Midtown Lunch

 

Yesterday, I was very disappointed to get this email & photos

Hi there,

Menchanko on 45th at Lex – BIG FAT YELLOW NOTICE:

“Closed by order of the Board of Health”

Yikes!

I suppose it’s about time.  It has been almost a year since a Midtown Lunch commenter posted this:

I have always liked this place, but today I found a dead cockroach in my rice bowl. They had the nerve to give us the bill. There has to be the last time I pay for a cockroach lunch.

I don’t care what anybody says.  I still love the place.  Maybe I’ll just stick to the 55th St. location and their 26 (two points below passing, and no mention of vermin, as of June ’07).

Close-up of the dreaded yellow- after the jump… Read more »

 

Tomorrow is the last day for the Rock Center Farmer’s Market.  I will miss it.  It was nice to be able to see some fruits and vegetables in their semi-natural state, as opposed to what we’re used to here in Midtown.  If the two could talk I imagine their conversation to go like this:

Farmer’s Market Vegetables: “Aren’t you jealous?  I get to appear in my natural state, and be purchased close to home, by people who truly care about food.  They are going to take me home and do something really special with me.”

Midtown Vegetable: “That’s lame.  I get to travel thousands of miles from where I grew up, only to be chopped up, made to look a lot prettier than I actually taste, and then combined with 5 other friends on top of a pile of lettuce and eaten by some rich Midtown business person!  That’s much more exciting…”

Top whatever sandwich you have with some fresh cheese, add a piece of fruit to your lunch, or pick up some stuff to make dinner with.  I did my final walk through yesterday, and picked up some fresh basil and grape tomatoes… which last night got turned into this (photo after the jump) Read more »

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  I don’t know who Kim is, or his Aunt, but they have a pretty awesome cart.  I first wrote about this place months ago, when the Bulgogi Cart first appeared on 49th St.  Brand new, and so full of promise, I was excited for Bulgogi Sandwich, and cheap Korean food from a cart.  And then, it disappeared.  Frantic, I found myself wandering the streets in search of something… and by coincidence, Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart had just hung a handmade sign, touting their very own bulgogi.

I tried it, and remembered thinking it was good, but not as good as it could be.  It turned out to be better than the actual Bulgogi Cart on 49th, but not as good as the version Cafe Duke serves on 51st.  Even so, it was from a cart- and Kim’s Aunt Kitchen earned a place on my list of return lunches.  They had a pretty extensive menu of fried seafood, and random Chinese dishes like Lo Mein, but the draw for me was definitely the Bulgogi.

Flash forward a few months, and the cart gets picked by NY Mag as one of the best carts in NYC… for their Fried Fish Sandwich.  Fried Fish Sandwich you say?  Methinks it’s time to revisit Kim’s Aunt.  So back I went for the $3.50 fried whiting sandwich… or what I now come to think of as “The Best Bargain in Midtown”.

Fishy sandwich porn and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

According to the Sophies Cuban website, today is supposed to be the grand opening of the new location on 40th btw. 7+8th.  Based on the look of the place at 8:45am this morning, I’m guessing it’s not happening…

 

 

One of the employess in another store said it will probably open next year.  A worker on the actual construction site said October.  Either way, there will be no free cuban food today.  I’m sure the steam pipe explosion, which closed the Sophie’s on Lexington did not help matters.  They are hoping to get that location back open in another week.

Need some Cuban food, and need it today?  Midtown Lunch Latin recs, after the jump… Read more »

Every Tuesday I turn over Midtown Lunch to a random worker, for their favorite places to eat lunch in Midtown. My grammar and spelling is pretty terrible, but if there are any typos in today’s (or is it todays?) post there is something seriously wrong.  Meet Lisa, a copy editor who will not eat anything that “comes with a stomach”.

Name: Lisa

Age: 32

Occupation: Copyeditor (but my true love is photography)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 48th and Broadway

Favorite Kind of Food: Breakfast is king. Give me some cinnamon whole wheat french toast and crumbly crunchy bacon and I will love you forever. Cuisine-wise, the cuteness of Japanese food just kills me. Everything is so little and perfect looking, like art that you can eat.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I won’t eat anything that comes with a stomach. This means no lobster, mussels, clams, shrimp or sardines. I’ve never liked mustard. I’m not a fan of peaches. Sea urchin, oh my. That was bad. French food doesn’t agree with my system in the same way fried food doesn’t.  (So… I’m guessing tripe is out of the question?  Technically it doesn’t *have* a stomach, because it *is* stomach. -zach)

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I have not had the ultimate lunch experience in Midtown. Please don’t be too disappointed. I wander the streets every day at 12:30 trying to find it but it just hasn’t happened yet. On a bad day I go to smelly old Food Emporium, buy groceries and make something. Yes, it’s that bad. I would sample more MidtownLunch picks but I’m trying to eat better and want to find the healthier lunching options this city has to offer. I think some must exist.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Thalia Kitchen (50th btw. 7+8th). They have fresh, healthy and generous salads and sandwiches and homemade yogurt. The ladies behind the counter are nice and it’s sort of a secret spot. Shhhh.

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Chiyoda and Azuri Cafe. Wowee Zowee. Thanks! I’ve been meaning to try Sophie’s Cuban. Oms/b, too but it’s pretty far from where I’m at.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? In NYC: Flushing so I could have more cheap and delicious food options — banh mi or sam bo fan for $5 or less! In the World: Japan so I could collect adorable bento boxes and fill them with supercute foods

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Where do you go when you want something healthy? Besides sushi or salad after salad does this even exist in midtown?

 

Where to begin.  You don’t like fried food.  Why do you read this blog?  You won’t eat shrimp and lobster.  How do you expect to beat the buffets and Mongolian BBQs?  Looking for something healthy?  You have come to the wrong place.  Coincidentally enough, I did have my go-to “healthy” lunch yesterday.  Check it out after the jump… Read more »

 

 

While Pinkberry continues its quest for Frozen Yogurt World Domination (according to Eater, two more locations are opening soon in Midtown), blatant rip off Yogurberry quietly opened inside of the Cafe Duke on 41st & Broadway yesterday.

The menu, prices, and general concept are exactly the same.  As for taste, I don’t really know since I’ve never eaten at Pinkberry (and only ate the Yogurberry because they were giving away free samples).  My thoughts on the subject of the new Frozen Yogurt Craze are perfectly summed up 1 minute and 56 seconds into this amazing Gakwer Video.

In the far reaches of Midtown, there exists a magical place whose enormity, and depth of choice, is only eclipsed by its price.  A wonderland of lunches, that makes Dishes or Variety Cafe look like a sandbox inside Disney World.  Where prepared meals circle ethnic food stations, and pre-packaged sushi is turned out fresh by the minute.  If only it wasn’t hampered by the anti-fat man, pay the lb. price structure, it could possibly be the Midtown equivalent of Willy Wonka’s Chocoate Factory.

This place I speak of is Whole Foods, and I finally got a chance to check it out last week for lunch.  It rests on the Upper West Side corner of the Midtown Lunch boundries, on 8th Ave. & 59th St., Columbus Circle, in the basement of the Time Warner Center.  It is easily the best “Grocery Store” in Midtown, and despite its high prices and questionable business practices, the food is undeniably fresh and of a much higher quality than any other place in our area.

The grocery store is nice, but for lunch purposes, we’re looking at the prepared foods area.  The gigantic section between the “store” and the registers.  What they’ve got, grocery store porn and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

• Forgot to link to this review of Porterhouse in the Time Warner Center last week… [Off the Broiler]
• … and then this one went up this week [Ed Levine]
• Followed up by this post about the best steak houses in NYC.  2 of 3 are in Midtown! [Ed Levine]
• The pork sandwich at Shorty’s (the new Tony Luke’s) [Eating in Translation]
• Sakagura, Madeline’s, Little Italy Pizza, Pick-a-Pita, Blockheads & Sukhadia are all hidden jems [NY Post]
• Where to eat while you’re waiting for Yakitori Totto [Gothamist]
• Sangria 46 & Mitchell London Pizza are open for business [Eater]
• After the blast Midtown East delis struggle.  Sophie’s Cuban won’t re-open for weeks.  [NY Times]

**Warning: Do not watch if you are grossed out by KFC, or foul language.

 

Grub Street has got the early word on the second location of Chelsea’s Pop Burger, set to open on 58th btw. 5th & Madison:

Come September a new outpost — three times the size of the current location [of Pop Burger] â€” will take over all three stories of a building at 14 East 58th Street… with the first floor dedicated to counter service; the second floor serving as a lounge decked out with speakers, projectors, a bar, a D.J. booth, and raw-oak paneling; and the third floor acting as a private party space with pool table. Even more awesome for Midtowners: There will be a massive to-go and delivery operation, complete with online ordering.

A new Goodburger, our very own Five Guys Burgers and now this.  By the end of the year the line at the Parker Meridien should be manageable!  Although by the looks of it, construction just started recently- and I can’t imagine how this 3 story monster is going to be ready in a month and a half.

A blurry shot of the inside, after the jump… Read more »