Archive for January 2010

ML Forums: Pub Crawl Benefit; L.A. Lunch

1 City, 1 Month, 93 Plates

Don’t know if you’ve seen this on any other blogs, but the Wandering Foodie (who ate 24 meals in 24 hours in Boston last year) is spending the entire month of January eating every meal out in NYC and posting about it (kind of like the exact opposite of my friend Cathy’s blog.) In Midtown, he’s already been to Szechuan Gourmet (with Chubby Chinese Girl) and and the Burger Joint (with Behind the Burner), and on Wednesday I’m taking him out for some street meat. You can follow his journey at here.

Times Restaurant Closed By the DOH… Again

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It has not been a good few days for food establishment using the “Times” moniker.  The New York Times cafeteria was closed last week after a health scare, and now the Times Restaurant (on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th) has been closed by the Department of Health.  This is nothing new for the Indian buffet formerly known as Kashmir, they were closed by the DOH just 15 months ago. There is some positive news in all this, though. It looks like they rolled the price of the buffet back to $9.95 from the $14.95 that was reported last week!

Also as a side note, I’d also like to point out that none of the owners of the surrounding restaurants were seen celebrating this closure in any way.

Related:
Kashmir Becomes the “The Buffet of Record”
Adventure Lunchers Should Flock to Kashmir Buffet

Golden Krust Expansion?: Despite closing two NYC locations last year, Golden Krust (the Carribean chain that still has a Midtown location on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th, and a kiosk in Grand Central) is looking to expand according to Fork in the Road.  Speaking of which, lunch'er Paulie checks in to say that GK chicken patties are 99 cents for all of January. Nice.

Naya Express Is Just Like Chipotle… Except the Food is Lebanese and It’s Awesome

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As much I hate Chipotle, there is no denying that their model has proven to be incredibly successful. The chose your protein, carrying method, and toppings, assembly line structure allows for the high volume, quick service that a popular lunch destination in Midtown needs to be profitable. Meze Grill (on 8th Ave. btw. 55th+56th) opened their “Middle Eastern Chipotle” back in August, and it looks like Pump Energy Food is moving in that direction as well. But my favorite new ode to Chipotle has got to be Naya Express- the new quick service Lebanese spot on 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th. It’s got the same assembly set up, and customizable menu… but with one noticeable difference. The food is really tasty.

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Twitter For Free Cer Te Lunch; Good Day For Schnitzel?: The ML Twitter Tracker has some interesting tidbits this morning... Schnitzel & Things is on 52nd, Street Sweets is on 50th, Cravings is on 48th, Cer Te wants to give you free lunch, 15% off at Goodburger, Friday is a free topping day at Go Go Curry, and Wafels & Dinges is making a rare FiDi stop today.

Marketa Brings Fancy Greek Dips and Montreal Bagels to Midtown

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I’m totally on the fence about whether or not this place is a Midtown Lunch, but Wellerfan posted about it in the forums and it’s certainly worth a mention for those of you who don’t mind a splurge.  The chef from Milos, an upscale Greek restaurant on 55th btw. 6+7th, has opened a small take out market called Marketa on 56th btw. 6+7th selling tons of cheese, Greek spreads, marinated salads, and some fancy take out lunches.  Everything looks amazing, but it’s mostly waaaay out of the ML price range and there is nowhere to sit.  Check out the menu, after the jump.

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Schnipper’s Bros Respond to Chest Bumping Accusations & Impending Shake Shack Invasion

I’m not sure if the New York Times cafeteria is back open after last week’s health scare, but Andrew Schnipper sent me an email last week wanting to make it clear that him and his brother would never take joy in the sickness of others. He also reiterated how excited they are to have the Shake Shack opening just 3 blocks away from their spot.

Hi Zach:

I hope you are well. I generally enjoy your blog and reading about your well thought out recommendations for midtown lunchers. I think you do a great job of discovering good values and interesting places for people to eat that they might not find on their own. However, I was disappointed [Thursday] regarding your comment that my brother and I would be “chest bumping” because we might get some extra business due to the fact that some people were made sick from a competitor. I can assure you we don’t ever want to see people get sick and certainly don’t want to benefit from it. Fortunately for us, business is great and we were busy [Thursday] as we usually are on a Thursday. And if we could help a neighbor and have prevented any food bourne illness, we would gladly do so. You clearly don’t know my brother and I well enough to think this would make us happy and I just wanted to set the record straight. I have no idea whether they have reopened the cafeteria, but let me be the first to tell you that I hope they did and that the employees who likely lost hours of pay yesterday will be back to work today.

But wait, there’s more.

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Midtown Links (The “Dan Dan” Edition)

Dan Dan Noodles from Lan Sheng
Dan Dan Noodles from Lan Sheng. Photo courtesy of Blondie and Brownie