Midtown Lunch

While I was away in Chile, I turned the site over to you for the first ever Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll.  All of the nominees had to have lunch for under $10 (except the buffet category, where a $1 exception was made), and they all had to be within the Midtown boundaries (32nd St. to the South, Central Park to the North, 3rd Ave on the East, and 8th Ave. to the West).  Thanks to everyone who participated.  Thousands of votes were cast, and here are the results:

Best Fast Food Indian: Kati Roll

Despite changing locations this year (Kati Roll is now on 39th btw. 5+6th), Indian burritos just barely beat out old steam table standby (and former neighbor) Minar, on 46th btw. 6+7th.  35% to 32%  Editor’s Pick: Man do I miss being 2 blocks away from Kati Roll.  It’s the unanimous winner.

Best Cheap Chinese Food: Hing Won

“Cheap” is code for fast food, take out Chinese, and while Szechuan Gourmet (on 39th btw. 5+6th) may possibly be the best Chinese food in Midtown- Hing Won/Hop Won wins the battle of the steam tables, easily beating out the competition.  Editor’s Pick:  No secret here.  Hing Won was my first Midtown Lunch post, and still remains my favorite Chinese food take out in Midtown.

Best burger, best street carts and a best pizza shocker, after the jump… Read more »

After 10 days of eating my way across Chile, I can’t say I was too excited for lunch yesterday.  A week and half of amazing Chilean food is not easy to replace with a boring $9 sandwich.  The only Chilean restaurant I know in the area is Pomaire on 46th btw. 8+9th, but that is way out of the Midtown Lunch price range.  Hopefully some cheaper options exist (or will pop up in the future).

Here are some of the lunch’ing highlights from my trip, that I am hoping are available somewhere in Midtown:

“Un Completo”, aka a Chilean “Hot Dog with the works”- only instead of sauerkraut and relish, it’s topped with salsa, tomatoes, guacamole and mayo.  This one was enjoyed New Year’s Eve in Valparaiso. ($1)

Empanada de Pino –  Baked pastry filled with meat, egg and olives.  Delicious.  This one (the first of many on the trip) was enjoyed just outside the Mercado Central in Santiago.  They also make cheese and seafood version (plus fried versions), but this one is the most common. ($1)

Raw seafood, the national drink of Chile (and it’s not a Pisco Sour), plus the artery clogging mountain of meat and french fry wonderment that is Chorrillana, 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 Rosie, an IT Director for a non-profit, looking for a place to relax in Herald Square.

Name: Rosie

Age: 31

Occupation: Nonprofit IT Director

Where in Midtown do you Work?:Herald Square

Favorite Kind of Food: Japanese, French, Southern Food/Comfort Food. Sometimes it’s a combination of those (Japanese comfort food for example). I think I’m partial to Japanese in particular because of the great food discoveries I’ve enjoyed while exploring that cuisine. Doing so kind of opened the door to a lot of heightened flavors and textures that I don’t think I’d been aware of before and it translated right back into other cuisines once I started paying attention. As for the French and Southern/Comfort, I grew up with those at home and so they’re kind of second nature to love.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Uninspired food. I’m drawing a blank thinking of a particular cuisine I actively dislike. I do, however, harbor a strong bias against boring food. If I can tell that it’s been treated like an afterthought or the cook/chef could care less then I’ve really got a problem with that. By contrast, you usually can tell you’ve hit on something good when the people take pride in the food they’re offering.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Chiyoda Sushi on 41st btw. 5th+Madison (been enjoying their negitoro-don lately) and Woo Ri Jip on 32nd btw. 5+6th (love the variety and I’m about to win something with my point card). On the rare occasion that I can make it that far I love dropping in to Oms/b as well. Artisanal is another favorite which is just a little too far away most days.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Mandoo Bar on 32nd between 5th and 6th is a mainstay. I often take new colleagues there. The menu is short and sweet, the prices are very reasonable and the atmosphere is rather comfortable as well. It’s a simple introduction to K-Town for those who don’t know a lot about Korean food but are interested to find out. And now there’s Pinkberry across the street for dessert afterwards if you’re feeling indulgent.

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: I only just discovered Midtown Lunch so I haven’t gotten a chance to test out any of the new places I’ve found yet but Sakae Sushi (on 43rd btw. Lex+3rd) is right up there on my list. I used to live in Japan and conveyor-belt sushi (aka kaiten-zushi) is near and dear to my heart. Sushi East on 3rd between 26th and 27th is just too far to be a viable lunchtime destination so I’m kind of excited about Sakae.  (I’m pretty excited too.  The word is, it’s opening this month but I’ll believe it when I see it.  -zach) 

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? San Francisco. I went there for work this summer and the Ferry Terminal Market was a lunchtime paradise. They don’t mess around there. Freshly shucked raw oysters, Vietnamese noodle dishes to go, roast duck sandwiches, crab po boys… it was terrific. I also got the sense that the purveyors themselves were real food people. They appreciated customers who they could tell were passionate about food too.

Anything you’d like to ask the midtown lunch readers???:  Anyone know of any hidden gem cafes in the 30s or low 40s, preferably within striking distance of Herald Square? The best one I’ve been able to find so far is Cafe Keko on Madison and 30th. Every once in a while I need to take a break in a quiet place, not necessarily for lunch, but pretty much every cafe near where I work is noisy, has uncomfortable seating or is called Starbucks.

Aside from Koreatown, which you seem pretty well versed in, I’m not much of a Herald Square expert.  I’ll turn this one over to the Midtown Lunch faithful.  Got a suggestion for Rosie?  Leave a comment below. 

And as always, if you want to be the next Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er, or you’d like to nominate somebody in your office, email me at zach@midtownlunch.com

_{The inside of Zen Burger today a little after 2pm
Now open on Lex btw. 45+46th}

• I can’t believe I missed the Grand Opening of Zen Burger… [Eater]
• … but the faithful Midtown Lunch commenters provided valuable updates [Midtown Lunch]
• Naniwa on 46th btw. Madison & 5th was shuttered by the DOH [Eater]
• Kathy eats her way through Cafe Zaiya [A Passion for Food]
• Food in Mouth hits up the new “Ying Du” (aka 38th St. Bakery & Restaurant) [Food in Mouth]
• Go Go Curry is expanding out of Midtown, and into the East Village [Gothamist]
• Midtown Lunch’er Lawrence (aka Superman) delves into the Chicken Parm and more at Tuscany Catering [NYC Food Guy]

So, I’m finally back from 10 days of eating my way across Chile (more on that tomorrow), which means that this is the last category of the Midtown Lunch readers’ poll. Thanks for holding down the fort for the past week, commenting and voting. You have until tomorrow at 8pm EST to vote in any of the 12 categories, and I’ll post the final results on Wednesday. Links to posts about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section.

I’m out of town until January 7th, so until then I’m turning over the site to you for the First Annual Midtown Lunch Readers Poll, to determine the best that Midtown lunch’ing has to offer. You can only vote once, so choose wisely. Links to info about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section. Official winners will be posted to the site on January 9th.

I’m out of town until January 7th, so until then I’m turning over the site to you for the First Annual Midtown Lunch Readers Poll, to determine the best that Midtown lunch’ing has to offer. You can only vote once, so choose wisely. Links to info about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section. Official winners will be posted to the site on January 9th.

I’m out of town until January 7th, so until then I’m turning over the site to you for the First Annual Midtown Lunch Readers Poll, to determine the best that Midtown lunch’ing has to offer. You can only vote once, so choose wisely. Links to info about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section. Official winners will be posted to the site on January 9th.

I’m out of town until January 7th, so until then I’m turning over the site to you for the First Annual Midtown Lunch Readers Poll, to determine the best that Midtown lunch’ing has to offer. You can only vote once, so choose wisely. Links to info about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section. Official winners will be posted to the site on January 9th.

I’m out of town until January 7th, so until then I’m turning over the site to you for the First Annual Midtown Lunch Readers Poll, to determine the best that Midtown lunch’ing has to offer. You can only vote once, so choose wisely. Links to info about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section. Official winners will be posted to the site on January 9th.