Midtown Lunch

Let’s face it. Buffalo chicken wraps are great. Back in college, my friends and I would visit the local dive bar for wings at least two nights a week, and ever since, I’ve had a deep appreciation for this thing we call “buffalo chicken.” Created upstate in Buffalo, Wikipedia describes the sauce as cayenne pepper hot sauce plus melted butter or margarine. When mixed with fried, breaded chicken and sharp, blue cheese, deliciousness is bound to ensue! Although not traditional, wraps are a convenient means of buffalo chicken consumption (it’s nice that the whole experience can be folded into a neat, handheld bundle) and they tend to be less messy than their sandwich counterparts. Over the course of the past week, I took it upon myself to try out several different buffalo chicken wraps around Midtown. I was actually a little surprised at how difficult it was to find these things for under $10, but in the end I managed to uncover four decent options.

Read my findings after the jump…

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A few weeks ago, a new sign went up above the old Times Square Hot Bagel storefront (on 44th btw. 7+8th). And now, Ben & Jerry’s is open, bringing free cone day above ground for the first time in years (remember, there once was a location nearby on 8th ave). Too bad we have to wait almost a year for it…

If there was a betting pool going, the winning figure might just have been six months for this place… Fusion 9th is shuttered, covered up in newspaper, and dark. We weren’t really big on their food, so this doesn’t come as too much of a major disappointment. The sign taped to the insurance gutter asks the mailman to throw mail under the gate, so it looks like it could either be temporary or just occasionally checked. No DoH closures or other bad things are obvious – hopefully they’re retooling to have better food.

The opening of a new franchise of Fatburger (3rd Ave btw 34th+35th) in Murray Hill last week caused a bit of fanfare. Prior to last week, I had never visited a Fatburger as In-N-Out usually tickles my fast food fancy when on the West Coast. I stopped by to check out the scene and eat a burger.

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I’m not sure if anyone in Midtown except for me and three of my coworkers cared for Peter’s Meatloaf, but according to Lunch’er Nick, the old Peter’s Location on Lexington Avenue (btw. 55th & 56th Streets) has signs on their window indicating that the location is turning into Little Collins, a high-end coffee bar serving Counter Culture coffee. When I had spoken with Peter’s in Williamsburg in May, they had mentioned that the location was closed for “rebranding” so it’s still a little unclear as to if this new coffee shop is under the same management, or if Little Collins is it’s own thing. Fingers crossed for good pastries! (And maybe some meatloaf?!)

Little Collins, 667 Lexington Avenue (between 55th and 56th Streets)

One of the really good places to get doner kebab/gyros in Southwest Midtown has been closed! Lezzette, which did a bunch of different salads along with awesome doner, has been ordered closed all of a sudden. The big yellow sign of DoH shame is present, its closure dating 6/10, which corresponds to a very abysmal inspection grade of 93 points on that same date. Mostly thermal problems show up on the inspector’s report, but it apparently had some inappropriate temperatures to some food. Hopefully they fare a little better than repeat-closure offenders in the area and bounce back soon – I lost an opportunity to assuage my doner craving!

There’s no denying that we’re big fans of doughnuts here at Midtown Lunch, including the vegan delights served up at Cinnamon Snail. Last month, the Snail rolled out a bunch of new flavors and I stopped by to try some out. Warning: I have repeatedly missed picking up a Coffee Ice Cream Sunday Donut because people keep causing them to sell out!

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It looks like some action is taking place on the corner of 8th and 38th, even with its new addition still waiting to open. Wok to Walk, which looks like its concept is Chipotle/Baja Fresh’s assemble-to-order writ pseudo-pan-Asian, is opening its first US branch at 570 8th Ave soon. No word on opening date, but the global chain has its menu out there. Given that my wife can’t eat garlic I gotta hit them up solely because of fried garlic as a topping, but we’ll have to wait to see if what looks like a massive fried rice chain is worth it. I know I love me some pak choi. We’ll keep you posted!

Its legal woes apparently mostly taken care of, it looks like Ranchito del Agave (on 9th btw. 36+37th) has opened back up. Passing by one fine afternoon, the shutters were gone but the place was darn near empty. Maybe they’ve trained their servers a little better to check IDs, but this change in pace might just merit a proper ML visit in the future. Do we have anyone in the ML crew that looks like they could pass for under 21? I’d love to see if they’ve figured things out in terms of food as well as service!

Photo courtesy of Serious Eats: New York

• The cold noodles at Cafe China are some of NYC’s best [SENY]
• The El Rey del Sabor cart is still awesome [Food in Mouth]
• Onion rings might be the best thing at the new Fatburger [Lunch Studio]
• Andrew Zimmern had a terrible sushi lunch in Midtown East [Eater]
• Immaculate Infatuation’s guide to summer is here! [II]