Midtown Lunch

Two of the better Indian lunches in Midtown have undergone some changes…  Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th) known for their giant version of the Kati Roll, has gotten rid of their salad bar- the lone holdover from City Market Cafe, the generic deli that originally occupied the space.  They’ve added more seating in that space, plus a small table filled with Indian snacks that are now for sale.

But the real big changes have been happening at Khodiar Express, the vegetarian food inside the former Newsstand on 6th Ave. btw. 37+38th.  See if you can follow this… the Gujarati Indian food, which used to be in the back left hand corner, has moved to the front, right next to Taj Delhi Chat  which opened along the right hand wall two months ago.  The latin food, which moved from the now closed Blimpie next door, to the back right hand corner of the “newsstand”, has also moved to the right hand wall.  And finally, between the two, a Middle Eastern steam table has opened up, serving Israeli style falafel.

Got that all?  If not, there are semi-helpful photos after the jump…  Read more »

From this mornings NY Post: “A Queens man is suing [Subway] for $1 million after finding a large serrated knife he says was baked into the bread of his 12-inch cold-cut sub.  [He] bought the sub from a shop on West 35th Street, where he often went for lunch.” The article goes on to mention that although the man wasn’t harmed by the knife, he did become “violently ill with ‘severe stomach issues’ for three hours.”  There are only 3 letters for this one.  OMG.  Where to begin…  let’s see… uh… don’t eat at Subway?  That seems like a good start.  And then, if you do decide to eat at Subway, and you pick up your sub and feel something hard and knife-like inside the bread, you may not want to eat it.  Seems curious that part of his complaint was that the sub made him violently ill.  Isn’t a knife in a sandwich grounds enough for anger.  Do you really have to “prove” that you are owed restitution by admitting you still ate enough of the knife-filled sandwich to make you violently ill for 3 hours?  Awesome.

NY Times reports today on how the Unlimited Metrocard has changed the way office workers approach lunch.  “Today, many downtown office workers think nothing of hopping on the subway at Wall Street and zipping up to Union Square for lunch. Workers in Midtown might ride a couple of stops to Macy’s to get some shopping done during a break.”  It’s true, while my goto Subway Lunch is now gone, I have considered seeing how long it would take to lunch in other parts of the city via the subway.  Shake Shack?  Chinatown? Some have even suggested Jackson Heights could be done in under an hour if you hit the trains right.  That would be amazing.  And this idea is clearly spreading… some of my former co-workers have made it a habit to hop on the Rock Center subway to Nolita for lunch on Fridays.

Anybody have any intel on this topic?  Back when it was still open, the Manhattan Mall food court was easy in under an hour.  Have you gone farther?  How long did it take?  And where did you eat?  Comments please…

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown.  Three weeks we profiled “Blondie” half of the duo that runs the blog http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com.  Today, Alex (aka “Brownie”) gets her moment in the sun… 

Name: Brownie

Age: Mid-Twenties

Occupation: Publishing (and 1/2 of the blogging team “Blondie and Brownie“)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Rock Center Area

Favorite Kind of Food: Cupcakes, peanut butter, cheese, dark chocolate, New Haven pizza, Ethiopian, Korean, Greek, and Indian.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Cottage Cheese. Yuck.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Kwik Meal’s lamb pita (45th & 6th), grilled cheese with gruyere and caramelized onion from ‘wichcraft, chicken pita platter from the cart on 53rd and 6th, red lentil soup from Dervish Turkish (47th btw. 6+7th), small combo with moudardara and mousakka from Bread and Olive (45th btw. 5+6th), spicy pork and the kimchi pancakes from Woorijip (32nd btw. B’way+5th), and plain fro-yo from Forty Carrots (yes, I consider fro-yo lunch).

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Ever since I discovered Midtown Lunch, I’ve ditched the old go-to spots. Just say no to overpriced soups at Hale and Hearty. I still shudder when my co-workers order in from Pronto Pizza. Not my kind of pie.

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? I will always be grateful to ML for breaking the news that the cart on the SE corner of 53rd and 6th is the same as the night cart on the SW corner of 53rd and 6th. Cut my wait time in the evening and brought their chicken pita into my lunching world. Thanks, Zach!

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? I went to school in the village and I miss some of the cheap eats there. And Downtown lunch correspondent, Daniel Krieger is making me a bit jealous. I’d work in Chinatown solely for access to cheap and authentic bahn mi and roast pork buns.

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? I love cupcakes. I’ve tried Cucina, I’ve tried the ones from Dean and Deluca, from Crumbs, Zaros, and most recenlty the Treats Truck. Am I missing any notable Midtown cupcakes?

Cupcake recs in the comments please…

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

If you were hoping to cross the Avenue of the Americas for lunch purposes today, you may be very disappointed.  The MLB All Star Parade will be shutting down 6th Avenue from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, from 40th Street all the way up to 58th Street, and while there will be some cross streets open to pedestrians along the route, I think it’s safe to say you should pretty much steer clear of 6th Avenue during lunch;  unless of course you have an interest in watching grown men in baseball uniforms walk down the street for absolutely no reason (they didn’t even win nothing,) in which case you must be very excited.

The West Tandoori Club (on 37th btw. 7+8th), which closed for renovations over a month ago, has re-opened as Touch of India.  Gone is the dingy atmosphere, and take out counter in the back- replaced with a nice (but by no means well designed) atmosphere that is typical of these kinds of Midtown restaurants.  Thankfully they still offer the all you can eat buffet, and shockingly it’s still under $10 (making it one of the very few left in Midtown.)

Interior buffet shots, after the jump…  Read more »