Midtown Lunch

Zagat Buzz has more intel on the second outpost of AQ Cafe, on Broadway between 58th St. and Columbus Circle. “The sign outside spells the restaurant’s name as “Kafé” (rather than original’s “cafe”), and the otherwise similar menu presents one glaring omission: the popular Nordic Cuban sandwich.” The glaring omission we noticed on the menu? The prices. Does not bode well, considering the original AQ Cafe on Park Ave. btw. 37+38th is already teetering on the edge of being outside the Midtown Lunch price range.

We’re also wondering what this will mean for FIKA Swedish Espresso bar, our current Scandinavian fave in the northern reaches of Midtown. It doesn’t get mentioned too often on the site, and is a little pricey, but they deserve credit for serving swedish meatballs in sandwich form (an item also on the AQ Kafe menu.) Walked by today and they were pretty packed, but it will be interesting to see how they fare once the M. Samuelsson train rolls north.

This was the scene at Chop’t on 56th btw. Park & Madison at 12:40 today. They’re not even giving away free food or nothing. Really? Seriously? There’s even a Cosi right next door. Oh, sorry. They don’t chop their salads up into little bitty pieces. You people is crazy.

Related:
Chop’t is As Terrifying As You Would Think

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 Amy- a marketing something or other who is just looking for some cheap Greek.

Name: Amy

Age: 26

Occupation: Marketing

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 40th St. & Ave of the Americas

Favorite Kind of Food: Japanese or Greek, but I love food so it’s really hard to choose. Thankfully living in NYC I really don’t have to! I haven’t found a good Greek place in midtown yet, but for Japanese I love love love Oms/b (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd)—the wasabi shrimp rice ball is my favorite but the choices change all the time it seems and Sapporo (on 49th btw. 6+7th) has amazing gyoza and donburi bowls

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I love food! But if pressed to choose, I’m not really that into fusion cuisine like Rice restaurant.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Djerdan balkan restaurant (on 38th btw. 7+8th) for the authentic burek slices and cucumber yogurt salads (the entrees like the meat balls with polenta, like grits there, are good too and they have big servings, so the leftovers are yummy too), the Aloo Masala roll at Kati Roll (39th btw. 5+6th), the Italiano sandwich and the macarons (of course) at Macaron Cafe (on 35th btw. 6+7th), and I do love ‘wichcraft in the park when I want a fancy sandwich.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Pergola (on 39th btw. B’way+6th) for Mongolian BBQ or Duke’s (on 41st & Bway) because they have everything.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? Oms/b and Macaron Cafe (thanks by the way!)

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Nolita because it’s near the deliciousness in the Little Italy delis, and close enough to the variety in the East Village and even Chinatown.

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Is there a reasonably priced Greek lunch place in midtown?

Ok, so before we get to the Greek food question, something else needs to be mentioned.  On rare occasions a Lunch’er will send more than one photo, often leaving me with a difficult decision.  Especially in cases like this, where one photo is clearly amazing, but maybe the other photo gives you a better idea of what the person looks like.  And lord knows, with the ladies, that’s all you creepy dudes care about…  so, in those rare cases when I can’t decide, I’m forced to post both.  Amy’s New Orleans make out photo, after the jump… Read more »

A heavenly match has been created on 3rd Avenue btw. 34+35th Streets. What better way to counteract the effects of a Carl’s cheesesteak grease bomb than with Red Mango. Yes, I admit it- I like Red Mango. (Pinkberry can screw off, though.) You may say the secret ingredient is Cap’n Crunch. (Trust me, it’s freaking good.) And it has been proven in a study that yogurt cultures, mixed with peanut butter cereal, will help aid in the digestion of red meat and cheese. You can’t argue with science.*

* Not proven by any actual scientific study.

I walked by Curry Dream Indian Buffet on 39th btw. 5+6th the other day, and noticed something interesting:  it was kind of packed.  I guess this wouldn’t be such a huge surprise, unless you knew a little bit about Curry Dream. I first wrote about this place in March of 2007, back when it was still one of the only under $10 Indian buffets in Midtown (they’ve since raised their prices.)  It was ok for the price, but nothing I would have traveled far out of my way for.  One commenter wrote that the restaurant might be a little dirty (roaches were mentioned, but this is all heresay).  Despite the comments, the restaurant still quoted Midtown Lunch (sort of) in their newspaper ad.  Very exciting stuff.

Needless to say, I haven’t been back since- and most of the time the place seemed fairly empty… that is until last week.  I walked by during lunch and it was pretty hopping, despite the fact that they raised the price of the buffet at the beginning of the year.  This could mean a few things: A) I’m on crack.  The place was always crowded, I just didn’t notice.  B) It has gotten a lot better since I first visited a year and a half ago.  Or C) people love paying more for things.  Could it be that a higher price buffet gives people a greater sense of security that their food is clean?  What do you think?  Has anybody been lately?

On Friday I had lunch plans with my brother, who is hands down the soup aficionado of our family.  I don’t mind soup; he can’t get enough of the stuff.  To decide where we would go for lunch, I sent him a link to Lunch’er Grace’s Ultimate Midtown Soup List, and after careful perusal, he chose Sapporo– so we could try their tantan-men, a Japanese sesame paste broth with pork and scallions.

I hadn’t been to Sapporo (on 49th btw. 6+7th) in awhile so I was happy to oblige. Out of the three Midtown Lunch’ish, sit down ramen places in Midtown (Sapporo, Menchanko Tei and Men Kui Tei) I’d probably rate Sapporo my least favorite, but after this visit, I am starting to really enjoy the charm to the place.  It has a casualness and vibrancy that is missing from the stodgier other two.  And while their ingredients (especially the pork) aren’t as high quality, they do make a mean bowl of soup.

Read more »

Jamaican Patty with Coco Bread from Golden Krust. Photo by Food in Mouth

• Jiannetto’s pizza is not as good as everybody says it is [Food Mayhem]
• You should always get two patties at Five Guys [Food in Mouth]
• The Frogurt at the fruit place on 45th St. is not as good as the Frogurt from Forty Carrots [Blondie and Brownie]
• If you buy a Starbucks coffee in the morning, show your receipt in the afternoon for a $2 grande cup of coffee [Gothamist]

I am a big fan of the 2:15 lunch special at Sun Yip (formerly Ho Yip).  I can’t usually wait that long for lunch, but on the days I can- it’s a nice treat.  Basically after 2:15 they discount their steam table to $4.29/lb. (it used to be $3.75, but what are you gonna do).  This is a pretty big deal, considering that most by the pound buffets are at least $6 a pound, and most of the good ones are even more.  Usually I go right at 2:15, when the buffet is still full (they usually do one major refill just after 2pm) but the other day, I happened to be walking by at 3pm and saw a pretty pathetic sight. 

Read more »