PROFILE: Midtown Lunch’er “Evelyn”

Every Tuesday I turn over Midtown Lunch to a random worker, for their favorite places to eat lunch in Midtown. Today, it’s Evelyn- an HR person looking for some good pizza…

Name: Evelyn

Age:
29

Occupation:
HR

Where in Midtown do you Work?:
McGraw Hill Building (49th & 6th)

Favorite Kind of Food:
I’m pretty open to trying most things at least once. How are you supposed to know what you like or dislike without trying, right? But if I had to spend the rest of my life only eating certain things, I’d choose noodles, pasta, sushi, chicken tikka masala w/ basmati rice, dumplings, shellfish, stews, couscous, dessert (mmmm)… okay, too many foods to choose from.

Least Favorite Kind of Food:
I definitely don’t like Ethiopian cuisine after trying it just once. There are a lot of vegetable I dislike eating, especially okra & squash. I try to avoid too much fried or greasy foods and I shy away from anything that’s too spicy.

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown:
I love going to Hing Won to get their sauteed udon with chicken. The noodles are cooked perfectly tender and the flavor isn’t too salty. My new favorite place to go is Minar to get my fill of yummy Indian food.. the best is the chicken tikka masala. It’s creamy and they don’t make it all that spicy. I also love their combination plate lunches… For just $7.25 I always get double chicken and the spinach with rice. Both places definitely fit the bill for me… cheap, fast & tasty.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: We frequent Cafe Metro all the time because it’s right there in our building! We also love it because we can use the Go Mobo website to order our food right from our computers or cell phones so we don’t have to stand in that ridiculously long line. Yup, we’re lazy AND impatient. (Funny you should mention that.  GoMobo is offering Midtown Lunch readers $5 off your first order this week, if you use the promo code “midtownlunch”.  Enjoy! -zach

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Minar… finally, cheap Indian food! Also, thanks for the recommendation about the Bulgogi sandwich. Too bad it went up to $2 though. 

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Midtown is great but I’d love either the East Village because it’s got some great cheap places or somewhere close to Chinatown for what else… great Chinese! Otherwise, someplace close to the ocean for some fresh seafood everyday.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? There are so many pizzerias in this area.  Do any of them stand out as having the best thin crispy crust?

 

Interesting you should ask about pizza, the day after Jiannetto’s Pizza Truck opened their 6th Ave. location right outside our building!  I know where you’ll be eating lunch today.  Anybody else got any other suggestions for Evelyn?  Post them as comments below.

And as for the Bulgogi Sandwich, it’s up to $5 now, and it’s served on a large roll.  I don’t even know if they have the little pressed bulgogi sandwiches on white bread anymore.  The new, larger sandwiches are alright- but they put yellow cheese, lettuce, tomato and cucumber on them.  I think they are trying to make them more “American”, not realizing that all we want is some good authentic Korean food!!!  A pic of their amazing creation, after the jump…

 

 

As always, if you have news, suggestions, or you want to be next week’s Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er- email me at zach@midtownlunch.com

22 Comments

  • This whole article sounds like a tie-in to gomobo and the pizza truck you wrote about? Is this a real person?

  • Ooh, nice on the code. Thanks Zach!

    PS I like her Tumi bag… I was considering that one but thought it might look funny when I actually used it, and that color seemed a bit bright, but it looks fine! Damn it, my gift code thingee expired =T

  • I don’t love shoulder bags. They’re not very flattering and they look too similar to bulky messenger bags. Oh wait, topic: food. Mmm. Sauteed udon!

  • Back to pizza… I like Little Italy on 43rd b/t 5th and Grand Central. It’s not the greatest pizza on earth, but it’s mighty tasty. I ate at Lazzara’s on 38th b/t 7th and 8th, but wasn’t wowed by it. Nice thin crust, fresh toppings, but weird, crappy service. May be better to take out.

    It’s out of midtown vicinity, but every other week I make a pilgrimage to Waldy’s on 6th b/t 27th and 28th. Call ahead, hop on the subway, and your food is ready by the time you get there. Great pizza (yes, lamb and lemon sounds weird on pizza, but it’s phenomenal), you can trim your own fresh herbs for toppings, and their pasta is great too. Their side salads are huge so you can feel less guilty about all the bread and cheese.

  • i’m sorry but the bulgogi sandwich doesn’t even look good. why would you ruin bulgogi with cheese??? a little bit of gochujang, maybe… (spicy chili paste- the same stuff on bibimbap) but not cheese!

    one thing i do know… ray’s pizza is not good. does anyone else think that???

  • for some reason, these days koreans love putting cheese on everything. My favorite is cooking a packet of Shin Ramen (most popular Korean spicey spicey instant ramen) and adding a slice of krafts singles. I don’t know if it’ll make you orgasm like Jiannetto’s pizza, but you’ll definitely wanna call back.

  • Yup, I’m as real as all the good food in NYC. It’s funny how GoMobo is giving a discount the day I’m getting profiled, but then again that’s why I love them… every Tuesday I look forward to getting an email from them for their discount of the week. Woohoo!

    Zach, Jiannetto’s must’ve known I’ve been looking for pizza & rice balls! Double woohoo! =) I sure hope they’re there today.

  • if you love the GoMoBo thing, Two Boots in the Rockefeller concourse should be your place for thin crust pizza. the lines are usually pretty long so this would help. Enjoy.

    http://www.ilsvont.com

  • it’s a f^&*^%%^ food blog, not a handbag forum…i blame victoria backham.

  • I still haven’t tried it, but Vezzo on the corner of Lex & 31st is supposed to have some good thin crust pie. Sorry Evelyn, apparently they only deliver as far north as 42nd. You’ll have to schlep on down there to check it out. Anyone else eaten there?

  • Speaking of Pizza, anyone know a place in mid-town that does a whole wheat crust pie?

  • there’s a pizza place on the south side of 49th street between 6th and 7th that has excellent thin crust pizza (the grandma slice is the way to go)… i forget their name, but i’ll check it at lunch and report back to you. if you’re right on that block it’s definitely worth trying. it’s my favorite in the vicinity, and a regular go-to spot for me (yet i do not know the name!).

  • You have to go to 33rd and 3rd–amazing brick oven pizza!

  • Teresa’s deli on 51st btwn 5th and 6th has whole wheat pizza, but it sort of tastes like cardboard… I think, in addition to being whole wheat, it has no grease on it, and that sort of misses the point of pizza, doesn’t it?

  • Zach, can Rudy McBagel be the next Lunch-er profiled? I kind of love him, he’s so surly! I think he needs a longer forum to properly express himself.

  • nate, if i dont try it, or oder the deep pan, will you beat me up?

  • Sarah, i don’t think that can happen. It’s just a hunch, but i think Zach = Rudy McBagel. Every protangist needs an antagonist. The only one worthy of Zach’s culinary prowess is himself.

  • Evelyn, do you remember hearing about people throwing eggs at the Mcgraw building during the 2005 summer. If so it was a couple of friends and I. Darn publisher with over price books.

    But I am happy knowing that you like Minar.

  • I’ve been to Vezzo on the weekend and the pizza is pretty good. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s anything like that over here in the West 50’s. But I’ll definitely be taking a trip to the pizza truck this week!

  • OMG! CHeese For Me! Let’s make the Midtown Lunch Movie! It can be kind of like Fight Club but with more eating and less… Brad Pitt…

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