and the vietnamese video store hasn’t sold a sandwich for $2 in a long long time, not that they’re super expensive but closer to 4 bucks each.

i just want to chime in to say that indeed, you have made midtown the best part of the city in which to have a reasonably-priced, but delicious lunch. you’re right to think that other parts of the city still have better options, but they don’t have you to separate the wheat from the chaff… and where there is more wheat, there is that much more chaff.

you started writing this blog shortly after i stopped working in midtown. i knew it would be good because pretty early on you found one of my favorites (margon). i now find myself working most of the week in midtown again and one day in the lunch wonderland of soho… and I often find myself looking forward more to midtown lunch thanks to your writing (also, the good stuff in soho is often way more expensive).

as a fan, i do have one request: while i and an army of others seem to share your taste in food, i, and i imagine a great deal of your readers, lack your iron stomach. i simply can’t eat like this all the time! whenever i want something lighter, i inevitably end up with the generic midtown deli cold sandwich or salad. more coverage of light food would be awesome (by light i mean ‘less heavy in my stomach,’ not necessarily ‘fewer calories’).

But… But… BUT!!! There is a whole in my heart (stomach?) because I haven’t been to Pakistan Tea House for years! Oh God, it can’t be true. Immediately after my exile from the City Hall area, I continued to frequent neighborhood bars, just so I could enjoy a drunken late-nite feed (or better yet, a no-holds-barred eating competition) at the Tea House. The place is the best! Even when you’re sober, as the long line at lunch proves.

I’m probably being an idiot. There are probably half a dozen posts on the Pakistan Tea House already on this site. But I’ve got to add my two cents. Forget the dumplings. Go to the Tea House. They’ve got amazing chicken makhani and the vegatable dishes are out of sight! Okra, saag, dal, black-eyed peas. The dishes rotate on a daily basis. (I’m crying as I type this.) And such a bargain for heaping portions! And they make bread on the spot in this incredibly dangerous-looking tubular oven-thing.

It’s at 176 Church Street between Duane and Reade Streets. It’s open very, very late (generally).

Please excuse the rant.

P.S. I also remember this vietnamese video store on Lafayette and Franklin (?) that served Vietnamese sandwiches made of pate, pickled vegtables, and fish sauce on french bread. They were like $2. That place also topped the dumpling joint by a lot.