lunch on speed dial.

The cold front has finally blown into the city. As the wind howls down Fifth Avenue, New Yorkers dread stepping out of their warm buildings into the frigid weather. So when lunchtime rolls around, it’s much easier to just pick up the phone and order takeout than bundle up and venture outside for a tuna sandwich.

If you work in the Flatiron district, you’re lucky. The area boasts an endless list of diverse dining spots, many of which offer delivery options. I asked the employees at Full Picture, one of the many public relations firms in the Flatiron district and where I am interning this semester, which eateries they put on speed-dial when the temperature drops.

Here are some of their recommendations:

Lenny’s
23rd Street, between 5th and 6th avenues

This chain of sandwich shops prides itself on making every sandwich to order. “I love Lenny’s because it has fast service, a large menu and decent pricing,” said assistant account executive Dwight Armstrong. “Plus, I can order online and pay by credit card.”

Armstrong loves the chicavo sandwich ($7.50), a generous serving of grilled chicken on a bed of avocado, roasted peppers and mesclun.

Order online or call 212.462.4433.

Chat ‘n’ Chew
10 E. 16th St.

Situated just off of Union Square, Chat ‘n’ Chew serves up generous portions of American comfort food – from golden mac and cheese ($10.95) to creamy chocolate milkshakes ($5.75). “Its fries are perfect – just the right amount of crispy,” said receptionist Katie Leary.

Leary’s favorite meal? The classic grilled cheese sandwich, made with tomato and three kinds of cheese ($7.95).

View the menu and call 212.243.1616 for delivery.

Mizu Sushi
29 E. 20th St.
Associate account executive Sasha Marden loves Mizu Sushi for its inexpensive, fresh offerings and efficient service. “I definitely call them when I’m starving because the food always comes quickly,” she said.

Marden’s Mizu staples include the spicy tuna roll ($5.50) and vegetable gyoza ($4.50).

Order online or call 212.505.6688

Chop’t creative salad company
24 E. 17th St.

Chop’t offers unique and healthy fare to the New York City lunch crowd. Customers can order one of the Chef-Designed salads, or create their own. Salads can also be chopped up and rolled into a flatbread sandwich. Account executive Leah Pepper loves the chicken po’boy salad ($8.45), featuring romaine lettuce topped with home fried chicken, tomato and white cheddar.

View the menu and call 646.336.5523 for delivery.

Home’s Kitchen
22 E. 21st St.
If you’re just looking for good old Chinese takeout, Home’s Kitchen is the go-to option for quick, quality fare. “For $8.00, you can get a large portion of good food,” said Dafna Debasc, a senior account executive.

Debasc recommends the lunch special, served daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers can get an entrée with rice and either an egg roll or soup for as low as $6.25. Debasc personally favors the beef with broccoli entrée ($6.95).

Order online or call 212.475.5049.

the old town bar.

The stretch of 18th Street between Broadway and Park Avenue South is a scaffolding wasteland. Gray planking covers most of the storefronts. But a lone, neon-lit sign swinging from a high doorway marks an oasis: the Old Town Bar and Restaurant.

The Old Town has been serving New Yorkers in the Flatiron district since 1892, long before this trendy neighborhood was even called the Flatiron district. While other bars come and go as often as the wind changes, this old bar has been faithfully serving up burgers and beers for more than a century.

“I mean, this is it,” said John Fundus, who has been a patron for three decades. “This was here.”

Originally founded by the Lohden family, the Old Town was bought by its longtime manager Larry Meagher in 1970. After he died in February, his family carried on the business. On any given day, chances are you’ll find one of the Meagher grandchildren serving up your tuna melt ($10.50) and pint of Brooklyn lager.

The restaurant’s interior is pure Old New York. Squint through the dusty front window and you can see the original pressed-tin ceiling and the sprawling 55-foot-long mahogany and marble bar. The menu is classic and unfussy: burgers (from $10.25), salads (from $5.25) and hot and cold sandwiches ($8.50 to $13.25) are prepared in the second-floor kitchen and lowered to the dining room in New York’s oldest dumbwaiter.

The Old Town’s burgers are longtime restaurant review heavyweights for good reason. Grilled to pink perfection, the juicy burger is smothered in gooey American cheese and nestled in a toasted bun. A generous portion of golden fries and a long slice of pickle accompany this model of good old American cuisine.

Even though the burgers have remained the same, the crowd has changed with the times. In the 1980s, the Old Town played host to a motley crew of regulars, truckers and artists from Andy Warhol’s nearby Factory. These days, it continues to resemble a Noah’s Ark of sorts. On Friday evenings, every imaginable demographic group is crammed into the bar area. “Everything and everyone here is changing so quickly,” Stewart, an Old Town bartender for 23 years, said. “I used to know everyone at this bar. But I only recognize one person here tonight.”

On the night in question, West Village hipsters squeezed next to regulars nursing glasses of Maker’s Mark. Frat boys and their 50-something counterparts bonded over pints of Guinness, while PR types clicked away on their BlackBerrys. Grizzly-bearded men discussed Tina Fey’s "Saturday Night Live" imitation of Sarah Palin, while elderly ladies sipped on small glasses of red wine and compared the Old Town’s burgers to those of the fast food chain White Castle.

But patrons agree – while the scene is constantly evolving, this old place will always attract a crowd. Fundus, who plans to keep coming for a few more decades, gestured expansively to the horde packing the bar behind him. “This just is New York,” he said.

did you watch history being made?

BE BARACK BLUE TODAY.

walking the flatiron.

Sunday dawns bright and cool, a perfect day to take advantage of the free Flatiron district walking tour sponsored by the Flatiron and 23rd Street Business Improvement District. It is a pleasant walk up Broadway from my apartment on 13th Street, and I join the tour group at the foot of a bronze sculpture of William Seward.

The group today is a diverse mix of elderly European tourists, students and young couples taking advantage of the sunshine. Our guide, a burly man with a steel-wool beard, greets us by holding up a postcard depicting a scene from 1908 and asking us to imagine the two ladies strolling down the street on a sunny day like this one. I try, but get distracted by the industrial truck parked where a hansom cab once sat.

Standing on a little traffic island in the middle of Broadway, our guide points out the original site of Delmonico’s restaurant, the gastronomic birthplace of Lobster Newberg, Baked Alaska and Eggs Benedict. As he describes waiters carrying dinners across Broadway to millionaire Leonard Jerome’s mansion on 24th Street, a young man rushes by with a cart of frozen dumplings. I watch a man feed a proliferation of pigeons, and learn about a sculpture of Chester Arthur, who became President after James Garfield was shot, earning the unflattering nickname of “His Accidency.”

Our tour circles Madison Square Park and ends under a tree in the park, where our guide says Gouverneur Morris once stood and devised the layout of New York City. Standing by some construction workers, Morris was inspired by the grid-like shadow cast by the sun shining on an abandoned sand sifter. There are no construction workers here today, but there is plenty of sun and a sand pit, where children play and impatient New Yorkers wait in a line that snakes around the park to the Shake Shack. After the tour, I debate joining the queue; all that talk about Baked Alaska has made me hungry for a milkshake.

election day in the flatiron.

The financial crisis has dominated headlines lately, but economic worries weren't the main issue for Flatiron retailers and customers this Election Day. "Business has been slightly slower than usual, but that's not my main focus in this election," Jlee Maldonado, 26, who works at Alma Salon and Spa on East 21st Street and voted for Obama, said. "My family is thinking about healthcare and education. I want to see the end of the war."

Obama's foreign policy was the deciding factor for Roseline Dipty, 28, a manager at the Universal Force Healing Center. However, the economic issue played a small role in her decision. "McCain's tax cuts just seem like what we're already seeing with Bush," she said. "Obama seems more focused on helping individuals, not corporations."

Hilda Davis, 51, who headed to the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park after voting, echoed Dipty's sentiments. "Obama just seems like he will create more jobs for regular people," she said.

But most agree that the economic issue isn't at the forefront of the election. Monica Gmochowska, a financial controller at Full Picture, one of the many Flatiron public relations firms, hasn't seen much change in business recently. She also doesn't think that the candidates' economic policies really matter. "Economic stimulus isn't so much about who the President is, but about Congress's actions. Bills have to pass the House and Senate first," she said.

Others were swayed by simpler reasons. "I have more good feelings about McCain," Amy Nelson, 21, a salesgirl at the East 20th Street pet boutique Trixie+Peanut, said. "I voted mostly on intuition."

modern heroes.

This Halloween, we’ll see the requisite superhero-wannabes roaming the streets, clad in their Batman or Superman costumes.

On Sept. 11, we saw real superheroes, in the form of police officers and firefighters, wading through the ash-covered rubble.

Seven years later, you can still find heroes by Ground Zero. Only today, they’re clad in blue track jackets – they are the volunteers at the Tribute WTC Visitor Center.

Where so many have (understandably) tried to move on with their lives and wipe out the memory of the acrid smell and black dust, these men and women dare to remember. They rehash their memories and experiences every day to help educate and inform others about Sept. 11.

If you think this doesn’t sound too daunting, think again. My journalism class went on one such tour this week, and as we listened to tour guide John Henderson describe the impact of the crash, looking at pictures of the destruction, and hearing the stories of the 2751 people who were murdered that day, it was hard not to tear up. And that’s just my reaction – and I was 12 and living in Singapore at the time, as far removed from the tragedy as anyone could be.

Henderson, on the other hand, was here, a little way uptown in Washington Square Park that morning. And now he shares with a dozen strangers memories that are obviously still fresh in his mind. “You have to read what’s on that panel over there,” he said during the tour, referring to a transcript of a voicemail message from a passenger on Flight 11 to his wife. “I can’t, because if I do, I’ll start crying in front of you and then I’ll feel silly.”

It must take a certain amount of emotional strength to do this job day after day. “There are people here who I give tours with and you can see their health deteriorating,” said Manny Papir, a volunteer docent and 9/11 survivor.

Henderson has volunteered at the Center since 2002. “People always ask me why I do this,” he said, counting off on his fingers. “One: It’s important. Two: I want it done right. Three: If you want something done right, do it yourself.”

“There’s always something you can do,” he reiterated, sounding not unlike Albert lecturing Batman to do his civic duty. “My wife is a hospice worker; she works with dying people. I couldn’t do that. But this? This, I can do.”

hmm.

"My mom worked at the Met Life building. So did Don DeLillo's mom. If you want to raise a kid who wants to be a writer, work at the Met Life in an office facing Madison Square Park."

- Pete Hamill