Midtown Lunch

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 Amy, a Kosher journalist who wishes she could eat more food from a cart!

Name: Amy

Age: 20

Occupation: Journalist and Student

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 43rd and Broadway

Favorite Kind of Food: Oh, so many: chicken, Chinese food – of the kosher variety like Eden Wok on 34th, salads, potatoes of every incarnation. And I seem to make dinner by going through my fridge and cabinets and placing everything in a wrap. Of course my one true love is dessert – you can check me out at http://www.bakingandmistaking.com

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything fish except tuna, not a big cheese fan (I know, I know blasphemy) except for the -cake kind, hate tomatoes and olives.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: So with my strict kosher limitations (and incredible laziness), I don’t have a whole lot of options. That said I find myself continually heading to Schnitzel Express (on 39th and Broadway) which I love. For $10 you get a seriously big sandwich, which is pretty cheap for kosher food. I’ve tried the classic, Greek, French, American (corn flakes!) and am still waiting to get the pretzel encrusted version. I also put fried onions and garlic mayo on everything sandwich. Delicious. I’ve been too scared to try the schnitzel sushi or schnitzel bourekas but I’d love to hear from others.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? I often end up at Milk n Honey (on 45th btw 5+6th). They have a lot of variety of pizzas, calzones, sandwiches, soups, bagels, etc. and a couple of entrees, but I most often end up at the salad bar, which is relatively well-stocked though there are a couple things I’d like to see them add – like tofu. Every couple weeks I switch up my salad – most recent addition = beets. My friend and I used to play a “guess what’s in my salad today” via gchat when we were bored. The place is always packed at lunch time with Jews of every shade – often seems like a camp/Hebrew school/neighborhood reunion for many. Here I really feel like I’m being ripped off at $10 for a salad with an additional dollar for avocado or tuna, but that’s the cheapest I’m gonna get at a strictly kosher restaurant. Often kosher eaters will eat things like salads at non-certified restaurants, but I don’t even do that. This is when I’m really jealous of the rest of my coworkers, who frequent Europa Café which is just about right outside our door and half the price. I honestly try not to eat out every day because it ends up so expensive, but laziness is obviously a factor. If you really only have a few dollars in your pocket you can head to Kosher Deluxe (on 46th btw 5+6th) and get a burger – their Chinese food is pretty decent too though the seating itself leaves much to be desired. Their virtual twin (though I believe there’s no relation) Kosher Delight is on 37th and Broadway with the same fast food + Chinese food menu – the Jews (like me) love Chinese food! Though I haven’t been for quite a while, the pizza at Jerusalem 2 – known as J2 – also at 37th and Broadway is the best kosher pizza I’ve encountered, but I think it’s like $3.50 a slice by now.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? I recently read about the kosher food truck Kosher Oasis – I’ve yet to find it (I hear it’s at 47th and 6th these days) but now I’m in a mad pursuit of it. Food trucks are one of the things I’ve always wanted to try out but haven’t been able to, and I won’t let anything stand in my way now. It’s where I’m going to try and head for a late lunch today if I can track it down (and it’s open).

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Hmmm, well believe it or not midtown is probably the biggest concentration of kosher restaurants in the city (which means the country) although a lot of them trend toward the more pricey, like Abigael’s (39th and Broadway), Le Marais (46th and 7th) or My Most Favorite Food (45th and Broadway).

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Find me cheap kosher food! Actually being in Midtown is much better than living in the West Village, which might as well be a kosher food desert – I can’t even get kosher cheese at the supermarket. (Yes I know I wrote earlier that I don’t eat cheese – I’m complicated.)

Got any other Kosher suggestions for Amy? Feel free to put it in the comments. And as always, if you would like to be next week’s Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nominate), email zach@midtownlunch.com.