Midtown Lunch

Today it was my wife that had jury duty, so I hopped on the subway to meet her (any excuse to lunch in Chinatown.) We were going to go to Excellent Pork Chop House, but ended up at NY Noodle Town (on Bowery and Bayard). This place has lost a step over the years, but the price is still right, and the pan fried soy sauce noodles with chicken was pretty… pretty… pretty good.  (Although not as good as tripe from a cart.)

*Sigh* … Obika.  What are we going to do with you?  When I first heard that Obika, the Italian mozzarella bar chain, would be opening it’s first American outpost in Midtown I was pretty excited.  It sounded really good.  Actually, that’s not true.  It sounded expensive. Imported meats and cheeses?  There was no way this place was going to be in the Midtown Lunch price range (i.e. under $10 for a filling lunch.)  So, when they finally released the menu, and the take out sandwiches were all under $10, I was kind of excited.  I like cheese.  I like meat.  I like sandwiches. (And most of all, I like Italy.)  This could be good.

Not surprisingly, the opening week was pretty hectic.  They were overwhelmed and understocked, and as a result the sandwiches were running out pretty early in the day (sometimes even before the accepted lunch start time of Noon.)  Reports were coming in that they were pre-made, waiting under the glass, and kind of on the small side, especially for $8.  After waiting about as long as I could wait, I finally hit up Obika to see for myself whether these sandwiches could pass the Midtown Lunch standards.

The report, and plenty of sandwich porn, after the jump… 

Read more »

Fresh off taking photos of that mediocre Mexican cart posing as a Vendy Award nominee, I ran into these guys again on the SW corner of 53rd and 6th Ave… who have now started wearing yellow sweaters to further confuse people into thinking they are the famous 53rd St. and 6th Ave. halal cart.  As you know (or maybe you don’t know), at night this corner of Midtown is occupied by one of the most popular street meat carts in the city. The line stretches down the street from the time they set up (around 7 p.m.) to the time they leave (sometime after 3 a.m.) But during the day, there is a different cart there serving different food- but that doesn’t stop them from claiming to be the same cart that is there a night. They still don’t have yellow bags though, which is the true way you know you’re getting the real thing.  If they ever switch to yellow bags, there might be a war.

A photo of the actual famous halal cart guys is after the jump…   Read more »

I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…)

I’ve got a beef with the Five Guys on 55th St. (btw. 5+6th). My beef is pretty simple: It’s the worst Five Guys I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot of Five Guys (DC, Philly, two different ones in DE, the one by my apartment in Park Slope). Simply put every time I’ve been there they’ve managed screw something up.

When they were first opening my office faxed an order in and when I came to pick it up the manager claimed the fax machine wasn’t turned on. I said that wasn’t possible because our machine clearly said it went through. He agreed to go look and low and behold came back with our order. While I was then waiting to have them prepare it, someone else came in to pick up a faxed order and he told them the exact same lie he told me. Since then I’ve been there a few times and each time they find a way to screw up my order (no bacon, wrong toppings, missing 2nd patty for the regular burger!).

But wait… there’s more.

Read more »

If your man won yesterday, and you want to bask in the glow of your
enormous victory, taking your lunch to Rock Center is the thing to do
today. If you’re feeling depressed and defeated, you’ll probably want to
avoid the enormous physical manifestation of your defeat.

Grub Street is reporting that Crumbs will finally be doing their 1000 cupcake giveaway this Friday at three different stores in Manhattan- including the new Midtown location on Madison and 52nd. Only one catch: none of the stores have been told yet. A call to the Madison location (in particular) got this response: “Uh… I don’t think so.  It may be on the 6th but we haven’t received confirmation from our corporate offices yet.”  Wow.  I think Crumbs is on track to win the most disorganized company in all of Midtown award.

As you know, the last “Free 1000 Cupcake” thing ended up turning into a “free samples at random times” thing. Hopefully corporate will let the stores know in time for us to enjoy free cupcakes on Friday morning!

I am usually staunchly against eating lunch at your desk, and mostly against bringing your lunch to work (it would be the death of this site), but in these economic times even I admit that it’s tough to eat out every day. If you love sushi, it’s even harder. Lunch’er Jacob comes to the rescue with this awesome suggestion, co-opted from another commenter:

I love Yagura (on 41st btw. Mad+5th). What a treasure. Their curries are awesome. The udon/soba is so cheap and tasty. But, this week, I decided to take Ubu Walker’s advice and I have been making two sushi rolls and a few bite-sized rice balls for under $5 at work. I bought vinegar, soy sauce, a package of roasted sesame seeds, wasabi, and nori. Now each day I just go in and buy some sashimi meat and rice. You can get enough spicy tuna for two rolls for about $2 and rice for $1.50, or enough plain tuna for two rolls for about $4.

Your ideas are intriguing and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. Photos please…  

Read more »