Midtown Lunch

 

I may be too excited to type out this post.  Sushi.  On conveyor belts.  In Midtown.  Oh my lord,  my prayers have been answered.  No, not the one where David Chang starts serving Korean burritos out of a cart on 49th St. & 6th Ave,  or the one where Saigon Banh Mi opens a Midtown branch, but doesn’t change their prices.  It’s the dream, where I’m sitting in a Midtown Japanese restaurant, and all the food is circling around me, there for the taking, around and around, each plate begging “Pick me!”  “Take me!” “Don’t I look good?!?”

That’s a good dream.  And hopefully by the end of the year, I will finally get to visit this place while I’m awake.  Sushi Sakae, a very large and famous Singapore chain of Japanese (go figure) Conveyor Belt Sushi restaurants is opening their first U.S. location here in Midtown.  It’s going up on 43rd btw. Lex. & 3rd Ave. and they are hoping to open it by the end of November.

Conveyor belt porn, and a sneak peak, advance look at the U.S. take out menu- after the jump… Read more »

 

While I was in London a few weeks ago, I got to eat at the Mecca of Offal, Fergus Henderson’s St. John’s Restaurant.  Pork fat, pig’s head, bone marrow, and ox heart were the highlights, and you can read all about my meal, complete with photos at Serious Eats.  With Fergus in NYC this week, promoting his new book “Beyond Nose to Tail“, and that truly decadent meal still fresh in my mind, I thought this might be the perfect opportunity for a list of the Best in Midtown Lunch entrails, organs and animal bits that don’t often get used.

Best Oxtails, tripe, sweetbreads and more- after the jump… Read more »

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown.  This week it’s Aaron, an Investment Analyst who loves to double fist soup and is looking for some good Tex-Mex.

Name: Aaron

Age: 33

Occupation: Investment Analyst

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 54th & 6th Ave.

Favorite Kind of Food: Tex-Mex. This is easily the worst part about being a Texan but living outside of Texas. I tried for a while to find great Tex-Mex in Manhattan and finally settled for Cancun (8th Ave just north of 55th), but I ate there only to get my fix.  Last month, though, I discovered something far better: Ah Chihuahua on East 53rd between 1st & 2nd. It’s quite a walk for me at lunchtime, but the food is worth it. Good guacamole, great cheese enchiladas, $6 or $7 lunch combos all served with rice & refried beans, complimentary chips & salsa, $3 margaritas between noon and 3pm (I hear they’re good, but I’ve not had one).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything bland, primarily Middle Eastern.

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Empanada Mama (53rd & 9th) – corn empanada with ground beef, dipped in the green hot sauce, with a side of plantain chips & guacamole. Not technically within the confines of “Midtown” but they deliver.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Pax, or other assorted soup-and-sandwich delis. So boring.

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Kati Roll (now on 38 btw. 5+6th), the taco cart on 50th (btw. 6+7th), the famous Chicken & Rice Cart at 53rd & 6th (a cart with its own website!), the Hallo Berlin cart, and the Daisy May’s BBQ cart.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why?  Dallas – dozens of Tex-Mex and bbq choices in every direction

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Is there any better Tex-Mex in NYC than Ah Chihuahua (on East 53rd between 1st & 2nd)?

I’ve got to admit that Tex Mex is not really my thing.  I don’t mind it, and I’ll eat it- but to me, saying “I Love Tex-Mex” is like asking “Anybody know where I can get some American tasting Indian food?”  I know there are some Texans who read this blog who are going to disagree, so have at it.  And, after you are done telling me how stupid I am, recommend some good Tex Mex that will change my mind (and make Aaron happy). 

As always, if you want to be the next Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er, email me at zach@midtownlunch.com

Growing up in a Jewish family meant bagels and lox were always served on special occasions.  Break the fast and special Sunday mornings visiting Grandma always made exciting events, if for no other reason than the appearance of bagels and a giant platter of smoked fish.  Even funerals were an event to get a little excited about.  Sure, somebody died- but isn’t this pickled herring delicious?  I don’t really celebrate the holidays that often anymore, but I have not lost my appreciation for a nice bagel with cream cheese, onion, lox and white fish.

Unfortunately, the one drawback to this food (and the thing that makes it difficult in the context of Midtown Lunch’ing) is the price.  Smoked fish is expensive.  It’s tough to get a bagel with lox or whitefish in this city for under $10, which made the “discovery” of Ess a Bagel all the more exciting.  I say “discovery” because Ess a Bagel is not exactly a hidden gem.  When people argue about the best bagels in New York City, it will almost always come up, and while their original location is on 21st & 1st Ave., they have a second location on 3rd Ave. & 50th.  Or as I like to call it Midtown Lunch East.

What they’ve got, bagel porn, the +/- and exactly how they “got me”, after the jump… Read more »

_{“Rice balls” from Oms/b
Posted to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Photo Group by Stu Spivack}

• Nosher discovers the glories of East Side rice balls at a Midtown Lunch favorite [NYC Nosh]
• Purnima on 54th is still empty, despite Gordon Ramsay’s help [Zagat]
• Bistro Desaret & Johnny Rockets will fight it out on 3rd Ave. during lunchtime [NY Sun]
• The Hooters on 56th had a big calendar party the other night! [Gawker]
• New Midtown Japanese Omido gets mentioned by FloFab, NYMag & Metromix [Eater]
• Bouchon Bakery alum will be chef at the Columbus Circle Blue Ribbon [Hote Chatter via Eater]

Who the hell eats two cookies?

I know a lot of the people who read the blog are big fans of New Orleans, so here are two tidbits that may be of interest to you…

Eater reported yesterday that the UWS location of Jacques Imo‘s, the “offshoot” of the incredibly popular New Orleans restaurant with the same name, will be closing on October 21st.  The Grand Central based Jacques Imo‘s to Geuax was turned into a Brother Jimmy’s last year. 

I put offshoot in quotes, because sadly, the Jacques Imo’s here in NYC didn’t really bear any resemblance to the New Orleans location that I have come to know and love.  They did however, do a pretty good job on Jack’s signature fried chicken recipe.  You’ve got two more weeks to check it out.

In other New Orleans news, Absolut New Orleans, a limited edition Mango & Black Pepper version of the popular Swedish Vodka is available at a liquor store in Midtown.  One of my co-workers tracked it down (after unsuccessfully trying to find some in Astoria).  They had about a case left as of yesterday.   Beekman’s Liquors is on Lexington btw. 47th & 48th, 212-759-5857.  100% of the profits from these Limited Edition bottles will go to various Gulf Region charities.

The Rock Center Farmer’s Market has returned, and will be open between
now and October 19th, every Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday from 8am to
6pm. The only difference is it is now between 50th & 51st just north of
the Rock Center Ice Rink (which has already replaced the Rink Bar). I
can’t believe it’s already October.

Midtown has its boundaries, but every once in awhile I’ll discover a place that just might be worth the extra few blocks, and profile it in a category I call “Out of Bounds”.  Since Ressie May’s Soul to Go closed, there has been a soul food hole in the Midtown Lunch’ing landscape.  Anything good and cheap would be welcomed.  A place that sells fried chicken for a $1 a piece, collards and mac & cheese for $1-2 a scoop- well now you’ve got me excited, and willing to walk those extra couple of avenues for an Out of Bounds lunch.

Piece of Chicken is that place, and their sandwich board doesn’t lie.  As unbelievable as it seems to passersby, they do in fact serve fried chicken for $1 a piece, and side dishes for $1-2.  Add to that rib tips, fried fish, corn bread and soup, sold out of the back window of a kitchen that once belonged to upscale Caribbean restaurant Jezebel (with nothing costing over $2), and you’ve got a winner.

The menu, piece of chicken porn and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

I haven’t really been interested in baseball this year, but I still followed the Yankees every day.  Not because I’m a fan of the pinstripes (10 years of living in Boston beat that out of me), but I am a fan of fried meat cutlets served over mounds of rice and covered in curry.  And every time Hideki Matsui hit a homerun this season, it meant free topping coupons at Go Go Curry, the Japanese Curry shrine to the Yankees #55 (Go means 5 in Japanese).  It only happened 25 times this season (so disappointing!), but hopefully he’ll overcome his injuries in the Playoffs to salvage a few more coupons for us before the end of the season.

Kare Raisu (Curry Rice) is an incredibly popular lunchtime dish in Japan, and while a number of Midtown Lunch places serve it (Yagura, 47th St. Convenience Store), Go Go Curry is the only place in Midtown where it is the specialty.  You can’t get anything else.   I wrote about it when it first opened, but didn’t give it a proper write up at the time.  With baseball season coming to an end, I figured it was a perfect time to really see what they’ve got, and give it a proper +/-.

The Katsu Curry (fried pork cutlet) is the industry standard, but they also offer chicken cutlet, sausages, & fried shrimp- and if you are anything like me, there’s only one option.  All of it.  And the only way to do that, is The Grand Slam- a $12.50 platter of everything Go Go Curry has to offer.

Here’s what a normal $7.50 order of Katsu Curry will get you:

The $12.50 Grand Slam after the jump… Read more »