Midtown Lunch

It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

If 2008 was the year of the price hike, 2009 will undoubtedly be the year of the “closing”… and from the looks of this list we’ve already gotten a head start. The economic climate has already taken a toll on some of our favorite Midtown lunches, but there’s no question that some hurt more than others. Here are the nominees for Saddest Closing of 2008:

• Belly Deli (B’way btw. 49+50th)
• Blimpie with the Spicy Vegetarian Sandwich (on 46th btw. 5+6th)
• Burritoville (Multiple Locations)
• Church’s Chicken Food Court (8th Ave. btw. 44+45th)
• Sakae Sushi (on 43rd btw. Lex+3rd)
• Sophie’s Cuban (40th btw. 7+8th)
• Starwich (38th btw. 5+6th)
• Sugo e Basilico (5th Ave. btw. 44+45th)
• Two Boots (Rock Center)
• Zen Burger (Lex btw. 45+46th)

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

The all-you-can-eat-buffet is probably my favorite style of eating, but with only one (mediocre) Chinese buffet in Midtown, and our one Latin buffet converting to a pay-by-the-lb. situation, Indian all you can eat buffets are all we have left. And with all the recent price hikes, $11 has to be the price limit, or else the category would be reduced to practically nothing. (Plus, what is an extra $1 when all-you-can-eat is involved.) Here are the nominees for best all you can eat Indian Buffet in Midtown:

• Bombay Grill (Lex. & 40th)
• Curry Dream (39th btw. 5+6th)
• Spice Fusion (8th Ave. btw. 47+48th)
• Sukhadia’s Gokul (45th btw. 5+6th)
• Touch of India (formerly West Tandoori Club on 37th btw. 7+8th)

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

I’ll admit that sandwiches is a pretty tough category.  In a lot of ways, Midtown Lunch exists so you don’t have to eat a boring sandwich every day.  And yet, there are a few places that are doing something out of the ordinary… whether it’s the fresh turkey sandwich at City 75, the unique offerings of Milant, or the (admittedly overpriced) fancy sandwiches at Le Pain Quotidien and ‘wichcraft. Plus Lenny’s (because if I didn’t, somebody would complain.)  One final note… the sandwiches at Sophie’s and Tina’s are identical, so I combined them into once choice.  Didn’t seem right to make them compete against each other.  Here are the nominees for best sandwiches in Midtown…   

• Boi to Go (2nd Ave. btw. 42+43rd)
• City 75 (51st btw. 5+6th)
• Homefront Deli (41st btw. Mad+Park)
• Le Pain Quotidien (40th btw. 5+6th)
• Lenny’s (Multiple Locations)
• Macaron Cafe (36th btw. B’way+7th)
• Milant (39th btw. Lex+3rd)
• Sophie’s Cuban/Tina’s Restaurant (Multiple Locations)
• ‘wichcraft (Multiple Locations)

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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Midtown Lunch Flickr friend The Flooz has been tracking the fried fish sandwich at the Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart on 46th btw. 5+6th for over a year now. The first photo was taken back in November of 2007, and TF had this to say:

I finally got a chance to visit Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart on 46th btw. 5+6th (right next to Moishe’s) and i have to say- i’m so glad i did! I ordered the fried flounder on a hero. Yeah everyone else in front of me was getting lettuce and tomato on white bread, but why bother? Slap on some tartar and hot sauce and we’re good to go. Also because of the quantity of fish (so much!) I went for the toasted hero so as to enjoy every last morsel. Wow- $4.50 never tasted so good!!!

But then, things went wrong back in September…

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

Midtown Lunch is all about cheap Chinese fast food, but there are some sit down Chinese places worthy of attention… including one which got two stars from the New York Times this year. I don’t normally like to eat at sit down places for lunch, but I make exceptions for Chinese food.  Here are the nominees for Best Sit Down Chinese Food in Midtown (with take out lunch for under $10).

• Big Bowl Noodles (6th Ave. btw. 37+38th)
• Chef Yu (8th Ave. and 36th St.)
• Nanking (B’way btw. 50+51st)
• Oriental Noodle Shop (45th btw. Lex+3rd)
• Szechuan Gourmet (39th btw. 5+6th)
• Wu Liang Ye (on 48th btw. 5+6th)

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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Photo by DelicatesseNY 

• If you can read French, here is another write up of Danku… [Delicastesseny]
• … or you can check out this Google translation (which is probably funnier) [Delicatesseny by way of Google Translation]
• The beef kimbap is the best option at E-mo in Koreatown [Bionic Bites]
• Ed Levine votes for Moshe’s as Best Falafel in Midtown [Serious Eats: New York]
• The Treats Truck is serving up special limited edition holiday treats [Blondie and Brownie]
• Empanada Joe’s, The Crepe Cart, and the just out of bounds Empanada Mama made this list of Best Empanadas in New York City [Serious Eats: New York]
• You know what is funny about this completely random rant?  I cook dinner for my wife at least 5 times a week [View in Blue]

It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

My quest for the best Chicken Parm sub in Midtown has been well documented, and yet a clear winner has never emerged… until now perhaps? Here are the nominees for Best Chicken Parm in Midtown:

• Bella Napoli (49th btw. 6+7th)
• Bella Vita (58th btw. 6+7th)
• Labeleca/La Bellezza (40th just west of 7th Ave; 49th btw. Lex+3rd) 
• Lazzara’s Pizza (38th btw. 7+8th)
• Mondello (37th btw. Mad+5th)
• Little Italy Pizza (45th btw. 5+6th)
• Park Italian (45th btw. 5+6th)
• Tuscany Catering (55th btw. 5+6th)

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

There was a time when asking for good Mexican food in Midtown would elicit a big laugh from anybody who knows anything about food. And while it hurts me to include a few of these options in a category called “Mexican Food”, I know they all have their fans- so I won’t discriminate. Also, I know a lot of you are happy to travel to Tehuitzingo for tacos, but 10th Ave. is just a little too far out of bounds… so I’m going to leave them off (and give the others a fighting chance of winning!)  So here they are- the nominees for Best Mexican Food in Midtown.

• Chipotle (Multiple Locations)
• El Rey Del Sabor (60th & 3rd Ave.)
• Pampano Taqueria (3rd Ave. btw. 49+50th)
• Qdoba (Multiple Locations)
• Sombrero Cart (on 50th btw. 6+7th)
• Tamale Lady in Front of the Mexican Embassy (39th btw. Mad+Park)

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