[Photo: Kathy YL Chan]

With Bouley Bakery and Market, one of my favorite Tribeca lunch spots, now closed, I've been poking around the neighborhood more aggressively to find solid lunch places I can frequent regularly. Sandwiches from the newly opened Terroir on Harrison Street are the ideal midday meal, but alas, they're only open in the evenings. The newly location of Tamarind is attractive, but $24 daily lunches are out of the question.

Thus it was with great interest that I popped into Franklin Cafe Tavola Calda on West Broadway. This place used to be called Franklin Station Cafe, and it was forgettable at best; it's now something new, a very casual restaurant and cafe. The menu is a mish-mash of Italian and American, something to please everyone. Don't go out of your way for a visit; but if you work in the neighborhood, the pressed-to-order panini run $5-$7, and make for a light and just-good-enough lunch. The spicy salami is my go-to, slices tucked between layer of mozzarella, arugula and tomato. The housemade focaccia used for panini is crisp, paper-thin.

Soup specials frequently change, and for $8 a bowl, they're not as good of a deal as the paninis. It was broccoli one day, a puree that was somewhat watered down and, oddly enough, on the oily side. I'm still on the hunt for a Bouley Market replacement. Until then, I'll be taking my Tribeca soup cravings to Columbine.

Franklin Cafe Tavola Calda

222 West Broadway, New York NY 10013 (map)
212-274-8525