Midtown Lunch

Restaurant employees bringing lawsuits against their employers is becoming more and more common these days, and Del Frisco’s (on 49th btw. 6+7th) is the latest to get served.  According to a tipster, this lawsuit was filed yesterday in the Supreme Court of the State of New York:

Ligia Paredes on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated v. Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group LLC; Del Frisco’s of New York Inc.

Class action for discrimination and retaliation as well as violation of New York State labor laws for complaints about these violations. The defendants treated their Hispanic employees disparately and did not allow their Hispanic employees to take meal breaks as required by state law.

Seeing as Midtown Lunch is a big proponent of taking your full one hour lunch break, the issue raised in this lawsuit is near and dear to our heart. We also understand being mistreated by the Del Frisco’s management. Not only did they raise the price of the steak tips bar menu deal right after we posted about it, but you should have seen the dirty looks my co-workers and I got while trying to eat our steak tips at the Del Frisco’s bar in jeans and t-shirts.  The nerve!

UPDATE: Here is a full copy of the complaint [PDF]

The Kashmir Buffet and by the pound steam table on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th has reopened, after being closed by the DOH last month.  (Unfortunately it didn’t come quickly enough for Eat Me Daily, who called them out for not being “Open 24 hrs.” as it claims on their sign.)  In other news, the food court with Church’s located a few blocks north (on 8th Ave. btw. 44+45th) has still not reopened.  I’m starting to think this one may be gone for good…

If yesterday’s post about my trip to the Todai Buffet with a bunch of competitive eaters wasn’t enough for you, there is video! Shot and edited by Beautiful Brian, he was nice enough to keep me out of the video (for the most part) so my embarassing performance would not be saved for posterity.

Check it out after the jump…   Read more »

We’re kind of shocked, but the pomagranate macaron beat out the chocolate/pomagranate lollipop in the Dessert Truck’s free sample giveaway/promotion thingy last month… which means, the pomagranate macaron has now been added to their repotoire for the month of November. The are the size of a quarter, and sell in little packs of three for $3, PLUS “for every macaron sold from November 17-23 a portion of the proceeds  will go to City Harvest, an organization that strives to end hunger in New York City communities.”  But even more exciting than that (am I allowed to say that?) is the return of the dark chocolate mousse bombe, and the bomboloni (pictured above).  The Dessert Truck is on Park Ave. and 52nd every day from Noon to 4pm.

Photo by Robyn Lee

Following in Blondie and Brownie’s footsteps, another lunch’er has taken up the challenge to create a great sandwich, for under $10 at the newly opened Murray’s Salami in the Grand Central Terminal Market (enter on Lexington and 43rd). Lunch’er Dave has ratcheted it up a notch, with two meats, and one cheese. Here’s everything he bought:

“A few co-workers and myself hit up [Murray’s Salami] for the $10 Sandwich Challenge. For two sandwiches we came in at $20.35 no tax but thats only due to the Murrays cheese lady squeezing us with .3 instead of the requested 1/4 pound. Corrado bakery Loaf of Ciabatta for $4. 1/2 Lb of Murrays Hot Calabrese $7.99. 1/4 Lb of Murrays Salami $3.50. 1/4 Lb of Murrays Gorgonzola Cremificato $4.00.”

And the finished product is after the jump…  Read more »

Rupa’s Special bhelpuri from Taj Delhi Chat

Today’s Village Voice features a piece on where to find the best chaat in New York, and three of the four choices are Midtown Lunch mainstays: Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th), Sukhadia’s Gokul (on 45th btw. 5+6th), and of course, Khodiar Express (aka Taj Delhi Chat), the Indian food in the former newsstand on 6th Ave. btw. 37+38th.  I knew it was only a matter of time before that last one got discovered by the “real” NYC food media… if you haven’t been, you really need to hit it up.

Related
A Guide to the Best Indian Street Food in Midtown: Translating the Menu at Taj Delhi Chat
Snapshots: For Those About to Chaat…

If you read this site often, you know I have fairly strict rules about price. I feel in my heart that lunch should not cost a person more than $10.  But I have equally strong feelings about buffets, and when it comes to something like the concept of all-u-can-eat, well… I can’t help but think that rules were meant to be broken.  I’ll admit up front I don’t break the rule too often for Indian buffets (there are good Indian buffets in Midtown for $10 to $11… so why spend $17?) but when it comes to Asian buffets, all bets are off.  So, two years ago this month I made a price exception and hit up the Todai buffet on 32nd btw. Madison+5th. I thought it was just ok, and definitely not as good as when it was Minado (its previous buffet incarnation, before being bought out by the big buffet chain.)

Since that time the price has gone up to $18.95, not completely shocking for a sushi buffet, but waaaay out of the Midtown Lunch price range (even for a buffet lover like me.)  But when I got an email invite to buffet it up with competitve eater (and profiled Midtown Lunch’er) Crazy Legs Conti and a few of his competitive eating buddies, how could I say no!?!

The play by play of our meal, their pearls of wisdom, and a photo of every plate put down by Crazy Legs… all after the jump.

Read more »