Midtown Lunch

Hummous Bowl from Crisp (3rd Ave. & 43rd).  Photo Courtesy of Grace is Full

• A first look at the food from the newly opened Crisp (which apparently is all about falafel) [Grace is Full]
• The sandwiches are better than the macarons at the Macaron Cafe [Lifestyle of a Yuppie]
• Yolato is coming soon to a generic Midtown deli near you [NYMag]
• Lucky Sunday is the worst general tso’s chicken Lawrence (aka Superman) has ever had [NYC Food Guy]
• There is a fairly new Le Pain Quotidien near Bryant Park [LWF&D]
• Patroon has just opened a new rooftop bar [Eater]
• EMO Bap on 32nd btw. 5+6th makes kimbap that tastes homemade [Food in Mouth]

Lunch’er Shauna (who we have to thank for yesterday’s McD’s photo), also sent along this photo of the “Crepe Cafe” cart parked on 50th btw. 6+7th yesterday. Not to be confused with the Crepe Cart on 53rd btw. 5+6th, I know I’ve seen this cart somewhere- but it definitely wasn’t on 50th btw. 6+7th. Anybody eaten from it yet? The one on 53rd btw. 5+6th is ok, but nothing to write home about- and I’m sure no cart could be better than the crepe lady in the Cyber Cafe on 49th btw. 7+8th, but I’d still be curious. If you’ve tried it, feel free to post in the comments… and if you have news, recommendations or a photo to share, send it to zach@midtownlunch.com

I love free food, but not enough to eat at McDonalds (notice how I got Andre Mika to blog about their chicken sandwich for me), and even posting about their southern style fried chicken sandwich promotion this morning made me feel dirty.  Luckily I get to redeem myself by posting this email from Midtown Lunch’er “Shauna“:

I saw the slightly tantalizing image you posted when McD’s first announced the Southern Style Chicken Sandwich, but lookie here at what my coworker returned to the office with today [from the McDonalds on Broadway & 51st]…

Are they KIDDING?!?!?! Maybe that’s how they’re saving $$ during the giveaway today.  Pretty pathetic.

I didn’t hear too many complaints from commenters, so I’m guessing this was just one stray breakfast biscuit patty, served as a lunch sandwich… but even so, it makes me feel good to post it.

Photo by Kayoko from Umamimart

The plywood has come down at Crisp, the- not as generic as I expected it to be– sandwich/salad place, on 3rd Ave. & 43rd, and they are open for business.  Far from being another Chop’t or Just Salads, the all vegetarian menu (which can be seen on their now live website) consists of salads (of course), pita pocket sandwiches, hummus bowls, and a nice selection of homemade teas.  It’s typical Midtown prices, with everything on the menu ranging from $6 to $10.75, but a few things on their website stand out enough for me to want to check it out:

• Their pita breads are baked from scratch every few hours on premises
• Their fresh made teas sound really good (with flavors like lychee, ginger/peach, & apple mango)
• Some of the ingredients they use in the sandwiches I could be down with… like mango curry, eggplant, goat cheese, and pomegranate dressing
• I won’t eat salads, but a hummus bowl with mango curry or roasted eggplant sounds pretty damn good
• Everything they serve is organic, when possible, and always delivered fresh daily.  Plus they change their oil every 24 hours, and they only use eco-friendly, recycled materials

Is there potential for anger and disappointment?  Of course, but I can’t help but get excited when new places open in Midtown, and this one looks alot more promising than we initially gave it credit for.  Full +/- coming soon… and for you early adopters who can’t wait to check it out, please post your thoughts in the comments.

Crisp, 684 3rd Ave. (btw. 43+44th), 212-661-0000

Official Website: http://www.eatatcrisp.com/

Photo by Dave Cook from Eating in Translation

The Pranzo Pizza Truck, which popped up on 55th btw. Park+Lex last October, and then disappeared, has been found (sort of) by Eating in Translation! This sign was spotted yesterday in Washington Heights. Lesson learned: if you copy a concept from a really popular vendor (in this case the much loved Jiannetto’s Pizza Truck), you may want to park your truck a little more than 6 blocks away from the original. Carribean Spice Cart (on 46th St btw. 6+7th)… you’ve been warned.

Related:
Midtown Links (Pizza Truck is M.I.A. & the Treats Truck is Sick Edition)
The Pranzo Pizza Truck Attempts to Replace Jiannetto’s as Best Grandma Slice

I have a secret relationship with General Tso’s Chicken. Maybe secret isn’t the best word for it. Love/Hate? Nah… that doesn’t really do it either. Hate is not a word I would ever use to describe my feelings toward any kind of Chinese food (even the most Americanized dishes.) So maybe it’s an affair. I know it’s bad for me. I know it’s an American invention. I know much better food can be had in Flushing or Manhattan’s Chinatown, or on Sunday mornings in a Dim Sum house (my other Chinese food addiction). But there is a special place in my heart for the General. (Tso or Gau, it doesn’t really make a difference to me.)

My addiction started in college, when General Tso’s Chicken from Golden Light in Somerville, MA (go Jumbos!) became my go to second dinner. If you never went to college, second dinner is the meal you eat around one in the morning, a full 6-7 hours after eating “dinner” in the dining hall, thereby making it a totally acceptable 4th meal of the day (3rd for those of us who didn’t wake up until Noon.) That is where it started. It ended about halfway through my sophomore year, when I had to go to the hospital one day with horrible stomach pains that would not go away. My friends joked that maybe eating General Tso’s chicken every single night at 1am for over a month isn’t such a good idea. Ok… so maybe they weren’t “joking”, although in the General’s defense, it only allegedly put me in the hospital. It was never proven. It’s not like when I was admitted, the Doctor looked at my chart and said, “This is clearly a case of eating cheap Chinese food every night for an entire month!” So we don’t really know for a fact that it was the Chinese food. We can only speculate. And quite frankly, it could have been anything giving me those horrible stomach pains, which thankfully ended up going away on their own.

Needless to say, I cut back (slightly) on the General Tso’s after that. But I still love it, and although I eat only eat in sparingly now, the craving does come up every so often for those crispy chunks of chicken, covered in spicy, sweet, gooey sauce. So when I saw Lawrence (aka Superman, aka NYCFoodGuy) write that the best General Tso’s chicken in Midtown West is at China Gourmet on 8th Ave. btw. 52+53rd, I knew my mission was clear: use his post as an excuse to eat General Tso’s chicken. Read more »

Asking me to not eat lunch out for a day, is like asking a Doctor to stop saving lives.  (People depend on me in a way, right?)  It feels weird posting something to this site about skipping lunch, but it’s for a good cause, so I guess Midtown Lunch can skip a day of eating out.  Today is City Harvest’s “Skip Lunch, Fight Hunger” day, and they’re asking individuals to donate what they would normally spend on lunch, to help feed New York City’s hungry kids and their families.  With the amount of money you would spend on a Midtown Lunch ($10), they can help feed two children for a month.  And if you didn’t bring a bagged lunch, or can’t skip lunch entirely (I know I usually pass out if I’m not lunch’ing by 12:15), get two slices of $1 pizza, and give the other $8 to City Harvest. 

For more info, or to donate money, go to http://www.cityharvest.org/skiplunch/

[Via Gothamist]