Midtown Lunch

Photo courtesy of Food in Mouth

Another review of Woorijip’s semi-elusive Noodle Bar, this one from Food in Mouth. Danny’s advice?  Avoid the #1 (“which basically was a pack of $1 instant noodles, with an egg in there” for $5) and order the #5, beef with clear noodles (for $6.)

Related:
The Weather is Just Right for Woorijip’s Noodle Bar
Woorijip Gets a Makeover, Still the Best Cheap Korean on 32nd

Bret Thorn is reporting that the week of May 11th is going to be when the Baja Fresh on Lex btw. 45+46th opens for business. If you are as excited as I am, you’ll be marking this one on your calendar- although I’d recommend doing it in pencil… take the case of the new Crisp, which is now saying Wednesday is the big day.  They were supposed to open the day after Passover.

Related:
What To Expect From Midtown’s New Baja Fresh
My Prayers Have Been Answered: Midtown Baja Fresh Confirmation

The Roast Pork from Cafe Cello (on 45th btw. 5+6th)

I was pretty sure that you could only get swine flu from hanging out with live pigs, or going to school in Queens- but now the internets have me worried that you can get it from eating pork! Thinking that maybe this is why Cafe Cello was closed last week (they serve my favorite pork in Midtown), I hopped onto the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website and discovered that they are all about the swine flu. Everything you could ever want to know is on that site… and it says nothing about not eating pork (phew!) So eat your favorite pork with reckless abandon people- unless it is being served by a coughing teenager from St. Francis Prep.

Incidentally, Cafe Cello’s last inspection was a whopping 65 (aka not good.) It’s the usual “evidence of roaches”, “not vermin proof”, blah blah blah. No mention of swine flu though. They have yet to reopen. As of Friday they were still closed, but we’re hearing they may have reopened today. Anybody have any intel?

Related:
Original Cafe Cello post (7/10/2006)

I don’t know if 33rd Street and 5th Ave. is technically considered Koreatown, but if it is- than the Little Italy Pizza situated on that corner is the best pizza in Koreatown. I found it very difficult to travel down to that neck of the Midtown Lunch’ing woods for something other than bi bim bap and bulgogi, but after reading Ultraclay’s report on Little Italy Pizza– I knew I’d eventually have to give it a try.

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Free chicken confirmation from the KFC location on 50th and 7th. Sadly it was just a wing, so it left me wanting more (guess that’s the point). Tough to tell quality from one little wing but it was good enough- and looked better in person than in the fake grill mark photo in the poster. Nice appetizer to begin the lunch hour… (now moving on to something better.)

Update: Sorry, forgot to mention… No line at 11:45, but it shouldn’t be too bad throughout the day because they already have the chicken prewrapped and ready to go. Ordering food and paying for it might be a different story…

Photo courtesy of lazysundae

I haven’t been back to the Bayan Cafe, the just out of bounds Filipino place on 45th btw. 2+3rd, since I wrote about it a few years ago.  The most recent comment, from Lunch’er Nancy, was negative (apparently the prices have gone up) but according to this update posted to the Midtown Lunch flickr pool by lazysundae, things are just as good as I remembered them:

For 7.95 you get all this food. Kinda worth it if you eat half and save the rest. Unfortunately it was so good I ate all of it and had a stomachache for the rest of the afternoon. The mess at the top left is mixed veggies – bitter melon (ampalaya), butternut squash, green beans, eggplant, tomatoes in a sauce made with pork and bagoong (salty shrimp paste). At the bottom left is a chicken dish made with bananas (saging) that tasted like sweet adobo. Chicken esposito or something – I asked the guy twice what it was and I still can’t remember!

Related:
Bayan Cafe… Filipino Food Worth Breaking the Rules For