is super speedy) at Chau Chow City. We’re creatures of routine, so we always go for peking ravioli followed by ginger and scallion lo mein, but seriously: everything here is good.
Wednesday: Suffering from the mid-week blues? Time to remind yourself that life isn’t so awful. What better place to do so than at The Good Life? As long as you’re discreet, it’s likely that no one at the office will notice that you sneaked half a beer with your Sardinian tuna salad.
Thursday: People call Wednesday “hump day”, but we’ve always found Thursdays to be much crueler. The weekend is so close you can taste it, but far enough that it seems like it may well never come. Thursdays require a hearty, soul-nourishing lunch, so go to The Ivy for a plate of sweet potato gnocchi in a parmesan cream sauce. Mmm.
Friday: You’ve been a good worker bee all week, so treat yourself to a luxe lunch at the Ritz-Carlton’s Jer-Ne. It’s certainly not cheap, but we promise you’ll feel a lot better after consuming the “Taste of Jer-Ne”: club sandwich, Caesar salad, clam chowder, mushroom salad, and a creme brulee. Welcome to the weekend.
Viga [Official Site]
Chau Chow City [MenuPages]
The Good Life [Official Site]
The Ivy [Official Site]
Jer-Ne [Official Site]
[Photo: Celebrate Boston]
