Emeril, Giada, Govind, Cat Cora, Pichet and more serve up lunch for under $10 in Midtown!

Yesterday, Midtown Lunch became Chef central with the opening of Bon Appetit’s “Pop Up Cafe” in the old Hard Rock Cafe space on 57th btw. 7+8th.  Open from 11am to 3pm, the Cafe is essentially a gussied up Cafe Metro, serving up fancy sandwiches, soups & salads created by famous chefs like Govind Armstrong (Table 8), Cat Cora (Iron Chef), Giada De Laurentiis (Food Network), and Emeril, plus desserts from Will Goldfarb (Picnick) and Pichet Ong (P*ong).

Everyday there will also be demonstrations from the Chefs, plus free samplings of wine, Ice Cream from Haagen Dazs and chocolate from Ghirardelli to make you not care that you just spent $9 for a sandwich!  I don’t normally like paying so much for this kind of lunch- but what can I say?  I’m a whore for celebrity chefs…

Fancy salad, sandwich and soup porn, PLUS a schedule of events (and photo of my free ice cream!)- after the jump…

Everything is under $10, with sandwiches and salads being anywhere from $7-9, soups $5, and desserts around $2-4.  Here are the some of the things they’ll be serving up…

For salads, they’re got a Michael Mina Roasted Beets & Burrata Cheese w/ Arugula & Balsamic, a Goat Cheese Caesar Salad from Michel Richard, another Michael Mina creation (Smoked Salmon Nicoise), and more.

Yesterday they were serving Michael Mina’s Tomato Gazpacho with Peekytoe Crab & Avocado, but I think the soups are going to change every day.  At some point in the next week, there will be a Corn & Crab Bisque courtesy of Emeril Lagasse, a Potato Celery Soup from Cat Cora, plus others…

Sandwich wise they’ve got a Muffuletta from Giada de Laurentiis, Tropical Rolls from Govind Armonstrong, a Roast Beef with Marinated Onions and Blue Cheese sandwich from Bon Appetit and more.

Everyday they will have new specials.  Yesterday, it was Govind Armonstrong’s Grilled Cheese w/ Pulled Short Rib Sandwich (which was pretty, pretty, pretty good), and today I heard it was going to be the Bon Appetit Cabernet Braised Short Ribs w/ Gorgonzola Polenta and Mixed Herb Gremolata (but I’m not positive).  Other specials they plan on serving include Cat Cora’s Sunday Cheese Steak Sandwich w/ Provolone Sauce & Michel Richard’s Chicken Nuggets w/ Snow Pea Linguine.

The dessert table looked pretty awesome (Will Goldfarb’s mom’s chocolate chip cookies, spiced coconut brownies from Pichet Ong, and more), but I didn’t try them because they were sampling FREE Haagen Dazs upstairs!!!

The “sample” could have easily been a $10 dessert at a fancy restaurant, and was hands down the best part of the cafe!  It’s upstairs, between the free wine samples, and the free Ghirardelli samples.

The Cafe is open weekdays from 11am to 3pm, now through next Friday November 2nd on West 57th btw. 7+8th.  They will also have the chefs doing demos throughout the week.  Today, it’s Michael Mina at 12:15, and Pichet Ong at 1:15 (plus free mojitos from the Rums of Puerto Rico after 1:45 for those of you looking for a liquid lunch!)

For more details, go to http://www.basupperclubandcafe.com/

21 Comments

  • went back today. It was awesome again. I wish this wasn’t closing today!!!

    I had Giada’s muffaletta. It was salty, and the bread tasted burnt. But I also had Emeril’s corn and crab chowder and it was divine. Topped off by lemon bars…too sweet, but good. The whole thing totalled $16 something, but I split it between lunch and dinner, and was satisfied. Plus, I got a free bag for spending over $10, free ice cream, water, cake, and lots wine.

    While I was there, I went upstairs and watched Giada signing books. I love her show, so it was cool to see her. I also tried the Haagen Daz trio of ice cream (free), had an Evian water (free), sampled three types of delicious Rum cakes (free), and got all liquored up again (free) to make my afternoon at work very happy indeed. My pal at the bar hooked a sista up with a very long flight today.

    Very cool. I love it there!

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