Midtown Lunch

I don’t understand what is with all the banh mi backlash? Why would anybody get sick of a delicious Vietnamese sandwich? (Maybe we’re just getting sick of all the traditional media latecomers acting like these sandwiches are a brand new trend!) Anyway, I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of banh mi, but for those who are Metromix has put together a list of ten Asian sandwich alternatives to the banh mi– and 3 of them are in Midtown.  Their suggestions in our neck of the woods: the Vada Pav at Sukhadia’s Gokul (on 45th btw. 5+6th), the Indonesian Sloppy Joe at Danku (on 57th btw. 5+6th), and the Yakisoba Pan at Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. Mad+5th).

If I had to give out a “Strangest Midtown Lunch Place” Award, it would have to go to the Times Pub on 40th btw. 7+8th. And now it’s closed. From former Profiled Lunch’er and current New York Times writer Jennifer 8 Lee via Twitter:

“times pub (formerly korean buffet deli) on 40th has been reposessed by landlord. it was always empty.”

Too bad it didn’t stay a Korean buffet deli! Its current incarnation was a sports bar/Irish Pub looking place on the outside, with a completely Asian menu (teriyaki, Udon, sushi, ramen, etc.)  I always kind of wanted to try it… now it looks like I won’t get the chance.  Oh well.

WTF. Seriously? This is what I saw during lunch today walking towards Times Square on 45th Street btw. 6+7th Ave. (I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to catch her friend… also with mask.)  If anything, it’s us who should be wearing masks to protect ourselves from you out of towners! Well, maybe not a mask so much as a giant people plow to clear a path towards lunch…

They were more prepared this week, but the NYC Cravings Taiwanese Fried Chicken Truck ran out of fried chicken at 1:45pm today (an hour longer than last Monday, the first day they parked on 45th btw 6+7th). You can still catch them Tuesdays on 24th and Park, but Thursdays and Fridays are up in the air- as is the question of when they’ll start serving pork chops!!! (I just made that up by the way… They have no pork chop plans, it’s just wishful thinking on my part.)

Related:
NYC Cravings Brings Taiwanese Fried Chicken Awesomeness to the Mobile Food Scene

Our Downtown Lunchers have been eagerly searching for a Rosario’s replacement ever since the popular Italian deli closed last year.  But when Lunch’er “Goats” suggested in the comments that there was a Rosario’s-like option in Midtown, I had to check it out.

“My heart still cries when I think of Rosarios and how it was taken so quickly from me (after only 3 visits)…That was the first establishment I found via Midtown Lunch (and It was a downtown establishment!) .I was there the last day and was as close to tears as I get when a beloved food establishment shuts its doors. I have found 2 replacements in the last year as well, Milano Deli on 34th between Madison and 5th (HUGE Italian sandwiches for 7.75:get the Milano special and you will almost think you are back at rosarios) and Defontes of Brooklyn on 21st and 3rd.”

Defonte’s is well know, but sadly too far out of bounds for me… so I excitedly headed over to Milano last week to check the place out.

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Word has come that in addition to the two new Baja Fresh locations, we’re also getting another Chipotle on 7th Ave. btw. 37+38th and another Qdoba on 3rd Ave. and 40th Street.  That will bring the total to almost 20 new burrito chains in less than 3 years!  Don’t get me wrong… I’ll admit to getting excited about Baja Fresh (Is it real Mexican food? Of course not. But it was my goto lunch when I was broke and living in L.A. for two years.)  But overall this trend is kind of worrisome.  The chain-i-fication of Manhattan food has been slowly happening for years now, but the bad economy looks like it’s accelerating the whole process.   With so much real estate open around the city, big chains are the only businesses with the kind of money you need to expand, and survive through this crappy economy. Sure, I want In N Out Burger, Chick Fil A, and Panda Express to open in Midtown. But not at the expense of Blarney Stone, Cafe Cello, and Hing Won.  Can’t we have it both ways?

Thanks to Lunch’er Rebecca for sending along the photo.

I can’t believe it has been almost 3 years since the first post went up on Midtown Lunch. The first lunch I wrote about was on June 7th, 2006, and Hing Won was the place. I’d like to say I started the site to help my fellow office workers find good lunch in this food wasteland we call Midtown… but truth be told, I only started Midtown Lunch because I wanted to have an excuse to eat gross, fattening food for lunch (and take pictures of that food.)  Now, three years later, what started as a fat man’s idea of the perfect hobby has grown into an amazing community of New York City office workers, sharing in the common misery we call lunchtime.

Without your tips, emails, suggestions, and comments the site would not be what it is today. So, with that in mind, I’m pretty excited to announce the launch of the Midtown Lunch Forums. Ideally this will be a place to make communicating with your fellow lunchers easier; an open place for you guys to ask questions and share recommendations, not just about eating lunch in Midtown, but also lunching outside of Midtown. There’s also a section for connections (if you want to find people to have lunch with) and a miscellaneous area for anything else you guys may want to talk about.  The only downside of the forums is that you will now have to register to comment.  It only takes 15 seconds, and all we need is your email address (which won’t be used for anything other than to verify that a real person is signing up for the account.) This measure is being done for two simple reasons: To ensure that the forum is kept spam free, and to guard against people posting under other people’s names.

You’ll also notice that the site has a completely new design.  Part of that new design is a brand new map, which is not only more accurate, and comprehensive than before, but also allows you greater control over the type of lunch you are looking for near the spot where you are going to be.  There’s also a new page that allows you to look for lunch alphabetically by restaurant name, and another page that allows you to search an alphabetical list of restaurants by food type.

As with any new site, there are bound to be bugs- so if you find any don’t hesitate to let me know in the forums, or by emailing me at zach@midtownlunch.com

Thanks for all your support-  and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think!  (You guys always do…)