PROFILE: Midtown Lunch’er “Sandra”

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a Midtown Lunch’er for their recommendations of places to eat lunch in Midtown. Today, it’s Sandra our third woman in a row (and second Mets fan).  Don’t we have any dudes (or Yankees fans) who are ready to step up to the plate?  Sandra comes from the hottest up and coming section of Midtown.  She’s been smack dab in the middle of new openings, including Ressie Mae’s Soul to Go, Mandler’s, and Popeye’s– and will soon get a Sophie’s Cuban, and another new place that we’ll let her tell you about!  

Name: Sandra

Age:
30

Occupation:
IT Manager

Where in Midtown do you Work?:
8th Ave and 38th St (Midtown West reprazent!)

Favorite Kind of Food:
Any kind of Asian or Latin cuisine. If it’s got either pork or plaintains, I’m sold.

Least Favorite Kind of Food:
Subway, crappy pizza, and $8 salads.

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown:
My neighborhood is still “up and coming” in terms of good food options, but my go-to places tend to be Bento Nouveau on 39th and B’Way for good takeout sushi, Burritoville, and Pick a Pita. Occasionally I hit Mandler’s but I try not to make a habit out of it. That place will be the death of me. I’ve recently discovered on 39th between 8+9th a good Latin place that I think is just called “Spanish Food”. They have a good $5 lunch special of rice, beans, plaintains and whatever meat they’ve got that day. Also, Aceluck on 9th Ave between 39+40th is great for Thai and has a good lunch special that’s under $10.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Village 38, which is the generic deli next to my office. It stays in business purely because of those of us who are too lazy to walk more than 2 feet from the office.

Place you discovered thanks to MidtownLunch: Fashion Soup – I end up there at least once a week. Their soups are fantastic and they have really great empanadas. Midtown Lunch has also been great for finding out when new places are actually opening. I feel like I get the inside scoop. :)

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes?: Astoria – in addition to the fact that it would be an ultra short commute (yay!), they have every cuisine you could possibly want and tons of outdoor cafes where you can sit and drink coffee for hours and just chill out.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Are there any good outdoor cafe-type places in Midtown West? I’d love to branch out past Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts for my coffee breaks.  And finally, I’m curious to know when the Sophie’s on 40th (next to Popeye’s) and the Golden Krust (next to Mandler’s) will be opening. Their coming soon signs have been tormenting me for months!

 

Well Sandra, you’ve give us some great suggestions to chew on.  The “Spanish Food” place sounds pretty interesting (I too am a fan of pork), and Bento Nouveau is a place I’ve been meaning to try out for awhile now.  As for the new Sophie’s, according to their website the location on 40th btw. 7+8th will be opening on August 15th.

Now to the big news…  Apparently a new Golden Krust is opening next to Mandler’s!  If you haven’t been to Golden Krust yet (there are a few Midtown locations), it’s a Carribean chain serving all sorts of curry and jerk meat dishes, plus the widest selection of patties in the city.  A picture of one, after the jump…

Thanks for the scoop Sandra!  The Jamaican Cart on 51st is good, but I can’t stand waiting on that line.  I have no idea when the new Golden Krust is opening, but as soon as I know, you will know.  In the meantime check out one of their other Midtown Locations:

  • Kiosk in the Grand Central Food Court
  • 686 3rd. Ave. (btw. 43+44th)
  • 18 E 33rd St. (btw. Mad+5th)

Do you have an outdoor coffee recommendation for Sandra? Just post it as a comment below…

And, as always- if you have any Midtown Lunch news or you’d like to be next weeks Profiled Midtown Lunch’er, just email me at zach@midtownlunch.com.

7 Comments

  • Unfortunately this isn’t an outdoor coffee place, but I think Empire on 9th and 41st has great coffee. Also, Cupcake Cafe (9th b/t 40th and 41st) is probably the closest thing midtown west has to a cozy coffee place. The next best option is grabbing coffee and heading to Bryant Park.

  • sandra’s also near the lone midtown white castle. that area is definitely the most actively changing work area in the city. and i’m another midtown lunch mets fan. if the mets could just open some of these tasty cheap eats at shea. hmm…

  • Of all the “go-to” generic midtown delis, Village 38 is pretty outstanding in my opinion. Consider yourself lucky. As for outdoor relaxation, screw the coffee and grab a beer at Hallo Berlin (10th Ave + 44th St) and hang out in the beer garden. This is probably more appropriate AFTER work.

  • “Spanish Food” is awesome. They have pernil every day I think. You cannot eat inside though because they do not believe in exhaust and its like 300 degrees inside.

    HK on 39th and 9th has outdoor seating now but a little pricey. It’s good when other people are paying. I don’t know if it could be considered a “cafe” though.

  • As much as I want to like Sandra…..that Mets towel is killing me. I’ll have to respect her for her food choices alone it seems.

  • Midtown Mets fans are awesome! It’s hard to type with all of these D.Wright bobbleheads around me…. Anyway, I used to work on 8th and 36th, and I must agree with Teen Wolf that Village 38 is not so bad considering what I have to deal with now on 34th (or as I like to call it: The Gateway to Macy’s Hell). Do they still have that Cosi type bread that you can buy for about a buck? Addicting, I tell you.

  • GO METS!!

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