Midtown Lunch

Last Monday morning, while brainstorming potential lunchtime meals, I was hit with a sudden, intense craving for a calzone (pizza’s oft-forgotten, heavier sibling). This was no ordinary craving, either – it was the kind of craving that can haunt a person for days on end. For whatever reason, I knew that absolutely nothing would satisfy my lunchtime desires except for a calzone. The problem, of course, was that I had never ordered a calzone in midtown. It’s hard enough to find decent pizza in the neighborhood, so how the hell am I supposed to find a respectable calzone?

Naturally, I turned to our archives for help and stumbled upon this gem of a post from 2010. “Perfect,” I thought. Now I had five delectable options to choose from, each with a detailed description and photographic summary. Something was wrong, though… this was too easy. What kind of Midtown Lunch’er am I if I just stick to what’s already been explored? So, I made the difficult decision to forge ahead on a different path and test some new waters. Why should Midtown Lunch readers have to settle for just five calzones? We should familiarize ourselves with all of the calzones! And so began my weeklong quest to find the most worthwhile calzone in midtown.

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Springtime meant another menu update for the Bob & Jo truck starting a few weeks ago. Winter’s ramen and dumplings are out, and sandwiches are back. They’ve been touting their new tofu offerings nonstop on twitter, but when I went to check out the tofu sandwich ($8) the other day, I wasn’t that impressed. Has anyone tried anything worthwhile from the new menu? Let us know in the comments.

With the temperatures rising, it seems like new food trucks are rolling out by the minute!  Spotted on the corner of 47th and Park today was a new Lebanese truck, Bread & Olives, not to be confused with the former restaurant, Bread & Olive, which used to occupy 24 West 45th, and was replaced by Karam Restaurant, and now by Xi’an Famous Foods. A quick glance at the menu shows salads, hot & cold sandwiches, and lebanese platters. There also appears to be a breakfast menu.

CBS Local and New York Street Food seemed to have lukewarm reviews on the new truck. Any early adopters out there? Let us know what you think.

Bread & Olives Truck, 47th and Park (currently no FB or Twitter)

Mamu Thai Noodle Truck made its first appearance in Midtown Manhattan yesterday at 48th Street and 3rd Ave after spending most of its time since opening in February in Prospect Heights, Dumbo, and in Manhattan at 27th and Madison.  I first caught wind of the truck through their successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, which promised to bring authentic and delicious Thai noodle dishes and family recipes to the streets of NYC. Full review to come soon, but did anyone happen to try it out yesterday? Let us know in the comments.

Mamu Thai Noodle, 48th and 3rd Avenue (Check Twitter for location)

Minamoto Kitchoan, purveyor of elegant Japanese sweets, is moving from their current location at 608 Fifth Avenue (at 49th Street) to a new location at 509 Madison Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Street, right next door to Crumbs Bake Shop, two doors down from Japanese chocolatiers, Royce Chocolates, and across the street from Neuhaus Belgian Chocolates.

Minamoto Kitchoan is known for their “wagashi” or traditional Japanese confections, often made with mochi and red bean paste ingredients and paired with green tea, which start at the $2.50-$3 price range for individual pieces. The new location is set to open in mid-July.

I’ve always been wary of Lenny’s. Despite the fifteen locations listed on their website, in the past eight years that I have lived in NYC, I hadn’t actually been to a single Lenny’s location until last week (30 Rock location, wuzzup)! A couple of things prevented me from stepping inside. One: it’s a chain. Two: It’s probably overpriced.

Aside from the things preventing me from getting to Lenny’s two other things encouraged me to go: for one thing, our man Chris’ post about Toasties made me realize not to necessarily take these sandwich chains for granted and secondly, Urban Daddy ran a promotion for $3 Lenny’s sandwiches (normally priced at $7.99). Take a gamble on $3? Why not!

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If their locations scattered across Midtown didn’t do it for the out-of-bounders like myself, then rest assured – Pie Face has you covered. On a photorecon run up 9th to check out the shell of Ranchito del Agave, the sight of a brand-new commercial oven in front of the above-pictured construction shell at 464 9th Ave (at 36th St.) occasioned a quick chat with the construction guys out front. The new Pie Face popped up in real estate press late last year and the construction should be finished next week. No word on grand opening dates yet, but keep your eyes peeled for our forthcoming coverage of even more fair dinkum meat pies and flat whites.

Fresh and Hearty is a new truck that just started appearing on the street in the last few weeks. I caught them parked on 45th Street near 6th Avenue last week. They were across the street from Pret A Manger, which is not really a great place to park if you’re going to be selling generic sandwiches, soups, and salads.

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Photo courtesy of Serious Eats: New York

• El Rey del Sabor’s al pastor torta is very tasty [SENY]
• Grammercy Tavern’s chef is totally a Midtown Luncher [SENY]
• Land of Plenty makes a good mapo tofu and twice cooked pork belly [Food in Mouth]
• Ron Howard was spotted at Bluth’s Banana Stand! [Gothamist]
• James Beard nominee Jamie Bissonnette ate at the Jamaican food place in Penn Station and loved it! [Food is the New Rock]