First launched as a food stall at the Queens Night Market in 2019, chef Amy Pryke is now serving her popular Singaporean noodle dishes from a small restaurant in Washington Heights. New to the storefront is the roti john sandwich, a toasted baguette sandwich made from cumin-spiced beef, caramelized onion, and egg. In Singapore, the dish is often eaten as breakfast, but here it makes for a comforting midday meal.

Arab and Latin flavors combine at the Migrant Kitchen’s first uptown location. Eater NY critic Robert Sietsema recommends chefs Dan Dorado and Nasser Jaber’s lamb torta: a Mexican-style sandwich served with a lamb roast seasoned with sumac and Oaxacan cheese. Elsewhere on the menu, there are bowls, salads, and more that make for a perfect fast casual daytime option.

Le Rock is our pick of the litter for lunch at the revamped Rockefeller Center, where millions of dollars were poured into turning the tired Midtown development into a citywide dining destination. Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, of Tribeca’s famed French bistro Frenchette, opened at the center last summer in a high-ceilinged space that makes it easy to forget you’re sitting less than a hundred yards from an ice skating rink. A la carte lunch is served Tuesday to Saturday, with prix fixe menus priced at $55, for an appetizer and entree, and $70, with dessert.

There may be no better daytime restaurant than S&P, a Flatiron lunch counter that opened in the former home of Eisenberg’s last year. Pull up a seat at the 40-foot counter and order from a menu that lists sandwiches topped with chopped olives and cream cheese, tuna salad and cranberry sauce, and peanut butter and bacon. (This is a restaurant from Court Street Grocers, after all.) More standard lunch fare, including burgers and matzoh ball soup, is also on offer.

As the boom of Burmese restaurants in the city continues on, Queens Night Market favorite Burmese Bites now has its own standalone venue located inside the Queens Center Mall food court. Owner Myo Lin Thway is cooking up chicken curry with flaky palata bread (there’s also a vegan version), shan kaukswe (rice noodles with chicken curry and pickled mustard greens), and nan gyi thoke (a rice noodle salad), as well as daily-changing specials — all available for dine-in or takeout. On Saturdays, Burmese Bites delivers around Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, but orders must be placed in advance.

New vendors like Mucho Sarap are hoping to bring life back to the Canal Street Market food hall, which seemed a bit touch-and-go during the pandemic. Open daily starting at 11 a.m., chef VJ Navarro’s first outpost serves Filipino and Mexican tacos, along with dishes that pull from both countries, like its lumpia with guacamole and lumpiachiladas (lumpia served like enchiladas).

At this Chinatown food court there are at least 10 stalls, all under one roof, to choose from during lunch hours. Vendors like 89 Eatery serve up items like congee or roast duck, while Gai Kitchen serves Hainanese steamed chicken over rice. With plenty of tables in the venue, you’ll have no problem finding a seat during peak hours.

Down the street from Mission Sandwich Social, a San Fransisco-style sandwich shop and another great option for lunch, is the new location of Super Burrito, which found a following in Rockaway Beach before expanding to Williamsburg this year. Its Mission-style burritos pay homage to the Bay Area and come stuffed with al pastor, carne asada, grilled shrimp, and more. Make one “super” by adding avocado and sour cream for two more dollars, or order a side cup of queso for dunking.

Following a stop at Trader Joe’s on your lunch break, head to Baby’s Buns & Buckets in the Dekalb Market, which has a stall that looks like a diner out of Saved by the Bell. Thai American fast food is served in the form of sandwiches and rice buckets so big you’ll have leftovers for dinner, with fried mushrooms, honey pork, fried chicken, or fried shrimp.

This Cobble Hill sandwich shop is the latest in a string of spots to focus on foods from Chicago (see also: Emmett’s on Grove, Dog Day Afternoon, and H&H Reserve). The Chicago dogs are good and true to form — loaded with neon green relish, sport peppers, a pickle spear, and so on — as is the Italian beef, a common sandwich in the Windy City that’s dunked in meat juices prior to serving. Sandwiches are available in half or whole portions.

Shipwreck Seafood Boutique, another great option for lunch, doubles as a seafood market and full-blown takeout spot — and in the summer, you’re likely to find a small crowd hovering over boxes of fish and chips at greasy tables out front. In December, the team followed up with this smaller second location in the neighborhood, where the focus is on fried and grilled fish. Portions are excellent for the price (around $15 to $20 for a heaping box of seafood) and the lobster roll must be one of the best deals in town at $21.