PROFILE: Midtown Lunch’er “Broke Ass Stuart” (Plus Book Giveaway)
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 another author and book giveaway… meet ”Broke Ass Stuart” whose new book “Guide to Living Cheaply in New York City” was released last week. He doesn’t work in Midtown, but the purpose of his guide is clearly something we’re all interested in. He’s also having an open-to-the-public book release party at The Delancey on Thursday night, featuring free beer and free food from a bunch of places, including Midtown Lunch favorite Kati Roll. But more on that below… first, his picks for best lunch in Midtown.
Name: Stuart
Age: Two weeks away from being 28
Occupation: Travel Writer (www.brokeassstuart.com)
Where do you Work?: Wherever there are broke-asses I’ll be there.
Favorite Kind of Food: Ooh, that’s tough. I love food from around the world. The idea of only being able to eat one kind of food for the rest of my life sound like torture to me. For example, I love steak, pizza, and pasta, but when I was down in Argentina, I actually got sick of all those things because there was very little else to eat. In an ideal world I’d have a burrito from San Diego, Vietnamese food from SF, pastrami from Katz’s Deli, pizza from Brooklyn, and a Garbage Plate from Rochester all in the same week. Unfortunately I would probably have a heart attack that week too.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Raw onions. Fuck raw onions.
Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I really dig Taam-Tov (on 47th btw. 5+6th). It’s this really cool little Glatt Kosher Uzbek that serves up delicious meals. I get something new every time. I don’t know what half the shit is, so I just look at what the people around me are having, point to it and say I’ll take that. I usually works out pretty well. Hallo Berlin is pretty cool too…mmmm…sausages…
“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? I don’t really have one because my job is to try to get a piece of as many places as possible. But if I was to have a goto spot it would probably be Minar Indian Restaurant (on 46th btw. 6+7th). You can get an awesome dosa and a coke for like $6!!
If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? My ideal city is where I’m currently living, San Francisco. It has amazing cheap food, tons of culture, and far less stress than New York. Sure I miss the pizza, bagels and beautiful beautiful pastrami that this city has, but still SF is home. In a perfect world, I’d be based in SF, spend a few months of the year in NY (spring or fall) and spend a few months traveling the world. Let’s keep our fingers crossed about that one :)
Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? What is your cheapest go-to lunch in Midtown?
Alright, so here is where the book giveaway comes in. Post your answer to Stuart’s question in the comments below and you’ll be entered to win a copy of his new book “Broke Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in New York.” Also, if you’re interested in getting free beer and food at his party on Thursday night, here are the details: Thursday, December 4th at 8pm at The Delancey (168 Delancey Street, LES), and there will be free food from The Kati Roll Company, Kossar’s Bialys, The Doughnut Plant, Aprovecho, Sumile Sushi, and Tuck Shop. 2 for 1 well drinks from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., and free beer from 10:30-11:30 p.m. (or while supplies last) provided by Sixpoint Brewery. $1 cover charge to get in.
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
Posted: 11:50 am, December 2nd, 2008 under PROFILE: Midtown Lunch'er.
58 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
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58 Comments
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$1 Pizza. C’mon.
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can we go slightly out of bounds? piece of chicken for a buck?
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greek salad w/ grilled chicken, feta, and grape leavesfrom food cart on 55 b/t park and mad
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$5
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More hot chicks (book giveways be damned)!
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My favorite place is someplace we call cheap Chinese. I dunno if it really has a name or I just can’t read it. It’s on 36th st between 8th and 9th, closer to the 8th ave side. you get a tin full of rice and any 3 sides from the steam table, includes beef and chicken. costs only $3.50 (I haven’t been in a while, hopefully the price is the same). $3.50 for enough food to fill you up. Just gotta get there early for the biggest selection.
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Mee Noodle Shop seafood soup with thin Cantonese noodles on 2nd and 49th.
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Amendment to my last post, while it’s technically out of bounds, it’s really only a couple of doors off of 8th ave, so it’s really just on the cusp of the zone. But isn’t it worth an extra 20 feet of walking to get a good deal?
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Best Cheap Eat: Street Meat Guy on 40th and Broadway. $4 Lamb / Chicken over Rice
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Famous Halal Cart lamb and chicken combo. $5 for a lot of very filling and un-nutritious food. And the new one on 53rd and 7th never has a line.
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Ultimate cheap ass lunch: Rudy’s $5 pitcher and free hot dogs!!
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5 dolla-5 combo lunchbox buffet on 34th. seriously the most food you can get for 5 dollars. (incl. tax) (Chinese food)
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53rd & 6th Lamb Over rice = $5.00 … for what feels like a couple of pounds of food. If this tin was weighed in at any deli, it’d easily be at LEAST 12 bucks.
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@Wined and Dined…I thought I was the only one who got that “off the menu” greek salad with chicken from the 55th St btwn Park and Madison cart. But he charges me $6! What an outrage.
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Looks like Popeye Doyle has had sex With Vince Vaughn.
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That said, Kar Won on 60th btwn Park and Lex has HUGE Chinese roast meat combo plates and noodle soups for 6 bucks. Guaranteed bloated/sleepy afternoon on a plate (my idea of a good lunch).
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pepper steak sammich from JT Luncheonette for 3.75
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I like this guy, but is no else disturbed that he lives in SF and wrote a book called “Guide to Living Cheaply in New York City”?
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shendy’s on 52nd & 6th. $5 for a LOT of food
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The fact that he doesn’t live here is very disturbing. My cheapest go-to is 99 cent pizza, 43rd street.
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The 53rd Street Halal Food Cart. To this day, my favorite Midtown Lunch food find and the cheapest. $5, and I’m stuffed to the gills way past dinner.
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Yeah, what’s up with that?
And where has bossman been? He’s MIA
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Woorijip
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Mamacita!! Mamacita!!! Mamacita!!! you nailed it.. Rudy’s for Life!!
And by the way when is NYC Food Guy’s (aka Larry) tome ” From Larchmont to Garden City a Man’s Guide to Eating Like a Child” being published.. I personallly can’t wait his chapter on chicken wings or Applebee’s v. TGIF Friday’s…
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Hey, thought you were here as an expert but you’re asking us for suggestions? You don’t even lunch in Midtown? You like Hallo Berlin? Waxing poetic about SF?
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Currently, Cafe Zaiya has a weekday lunch special. For $5, you get a Japanese rice entree plus a free drink. That’s pretty good coming from Cafe Zaiya. Plus, there are seats for you to settle down with your lunch instead of braving the wind from food cart food.
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First rule to living cheaply in New York: Never pay for a book about living cheaply in New York. Use your goddamned internets.
Second rule: Give up. It can’t be done.
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Bring your own rice from home, and then hit up Hing Won for about 1/2 pound of steam table buffet for meat to pour over top.
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I have to give it to flatrock for a truly ingenious and diabolically penny-pinching suggestion.
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Nice two-fisted pic – Heineken? FUCK THAT SHIT! Pabst Blue Ribbon!
Bossman disappeared after Zach scolded him for the jokes. I think he is still in the Midtown Lunch time-out corner.
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Stuart’s kinda cute….
Pro Korean’s Ramen -
My cheapest go-to is the $3.50 fried whiting sandwich at Kim’s Aunts Kitchen.
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yeah, i say woorijip too.
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My cheapest go-to lunch has to be the dollar pizza behind PA ($2, 2 slices). Other almost-ass-cheap faves include any lamb gyro from a halal cart ($3.50-$4), cheap Chinese takeout ($4.50-$6 at places like Noodle 36), or (if I’m very hungry) the add-everything-you-want salad megameal at Bistro 49 for $7.
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I think it’s a little funny that ideal world Vietnamese comes from SF instead of Vietnam.
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Poor bossman. I thought Blondie had shunned him again and he was too broken hearted to post. She’s a man eater!
(J/K -don’t beat me up blondie)
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Bossman last seen on Gay Supermans blog….entering a Wardrobe…
He’s in Will & Grace Narnia.
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Tsk, tsk….. a little birdie told me I was being disgusted here.
FYI – as of 11/26 I am no longer a denizen of Midtown… what kind of a wanker would read/post on a blog with a focus on an area over 60 miles away?…… oh wait…..
Oh, and I have no beef with Zach, it’s his site and he runs it with a very light hand to his credit. I’d be the first to admit any scolding or time-out’s were well deserved even if he did delete my man-running-down-the-street-with-a-TV-on- his-back wisecrack totally without merit (hi Zach!)
Who is this Blondie you speak of?
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where are you working now? 60 miles???? WTF?
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I think it was the Blondie broken heart thing…..Poor chap….we’ve all been there….but to move away!!….did you Listen to Celine Dion during the drive?
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60 miles – self-banished to either Jersey, CT, the wilds of NY or maybe a fishing trawler in the Atlantic
Most guys would just join the French Foreign Legion or jump off the Verrazano…
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Your affected miniature fedora, prominent nose and red wispish hair recall a young Larry Fine. I’d give serious consideration to tributing him professionally should this book thing work out as I suspect it will.
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Ive got it!!!!
He was the CEO of Lehmans.
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Bossman, I expect a full report. Will you at least visit us sometime?
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I reject this hipster with his pbr and fingerless gloves who claims to know our fair city. I might take some of his beer though. That’s how its done in NY, sonny, we shun you and then take your freebies.
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To answer your questions:
I did live in NY while writing the book, but now live in SF.
Also, the reason I asked that particular question was so you all had something to chime in and possibly win a book. It would’ve been out of context if I asked a question like, “who do you think was greater Catherine the Great or Peter the Great”. Know what I’m saying?
and Sarah, feel free to come and drink all the beer you want. Let’s fucking party.
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that’s an easy one…the great peter centralized government, modernized the army and created a navy
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…cathy did get randy with a horse too……
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Guys, guys, enough about me, the focus should be on the pretentious, self-important hipster-wannabe of the week (the hat, the ruffles, the sideburns, the jacket, the pose, the HORROR).
If you keep this up Zach won’t have any more talentless hacks looking to get ML cred by promoting their latest affront to popular culture by ponying up some half-baked impression of a real MLer’s profile.
@Mamacita – I’m between careers, I’ve narrowed my next one down to adult film leading man, drug dealer, or rock star……
decisions, decisions. Oh and thanks, I took the crew down to Rudy’s on our last day and I think they saw another side to this SVP – watch your email for the gory details.@Rudy – close, very close, but you give me too much credit. I’m not nearly that incompetent, but I tried, no one can say I didn’t try.
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One of the halal carts. Grill meats are nice and filling.
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What I did when I had barely on cash in my wallet? Half a tuna sandwich from Guy and Gallard on RYE. The rye was important because it’s so huge that half of it is still the size of a regular sandwich. Oh and an apple. Very elementary school lunch room but it came to some where around 3.50. Score.
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$3.75 California rolls at the Chinese market on 41st b/w Madison and 5th paired with $1 miso if the hunger ravages.
Cheap-ass book?
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Jamaican Dutchy cart, beef patti with coco bread for $3.50 and I am full, or Papri Chaat from Indus Express, $5.30 healthy and you could even streatch it into two meals if you had to.
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Uncle Floyd!
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papri chaat at indus, healthy? it’s having chips slathered in sauces for lunch! which i fully support but would not call healthy.
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Bread and Olive. Its on W 45th St between 5th and 6th. Middle Eastern food at its best. I never had much of that type of food before a friend had me try it. Now I’m hooked. The prices are good too so I can go there twice a week and keep to my food budget.
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Favorite food is a “San Diego Burrito” eh? Stu, the BFT likes the cut of your jib. That being said, the BFT don’t take no guff from the 212. You NY’ers roll clear of the 619. Stay home with your Brooke Shields and your Gossip Girl and your fancy scarves and such or you will go the way of Biggie on a bad day. However, if you kids are out here, Taco Tuesday in Pacific Beach along Garnet Ave. is pretty damn good.
Piece of Chicken! Hands down!!
(Who won last weeks giveaway??)