The March Hit List, Lunch Edition: Diner, Ho Foods, HiHi Room, Keens and More

Diner is the OG Brooklyn cool kid. Yes, by day, too. So pair that energy with an always-rotating array of soups, salads, and sandwiches, and you’ve got an ideal lunchtime scenario. The cheeseburger never disappoints.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. Takeout and delivery are available, too.

A Resy at Carbone is just the flex you need to get out of that noon Zoom. Keep it simple with antipasti (baked clams, chopped salad) and macaroni (lobster ravioli, spicy rigatoni vodka) and you’ll (likely) be able to stay awake for the rest of the day.

Dining status: Outdoor and indoor tables are open for reservations. Takeout and delivery are available, too.

Order a warm bowl of Ho Foods’ classic beef noodle soup for pick up, or grab a heated, covered table to enjoy it on-site. Either way, adding on a tub of beef-fat chili paste — think chili oil, made with beef fat — is a present to your future self. 

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. Takeout and delivery are available, too.

Hi Hi Room is open for lunch seven days a week to serve you beef sliders and veggie sliders, muffalettas and vegulettas, chili dogs and grain bowls, fried chicken and mac & cheese, all you could ever want to break up the Brooklyn midday monotony. And to drink, try their Grocers Original Soda, flavored with coriander, juniper, sage, bay leaf, black pepper, and chili.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. Takeout and delivery are available, too.

A Lekka burger for lunch would do you well. Amanda Cohen’s vegan creation is available in versions ranging from Tex-Mex to peri-peri, alongside za’atar-sumac fries, a broccolini Caesar, and soft serve. Dine in (outside) or takeout. 

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. Takeout and delivery are available, too.

Maybe you want something meaty? That’s where Hometown comes in. The usual suspects at Billy Durney’s barbecue haven are brisket by the pound, beef ribs, Vietnamese smoked wings, lamb bahn mi, and what Eater critic Robert Sietsema just deemed the best pastrami sandwich in the city. More details here.

Dining status: Order online for pickup or delivery. Outdoor seating is available (weather permitting).

It’s common knowledge that tuna melts and (vegan) grilled cheeses make good days great, and fine days better. At Sam Yoo’s Chinatown diner, you could have that, plus breakfast all day — as in, two eggs over easy with home fries and toast — or something off the chef’s specials menu. Diners forever, in all their forms.

Dining status: Outdoor tables are open for reservations. Takeout and delivery are available, too.

Although Andre Mack’s Prospect Lefferts Gardens ham bar is closed for the time being, &sons Buttery is in business. Roll up around lunchtime and there will be charcuterie-forward sandwiches, plus plenty of goodies to take home, including sliced meats and hand-crafted cheese. Order pickup here.

Dining status: Pickup and local delivery are available.

Whether you hit the Williamsburg location or Soho, 12 Chairs has you covered with mezze, hummus, Greek salads, pita sabich, shakshuka, and the like. There’s no shortage of midday options at this Israeli mainstay. 

Dining status: Outdoor and indoor tables are open for reservations at both locations. Takeout and delivery are available, too — call the restaurant or place an order on GrubHub.

Perhaps you’re in the mood to power lunch? An afternoon steak, à la Miranda Priestly? Head to Keens, where you can follow a cold shrimp cocktail with a sliced prime bavette sandwich or “a taste of mutton,” a scaled-down version of their iconic mutton chop, for $26. The ginger ale is made fresh, the fries are hand-cut, and Midtown is Midtown.

Dining status: Outdoor and indoor tables are open for reservations. Local takeout and delivery are available, too.

Real New Yorkers know that when the clock strikes 12 it’s time to hit the slice shop. Impasto, new from the Aita team, is now serving up Roman-style al taglio pizza in Clinton Hill, in versions such as burrata e peppers and patata & rosmarino. And for those in downtown Manhattan, Justin Smillie is dishing pies — think cacio e pepe and mortadella-pesto — for delivery, via Il Buco Alimentari. More details here and here.

Dining status: Impasto does takeout and local delivery and has a few outside tables; Smillie Pizza is pick-up and delivery only.