Downtown Food Jaunt
Island Squeez
141 Harbour Street (at the corner of Orange and Harbour Streets)
Once you tuck into a boxed lunch from Island Squeez you quickly realise why it’s a favourite of the downtown office tower set. The food is really good. When Thursday Food visited the five-yearold restaurant at 12:45 pm, the 27-person-deep line for pick-up orders and 30-plus customers eating in the dining room and on the breezy balcony made it seem as if Island Squeez was the new downtown hotspot.
Opened between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm seven days a week, the restaurant serves breakfast — hard-dough bread and bagel sandwiches, wraps, pancakes, smoothies and shakes and lunch that comprises go-to boxed lunch favourites, pasta, sandwiches, wraps hot dogs and burgers. On the day of our visit, popular boxed lunch options included the Jack Daniel’s “barbfried” chicken, coconut curried chicken, pumpkinstyle steamed fish and the lunch menu stalwart: fried chicken.
Thursday Food asked a number of patrons to describe their meals. The words “delicious”, “plenty” and “well-priced” kept coming up. When asked why Island Squeez is their go-to spot, many mentioned that it was due to the fact that the staff is attentive and the environs are clean and comfortable. The staff quickly dealt with the line-up of patrons without flailing or losing their cool. It’s a testament to owner Kevin Pearson’s leadership and his unflappable demeanour. During the lunch rush Pearson oscillated between serving lunches and greeting customers who clearly are now more like friends. Who wouldn’t want to befriend a man who serves food this good?
New Salad Scene
58 Barry Street
Despite the name, New Salad Scene serves more than just salads. But we have to mention that the salads are fantastic. When Thursday Food got there at 1:45 pm they were almost sold out — a testament to how good the food is. According to principal Tricia Copelandangus, “We start getting lunch orders from 7:30 in the morning and by 11:00 am our first orders are through the door.”
New Salad Scene enjoys a customer base that’s not just within the downtown core. Many offices in New Kingston, Cross Roads and Half-way-tree order from the restaurant as well. So why would a no-frills restaurant be this popular? It’s the fact that they willingly customise orders to suit a myriad of dietary needs.
On a no-carb, no-dairy diet? No problem. Want a salad with stew pork? Easy. Vegetarian or pescatarian? They have you covered. Copeland-angus noted, “We tailor-make all our lunches for our customers and special requests are no problem for us.” If you’d like to substitute tossed salad for rice and peas it’s a nominal surcharge of $50. Want to substitute rice for the fancy house salad that comprises potato salad, leafy greens, corn, carrots, pickled beets, pickled green beans, cucumber and tomato? Just add $150.
Thursday Food opted for a chicken cheese salad. The greens, carrot and deseeded cucumber (nice touch) were crisp and were a perfect accompaniment for the creamy and well-seasoned potato salad. The corn, pickled beets and pickled green beans added texture, saltiness and sharpness. It was a delicious, wholesome and filling lunch.
Delivery is free but is mainly reserved for lunch orders that include at least five orders. However, since New Salad Scene is customer service-focused, make your request and we reckon Copeland-angus will do her best to accommodate. We recommend, however, that you round up a few co-workers and order from New Salad Scene. You’ll be everyone’s best friend.