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In the bustling dining terminal of Grand Central station, Manhattan Chili Co. ladles out hit-or-miss Midwest-, Southwest-, and Texas-style chili to hungry white-collar commuters. Well-curated meats speak to the conscious carnivore, with antibiotic-free, veggie-raised local beef, turkey, chicken, and lamb in some ten variations of chili available daily, but they’re often overpowered by other, less carefully distributed ingredients. The Cincinnati lamb chili is drowned with allspice, bell peppers overwhelm the five other flavors in the turkey chili, and the lentil chili tastes exclusively of jalapeños. Other variations on the chili theme amount to little, as with the chili mac, which piles steamed ground beef, canned-tasting kidney beans, and bland grated cheese atop a puddle of boiled, unseasoned spiral noodles. Handheld eats trump the chili; a Niman Ranch hot dog is made of pure, unadulterated beef and has an ideal tubular snap, and bite-size chunks of chicken are baked with hot honey mustard for a fine, sticky-finger version of chicken nuggets. — Laurel Fantauzzo

Harried workers can visit Manhattan Chili Co.’s Website and use a credit card to place pickup orders online.

Niman Ranch hot dog, $3.95, hot honey chicken bites salad, $10.50