Midtown Lunch

This awesomeness popped up on the corner of 3rd Ave. & 43rd St.  What exactly is Crisp you ask?  No info on their website, but we get two clues:  “Fast fresh food that syncs your taste with your conscience.”  And, “It’s not what you think.  It’s better.”  Hmm… that’s interesting.  So it’s not an organic version of a generic salad bar/Midtown deli?  It’s better.  Can’t wait…

Just around the corner, on 43rd btw. Lex+3rd, the first Manhattan location of Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe has opened up, a chain with most of its locations in California, Oklahoma, Texas & Florida.  With a menu of fancy wraps, salads, pizzas and panini, I was slightly intrigued by their Bangkok Thai Wrap, until I saw that they add water chesnuts (meh), and provolone (huh?).  Oh well.

Blue Pig says goodbye, while Pinkberry says hello, after the jump… Read more »

At the end of my Monday piece on Aoki, the sushi restaurant on 48th btw. B’way+8th with the 3 roll lunch special for $10, I predicted they would raise their prices soon. I didn’t think 24 hours soon. From a commenter yesterday:

ZACH, get this. i went to Aoki today for the first time and all the menu prices were whited-out… it’s now two rolls for $9, three rolls for $11 (and for the record, I got two rolls and they charged me $9.50) … seems my honeymoon’s over before it even began. :(

My initial thought was, “Shit, I’ve ruined it for everybody.” My second thought was “Shit, my co-workers who told me about this place, and convinced me to write about it, are going to kill me.” My goal is to help people find good, cheap lunch, not to hurt them by unearthing deals that are too good to be true, only to have them yanked as a result of the exposure (Del Frisco’s, I’m looking at you). I would have become really depressed if it wasn’t for the little part of me that was proudly surprised that the stupid site I started almost two years ago as an excuse to eat gross food for lunch, was now having a marked effect on the way Midtown restaurants do business.

Thankfully, it turns out I had nothing to do with the price increase- which went into effect a few weeks ago, and only effects the lunchtime combo if you eat in the restaurant. The take out price is still $8 for two rolls, $10 for 3 rolls, although the lady I spoke to at Aoki did imply that the take out/delivery price would probably have gone up as well, but they had all these take out menus printed with the old price. So, like I said on Monday, enjoy the deal while you can, and whatever you do- don’t take a menu. We need those things to last as long as they possibly can…

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. Today’s Lunch’er is a Marketing Manager at the Wall St. Journal who can’t wait for it to get warmer so she can eat outside at Bryant Park.  I think she might also be friends with Superman…

Name: Shayna

Age: 27

Occupation: Marketing Manager & Blogger (http://www.missmenunyc.com/)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: The Wall Street Journal – 45th & 6th

Favorite Kind of Food: Tie between BBQ and Mexican. Growing up in Atlanta, I was surrounded by a lot of great BBQ places. Sure, people have their favorites in NYC, but it’s just not the same when the food isn’t served with a side of Southern charm by a waitress calling you “Sugar!”

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Indian

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: 1 – Pad See Ew at Pam Real Thai Encore at 47th btw. 9+10th. This is my favorite Pad See Ew in the city. The sauce is so flavorful, and the huge portion is only $6.50. Definitely worth the walk over to 9th Ave. 2 – Falafel over rice from the cart at 48th & Park.  The falafel is fresh and is served with rice, lettuce/tomato, and chickpeas that were prepared in a really tasty sauce. All of that plus a can of soda for only 5 bucks. 3 – Hunan chicken with brown rice at Ho Yip at 45th & 5th.  The dish has great flavor and doesn’t skimp on veggies.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Cranberry Deli on 45th btw. B’way+6th. I remember going there when I was visiting NYC with my family a long time ago. I was fascinated by the concept of so many different types of food all under one roof. Let me tell you, after being innundated by these delis for the last 5 years, the novelty quickly wore off. I will say that Cranberry may be one tiny notch up from the rest of the delis in the immediate area. You have to choose wisely if you do end up there, though. My go-to orders: The udon and soba soups, and sandwich #15 – grilled chicken with roasted red peppers, mozzarella, and pesto.

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch (if any)? House of Pita on 48th b/t 5th & 6th. It was a sad day when I went there to get lunch and saw it had closed. While it wasn’t the best falafel I’ve had, I really loved their hummus and salad selections…especially the Israeli and bean salads. I heard they opened a location on 8th Ave. Unfortunately for me, it’s a little bit more of a hike, so I won’t be able to make it there as often as the original location.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? I’d live in Paris so I could order a galette oeuf fromage from a crepe stand every day for lunch. It’s a buckwheat crepe filled with Emmenthal cheese and a fried egg. This thing puts even the best egg & cheese on a roll to shame.

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers?: I work a few blocks from Bryant Park and love eating lunch there when the weather is nice. Aside from the obvious options (‘wichcraft, Chipotle, Pret a Manger, etc), does anyone have any suggestions for great (and maybe lesser known) places to pick up lunch before heading to the park?

I too can’t wait for Bryant Park to become a lunch’ing option again.  For a pretty good list of lunches in the immediate vicinity, check out my Fashion Week Guide to Midtown Lunch’ing around Bryant Park.  What’s your favorite Bryant Park lunch?  Feel free to post it as 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

Tomorrow seems to be a big day for corporate gimmicks, and while in theory I should be anti, I’ll take free stuff (and I’m guessing you will too).  To celebrate their new breakfast menu items, Jamba Juice will be giving away free 12oz servings of stuff from the time they open until 10am (limit one per customer so choose wisely).  Starbucks is being a little more cryptic, saying only that if you go at Noon EST to any U.S. Starbucks location, something big is going to happen and it involves their Venti.  Whatever.  If they’re not giving away something for free, people are going to get hurt…

If there’s not a Starbucks outside your office, then you don’t work in Midtown.  A list of participating Jamba Juice locations, after the jump… Read more »

**************The Price of This Lunch Has Gone Up to $11******************

The search for good (but cheap) sushi in Midtown has been an arduous one. Good is not really the issue, since there is plenty of amazing Japanese food in Midtown. Good and cheap is a different story. Try for under $10, and you’re in a danger zone, where better quality is tempered with smaller portions- and cheapness leaves you wondering about exactly what it is you’re eating. There are a few mediocre take out choices (Naruto or Midtown delis), but I think if quality is your main concern, then the sit down restaurants, where the sushi is made to order, is the way to go.

Most of the mid range places in Midtown have a lunch deal where you can usually get two rolls with a soup or salad for under $10. Taki (on 48th btw. 5+6th), and Kikku (on 55th btw. 5+6th) are two pretty popular choices, but two rolls for lunch always leaves me wanting, both for quantity and variety. Give me 3 rolls for $10, and now we’re talking. For months now, two of my co-workers have been extolling the virtues of Aoki, a sit down sushi place (on 48th btw. B’way+8th), with the holy grail of sushi lunch specials. My craving for quality sushi overtook my usual reluctance to get lunch from a place where you have to order from a waitress, or take the food to go… but 3 rolls for $10 will do crazy things to a man.

What I got, and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

Free Sample of “Gateway Haggis” from the Scotland Week Cart in Midtown (51st & B’way)

• After being spotted by our “At Lunch Now” Photo, Lauren Kreuger gives us an early look at the food from City Burger [AHT]
• Fig & Olive is coming to Midtown, and will feature “‘takeaway’ and prepared items… including freshly baked olive oil bread… warm paninis… as well as FIG & OLIVE’s signature salads” [Citysearch Blog]
• Eater introduces a new columnist and her first takedown is buffets! It’s just not right… [Eater]
• Michael Psilakis, from the much praised Midtown Greek restaurant Anthos, has just been named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2008 [Eater]
• Stay away from Franchia on Park Ave. [NYCNosh]
• Chef Yu is a solid alternative to Szechuan Gourmet [Food in Mouth]

A little confusion as to the placement of the free haggis cart. As of 11:30am it’s at 51st and Broadway but it may or may not move to 52nd…  also- it’s not haggis hot dogs, it’s small portions of haggis wrapped in puff pastry, which is sort of a cop out if you ask me.  You wrap anything in puff pastry and it’s going to be freaking good.  I want my sheep’s stomach!  This is more of a gateway haggis… so if you are scared but intrigued, this might be your best chance of enjoying it.

I had mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I know a lot of you don’t pay attention so here it is again, just in case (because lord knows I don’t want anybody to miss out on this).  In honor of Scotland Week there will be a cart giving away free haggis hot dogs on the corner of 52nd & Broadway, today and tomorrow from 11am to 5pm.  According to the NYDN Blog it will be at the Continental Airlines Billboard.  Free sheep’s innards for all!!!  This should be good.  See you there…

Photo Courtesy of NY Daily News

Birthday lunch for me is all about reckless abandon. So what better place to go crazy then the By the lb. Buffet. A perfect blend of variety and gluttony, the only downside being the concern that builds as you move your way down the buffet, stacking your tray. What will the outcome be? How much will I owe? Last year, I hit up Cafe Duke (with my favorite fake shrimp), this year it was Sun Yip (formerly Ho Yip) on 45th btw. 5+6th.An all chinese food by the lb. Buffet, Sun Yip is $5.19 per pound, unless you go after 2:15, when the price drops to a special $3.99/lb. But today isn’t about savings, it’s about reckless abandon. So we headed over at a very early 12:45, and I began to load up without any regard to how much it was going to cost.Here’s the damage… Pork fried rice, flat rice noodles, 3 kinds of fried and sticky chicken (the general, sesame, and something else), salt and pepper chicken, roast prok, two kinds dumpling (two steamed, two fried), string beans (gotta do one vegetable) and fried plantans (I don’t know why they’re there, but I had to take them, right?)

Total cost… an embarassingly cheap $7.49! Amazing. I’m pretty sure I was over $13 at Cafe Duke last year. With “reckless abandon” costing a mere $7.50 this may be the greatest midtown lunch of all time.

I remember the first time the “newsstand” that serves Indian food was mentioned here on Midtown Lunch. It was October of last year, and like most great Midtown Lunch discoveries it was mentioned in a comment, posted to the piece I had written about the Latin food being sold inside the Blimpie on 6th Ave btw. 37+38th:

Zach, if you had walked one storefront down from there, you would have found an even odder lunch option—the “newsstand” next door has a sign in the window: “Indian Vegetarian Food.” For $6 you get basmati rice, dal, two scoops of whatever vegetable dishes they have that day, bread (paratha? roti?), some pakoras, and a tin-foil ball filled with onions, lettuce, and tomatoes…though the selection has varied the two times I’ve tried.

Like many who may have seen that comment, I envisioned one of those green square sidewalk newsstands, somehow serving up vegetarian Indian food (behind all the gum and candy bars, I guessed?), although I had no idea how. Alright, I don’t know what the hell I was picturing… but I knew it sounded awesome. When I finally made it down there, I discovered it was actually a convenience store that was mostly a newsstand- and sure enough, in the back left hand corner, there it was… Gujarati Indian food, a vegetarian cuisine from the Gujarat region in Northern India, being served out of a mini steam table.

It’s almost six months later, the magazines are all gone, and the Latin food that used to be sold out of the Blimpie, is now occupying the back, right hand corner of the store. I think it’s finally time for a proper +/- (and some hardcore Gujarati food porn) Read more »