Midtown Lunch

The #4 From Pho 32.  Photo by Ultraclay!

• The pho at Pho 32 hits the spot on a day like today [Ultraclay] 
• Valentine’s Day Treats are now available from the Treats Truck [Blondie & Brownie]
• Apparently the Steak Truck will throw a couple of falafel balls and waffle fries onto your chicken and rice plate! [Grace is Full]
• You can get a Matcha Latte (whatever the hell that is) at Tafu [Serious Eats: New York] 
• Some stupid company was giving away cash in Times Square this week!  (How did we not know about this?) [City Room]
• Superman calls out of bounds ML favorite Azuri Cafe the best Falafel in NYC [NYC Food Guy]
• Hawaiian Tropic Zone is only closing temporarily, to turn the first floor of their restaurant into retail space [NYDN]
• The founder of the Carnegie Deli passed away last Friday [Serious Eats: New York]
• The perfect way to keep people from stealing your sandwich out of the company fridge! [Cooking With Casa]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap. This week, Mamacita heads to the newly reopened Holland Bar, and discovers that not everything in the big New York Times article last week was exactly accurate…

The word has spread that the venerated and thought departed Holland Bar has reopened to the delight of the beleaguered livers of Port Authority boozers. In a city where shiny-new high-rise towers go up and neighborhood icons close down, this is a real victory for the humble masses that for decades called the Holland Bar their second home. Unfortunately, The New York Times story heralding the bar’s reopening got some facts wrong. So, I headed over to Holland Bar to set the record straight… and bask in the glow of its grand reopening splendor.

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Last October it was just a rumor, but today it is confirmed! Baja Fresh will be opening its first Manhattan location in the old Zen Burger space on Lexington btw. 45+46th. Is Baja Fresh the best Mexican food of all time? Definitely not. I don’t know if East coast Baja Fresh is even as good as the ones on the West Coast (I’ve heard they’re not.) But I do know this… when I lived in L.A. the baja chicken burrito from Baja Fresh was my goto lunch (it alternated with the orange chicken and lo mein combo from Panda Express.) So, a Midtown Baha Fresh means I will never have to even consider eating at Chipotle again.

Now if we can only get a Panda Express, Chick Fil A, In N Out Burger, and El Pollo Loco to follow suit- we’ll be golden!

It’s no surprise when sucky restaurants shill, after all- if you won’t say good things about your crappy establishment, than who will?  But it *is* surprising when beloved, popular places post fake comments… which is what seems to be the case with the Quick Delight cart (on 3rd Ave. and 45th), the brand new offshoot from the owners of the famous Kwik Meal cart on 45th & 6th. These three comments were posted last night from the same computer within minutes of each other (under different names):

“It’’s been about one month since the grand opening of the quick delight, and although the “famous” lamb pita has been degraded, I have tried the same very lamb better at the 6th ave cart and witnessed it’s glory and wondered why commentors felt this way. It turns out that very week the person that supples the lamb was giving bad quality meat and this is why he was fired. Ever since then Quick delight have a new source of lamb meat and is once again tender and soft and NOT chewy. In fact I’v tried the lamb recently and it was mouth-watering. I hope that all of you can give it a second chance and try once more I’m sure you will have a change of heart.”

“The lamb just gets better. Yumm-o! It was mouth watering and not chewy at all. And the chicken shawarma was amazing as well.”

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I noticed this little sign hanging on the register at FreeFoods NYC the other day when I was paying for my duck sandwich. This not only sucks for restaurants, but it sucks for consumers too. Just one more thing for me to worry about when I pay with a $1000 bill. Lesson learned… inspect every bill!

Oh, almost forgot… F all you FreeFoods patrons who actually have 100 dollar bills to pay for your lunch with.

Last friday I spotted the “Mac & Joe” creation at Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen, the new self service diner at the bottom of the New York Times Building, but didn’t get a photo because they ran out of sloppy joe before I got to the front of the line.  In my excitement for half mac and cheese/half sloppy joe, I completely missed the “Cheesy Joe” which, based on this photo uploaded to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Photo Pool by Ann Darsh, looks to be a sloppy joe sandwich, topped with cheese.  Considering that the mac and cheese looked to be more cheese than mac, I’m guessing this is pretty much the same as the mac & joe, just in sandwich form.  Either way it looks like a hot mess, in the best possible way, and has reinvigorated me to return to Schnipper’s ASAP to try it out.  You can read more about it on Darsh Eats.

We could go back and forth about whether or not FreeFoods NYC is a true Midtown Lunch (it’s not), or whether or not I should even be eating at a place like this (I shouldn’t).  But the simple fact is this.  They made a new sandwich, put it on their menu, called it “The Midtown Lunch Special”, and charged under $10 for it (if you don’t include the tax).  So, according to the rules set forth in my Midtown Lunch sandwich challenge, I am obligated to go and eat the sandwich and post about it.  I never said I had to like it… just eat it, and post about it. 

Standing in FreeFoods, I could feel my anger rising.  I mean, this place is really expensive.  Sure, most of it is organic, they use the best ingredients, and it is one of the few places in Midtown where a vegetarian, vegan, or raw foods enthusiast can get a decent lunch.  But I don’t fall into any of those categories, and my category (cheap fatso) is clearly not intended audience.  The sandwiches are all $11 and up (except for the ML special), the by the lb. buffet is $395 a pound (or so it seems), and their non coffee drinks are $3 at their cheapest and $8 at their most expensive.  In other words, if you want more than just a sandwich, you’re not getting out of here for less than $15. 

There is only one problem.  The “Midtown Lunch Special Sandwich”, a duck pastrami reuben, is really freakin’ good.

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