But after the shabby lunchtime fare at Stamford Bridge, sent proudly round the world by the Premier League, English football needed a game like this for reassurance.
But establishments like it have existed for years in the garment district, offering inexpensive lunchtime fare to textile workers, much like the no-frills 10-cent lunch counters that flourished in downtown buildings at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
The restaurant is fast casual, with counter service for soups, salads and sandwiches to eat in or take out at lunchtime, and heartier fare, like Moroccan chicken, for dinner: 884 Fulton Street Washington Streett), Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, saucybynature.com.com
To balance out the traditionally substantial family-style fare will be lighter offerings and lunchtime standards, including a quinoa and kale or white bean salad, fried green tomato sandwich and a "Phil-Lee-O-Fish" sandwich.
The Hogan Restaurant, which serves traditional Navajo fare in neighboring Tuba City, was so packed Thursday night that lunchtime cooks and waitresses were asked to work extra hours, a rare opportunity for overtime that none of them refused.
When lunchtime came I had to make a hard choice: use my bus fare to buy lunch, eat and avoid potential embarrassment but then have to figure out how I was going to get home, or go hungry but get home without a problem.
Other restaurants and dishes in which to discover the joys of New York: Babbo for its mint love letters with spicy lamb sausage; Keens Steakhouse for a mutton chop; La Grenouille for a lunchtime bowl of soup at the bar; the Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare for whatever César Ramirez is cooking that night; Torrisi Italian Specialties for same.
All the lunchtime dishes are made exclusively by women, but at dinnertime, men take over the kitchen, and grilled Westernized fare is served in the upstairs restaurant.
To see how the area is faring these days, we went to the Golden Mile and strolled around for a bit during lunchtime – when people working in the area come together with the neighbourhood's locals.
The real finds are the lighter fare: one of the sandwiches, which include a superb spinach-and-egg wrap, may serve you better at lunchtime than a mound of ribs.
