Midtown Lunch

I’m a big advocate of taking the subway to lunch.  If you have a monthly pass it’s free, and with a little bit of planning you can easily get a delicious lunch in a different neighborhood in under an hour.  If you don’t like to plan do what Peter Cherches from Word of Mouth does- play subway roulette.

“Sometimes I feel like getting out of the neighborhood for lunch, for variety, but some place not too far, maybe three of four stops on the train.  So I go to the subway at Lexington & 53rd and wait for a train.  The two choices are the E and the V.  If the E comes first I hop on and go to lunch on 8th, or more likely 9th Avenue.  If the V comes first I go some place close to 6th Avenue, maybe one of the Korean places on W. 32nd or maybe Szechuan Gourmet.”

Yesterday, the E came so he ended up at Bali Nusa on 9th Ave. (one of my personal favorite out of bounds lunch spots.)  This could be the greatest idea ever.  Do you work near a subway stop with multiple trains?  What would your roulette options look like?

Related:
Subway Lunch: This Could Be the Perfect Week For Banh Mi
You Can Make it to Porchetta and Back in an Hour
Both Shake Shack’s Are Do-Able From Midtown in 60 Mins

A new little kosher falafel & sandwich nook has popped up on 37th Street btw. 5+6th.  The owner used to have a small restaurant in Brooklyn, until his customers encouraged him to move to Midtown.  With Olympic Pita (on 38th btw. 5+6th) and Crisp (on 40th btw. B’way+6th) just a few blocks away, and Maoz coming soon to Broadway and 40th, Midtown South is starting to get a little falafel heavy.  But the price is right, and everything is Kosher so who knows?  You can probably never have too much falafel in Midtown.

I couldn’t decide between their baguette sandwiches (pastrami, corned beef, etc.), their schnitzel (fried chicken cutlets) or their falafel. But in the end the falafel won out. (You’ve got to start with the basics.)

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Out of a job or looking to subsidize your daily lunch out?  This could be the greatest job offer of all time.  Crisp, the Israeli falafel place with the unique sandwich combinations, is looking for a weekly “anonymous customer” to go into their locations, eat lunch, and report back to the owner.  They will pay you for each visit PLUS reimburse you the cost of lunch.  You might have to visit both locations each week (one on 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th and one on 40th btw. B’way+6th) but I’m not sure.  Email Rakesh@eatatcrisp.com if you are interested.

Related:
Crisp: Abomination… Or One of the Best Falafel in the City

Terrible news hit the Midtown Lunch Forums last night. It looks like the Happy Well Being House Cart (on 50th btw. 6+7th) has permanently taken their fried fish and bulgogi goodness back Downtown.

“Hi, I’m a daughter of that vendor. sorry… midtown lunchers :( my mom and sister took cart to downtown. when my mom’s new cart was broken, they took downtown’s old cart to the midtown to serve you guys despite downtown customers look for us like midtown lunchers T_T. when they fixed the new cart they started to serve BF but I think they had a fight w/ halal vendors. halal vendors banned Happy well being house cart so they couldn’t stay there anymore. now mom and sisters are taking downtown spot. they are servng food in downtown.(varick st/ king st) same food same owner in downtown :)”

Of course this isn’t the first time an established vendor has intimidated a new vendor. In fact, it pretty much happens every time a new cart or truck sets up shop in Midtown. Kim from the Treats Truck got it from the Mr. Softee guy (luckily they were able to “work out a deal”), Rickshaw Dumpling deals with it all the time, and we think that Rafiqi’s scared that Udon cart away before setting their sights on El Rey Del Sabor. Thankfully the Mexican cart hasn’t been intimidated. Sadly, if we decide to boycott every cart that does this to another cart- there will be no street meat left for us to eat.

Related:
Happy Well Being House is Related to Downtown Korean BBQ Cart
If You’re Looking for the Downtown Bulgogi Cart… It’s in Midtown

The cover of this week’s New Yorker Magazine is a drawing of a hot dog stand in Times Square, but the coolest part about it is that it was drawn on a iPhone.  They even have a video on their website “recapitulating each step of how Colombo [the artist] composed the picture.”

12:40pm and It’s organized chaos at the new Baja Fresh, where people are reporting wait times of 15-25 minutes (5 to 10 mins to order, and another 15 waiting for food.) Not bad, but the people are still pouring in, and I overheard the manager saying that the kitchen just started falling behind. In other words, I’m guessing we’ll be hearing of some 30-40+ wait times very soon. I’ve waited over three years for this… I guess I can wait another day or two. Were you there? Let us know how it was in the comments.

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 Dani an account executive/food blogger who answers all of our profile questions, except for one: How do I get invited over for Mom’s Indonesian home cooking!?!

Name: Dani

Age: 34

Occupation: Account Executive (and Food Blogger)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 40th and Madison

Favorite Kind of Food: Mom’s Indonesian home cooking (specifically her risoles, which are breaded, crepe-like pastries filled with a creamy chicken and veggie concoction), sushi, dim sum, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, seafood, potato chips, Southern cooking

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Try as I might, I’m not a big fan of cheesecake, which leaves many people simply speechless, especially my co-workers who rave about the cheesecake at Juniors. Jiggly desserts like jello and pudding do not thrill me either. I also can’t get into organ meats unless it’s “broken down” like in pate. I’m also not a big steak eater.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Even sans the salmon topping, the Caesar Salad at Salmon River (on 40th btw. Mad+5th) is the best; the dressing seems to have much more zing than other places. I also cannot get enough of the Ma Paul tofu at Szechuan Gourmet (39th btw. 5+6th); great sinus-clearing spiciness and massive portions that will carry you to the next two meals! Tokyo Restaurant (on Lexington btw. 39+40th) offers giant bowls of ramen and hearty sushi in a serene traditional atmosphere. Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. Mad+5th) for pretty much anything like the chicken katsu, udon noodles and pastries. $10 at Japas (on 38th btw. Mad+5th) will buy you a robust lunchbox of three sets of maki rolls, miso soup and salad.

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