Lunch Break: Skinny Menus, Sandwiches And BBQ Salad

Watch your weight at an upscale Japanese restaurant with a special menu, a fantastic sandwich place, or indulge in BBQ - while getting your greens with help from today's New York City Lunch Break. By Yvo Sin.

Koi Restaurant

Bryant Park Hotel
40 W 40th St
New York, NY 10018
(212) 921-3330
koirestaurant.com

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Boasting a view of Bryant Park while you dine, Koi caters to an incredibly varied crowd each day for lunch. Guests of the hotel may be dining there, while another table may be suits having a business lunch, and still another table may be 'ladies who lunch', enjoying the new Skinny Menu. What's that? The Skinny Menu boasts all dishes that weigh in under 300 calories, including the steamed Chilean sea bass with fresh ginger, Shiitake mushrooms and grape tomatoes (pictured), a luscious dish that only has 245 calories. You'll have enough calories to also have a cocktail - which they've also pared down to have slightly more than a soda. Why not?

Russo's Mozzarella and Pasta

363 7th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 369-2874

Russo's is the kind of place you wish you had in your neighborhood, but are secretly glad you don't - or you'd spend every day and night here, eating your way through the entire menu. From $6 ginormous slices of lasagna to fabulous housemade mozzarella (a must-have on every visit), and rice balls to fantastic sandwiches, there is hardly anything on the menu not worth your time. The perfect sandwich starts with the perfect cheese, and Russo's mozzarella does an excellent job to that end. They also offer plenty of fresh pastas for you to take home and dress yourself.

Virgil's BBQ

152 W 44th St
New York, NY 10036
(212) 921-9494
virgilsbbq.com

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Sometimes you just need to treat yourself to a big, heavy meal, and deal with the food coma later. Virgil's satisfies that need perfectly, offering large portions of BBQ-style food that will certainly help you with that nap. To lighten up the meal a little bit, try Virgil's barbecue salad (pictured), which is barbecue brisket, pork & chicken, hard-boiled egg, cheddar cheese, tomato, green onion, olives, all on top of salad greens. Lighter than the Pig Out (ribs, chicken, brisket, pork, & Texas link, and choice of two sides), certainly, though one might be hard pressed to actually call it light. No matter; you're here to indulge a little!

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Yvo Sin is the founder and head writer of The Feisty Foodie.