Just Dew It!



this is what gets me through the day. a twenty-ounce of Diet Mountain Dew, and i am good to go. i'm not sure if Mountain Dew actually has more caffeine in it than brown colored soda, but it's so bright and lively that i imagine it does. and believing is at least half the battle when it comes to staying awake at work...

partaking of the local cuisine certainly would knock me right out. you see, i work in Chinatown, where starch and MSG reign supreme. there is a dearth of dining options that are a) within a three or four block radius and b) are not Asian. now i love Chinese food as much as the next guy, but (and there's always a bit but, Monique) it is not conducive to daytime, at-my-desk dining. it's too filling, it is too much of a gray area in Weight Watchers points*, and even if the foregoing reasons did not exist, Chinese food five days a week is about four days of Chinese food too many.
so the options that remain are as follows:

WOW Café
that place was pretty good, as it "tosses your salad"** for around $7. but one day i ate there and then immediately was taken ill with the stomachaches. "wow, this sucks," i thought. however, i thought it rash for me to assume that i got sick from the WOW food. maybe, it was just a bug going around. a few weeks later, i gave WOW another try. wow, am i an idiot. i promptly became ill again and will no longer frequent that establishment. (WOW also lists a web address on its menu and you end up at a ridiculous web site, containing no information about food, but featuring large photos of smiling Asian children.)

Happy's
Happy's is decent sandwich place, albeit poorly ventilated. if you spend more than 15 seconds in there you will reek of bacon grease for the remainder of the day. i would argue that this is not a bad thing if you can eat bacon. however, i think bacon is approximately one billion points on WW, therefore the bacon scent is just a reminder of what i must forego in my quest to lose the T-weight (named thusly since i gained the majority of it in my first year of dating Thurston). also, Happy's does not have any low-fat cheese for sandwiches nor does it have salads, save the do-it-yourself salad bar, which appears as if it has seen better days. the Happy's clientele seems to consist of people who are appearing in court rather than working there and therefore the idea of sharing serve-yourself food with the other Happy's patrons is less than desirable. (ok, truth be told i cannot abide a do-it-yourself salad bar in any venue save Roy Rogers. the Fixin's Bar is immune to any castigation. oh, how i miss Roy's and the Riese Restaurant Roy Rogers franchises--the only only Roy's available in NYC--are utter CRAP! EvilA and i went to a Riese Roy's back in the summer of 2001, giving it the benfit of the doubt, and were severely saddened. what Riese has done to T.G.I. Friday's is also unbearable, but that's another post.)


fun fact: Thurston used to work at Roy Rogers.

Bagel Deluxe European Café a/k/a (to my intern) A Taste of Paris
this place is not deluxe at all. they never have any variety of bagels. they rarely have light cream cheese. and they also have the pervasive bacon grease smell. and their grilled "chicken breast" is a reconstituted patty, making it the chicken equivalent of particle board. not delicious, not deluxe. European? who can say. (although from my best guess, the proprietor appears to be Asian.)

Subway
this Subway franchise is not one of the better ones. the Sandwich Artists are more like Sandwich Assemblers. and they're no pros at assembly either. i am forever reminding them that more than two olive slices would be appreciated. and they are just as stingy with the other vegetable toppings. lame, lame and lame. on the plus side, they often have Baked Doritos, which i greatly enjoy.

Mikata

a good Japanese place with a good lunch special. the combination sushi roll lunch special = $8.25 and comes with soup, salad and "any 2 rolls, no substitution: Tuna Avocado, Tuna Cucumber, California, Salmon Avocado, Salmon Cucumber, Yellow Tail Scallion, Salmon Skin, Ebi Avocado, Ebi Cucumber, Avocado, Cucumber, Oshinko Maki, Eel Cucumber, Eel Avocado." (i'm a salmon avocado + yellowtail scallion girl, myself). but sushi for me is a once a week lunchtime option. more than that and i get sick of it. if you're my friend and serving jury duty and call me to meet for lunch, we will likely have lunch here.

Broadway New Fancy Foods a/k/a the Good Deli
for the first year and three quarters of my employ, the Good Deli was my saving grace. it:

• seemed clean enough
• was in close proximity to the discount yarn store
• stocks alpine lace cheese and fat free dressings
• carries Tab and Fresca (my sodas of choice when i don't need the caffeine infusion of the Dew)
  
• has many varieties of Dannon Light & Fit yogurt

then to make it even better, they added a salad bar where the deli worker remains in exclusive control of the salad and its topping. genius, i say! but little did i know my world would only improve, with the addition of...

Quiznos

ah, yes, Quiznos. home of the Turkey Lite, Honey Bourbon Chicken and Broccoli Cheese Soup. all of which are WW friendly. all of which are awesome. and Quiznos is even closer to my office than the Good Deli.

while i'm not saying my lunch life wouldn't be improved by the addition of a nice coffee shop or an Eva's-type restaurant, i now have choices. however, i still recommend not working in Chinatown if you have the option.

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* don't even get me started on steamed vegetables. what's the point? i might as well microwave a a package of Green Giant and call it a day. not that i have access to a microwave at work. yeah, another perk of working for the Man...

** full disclosure: the "we'll toss your salad for only $5.99" sign is actually posted outside of a deli near Gramercy, near the brief and former home of Thurston.