Midtown Lunch

• Trust us, your coworkers do not want you eating more sardines at your desk! [Miscellaneous]
• Does anyone know what happened to the XPL on B’way? [Midtown Eating]
• Are you a Tasti-D-Lite ice cream fan? [Midtown Eating]
• Shilling your cafe in the forums never ends well [Midtown Eating]
• If you didn’t check the forum yesterday then you missed out on a 31 cent Baskin Robbin’s ice cream cones [Midtown Eating]

On the way back from lunch yesterday, I came across this in the old AI Friedman space on Madison Avenue between 33rd and 34th. Just down the block from Tina’s Cuban is a sign for a new place called Nanoosh, a “Mediterranean Hummus Counter.” I’ve never heard of such a thing, so I did a little googling. Apparently it’s a chain with locations on the UWS and UES whose schtick appears to be topping pretty much everything (from salads to wraps to entrees) with hummus, tahini or both.  Anybody been to the other two locations?  Should we be excited for this?  Or is it just another in a long line of trendy, brightly colored, well marketed chains popping up in Midtown these days? According to their website they’ll be open in May.

Related:
Zaro’s Bakery to Become French Pasta Chain?
Yummy Yummy Falafel Bar Coming Soon

Midtown can always use more spicy tofu dishes. Just ask the the profiled Midtown Luncher from this week. Even though what we have today isn’t exactly a ‘stew’, it does have all the elements of a good spicy tofu stew – soft luscious tofu, fiery heat, and some meat/vegetable element to compliment the flavor of the dish. A tofu dish is exactly what one would expect from a restaurant named Mapo Tofu. This location used to be a Wu Liang Ye and was embroiled in some contraversy about who the owners are. We’re not exactly sure what the real truth is about the restaurant, but when in doubt- we choose to side with the food!

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Photo courtesy of Ultraclay

The Diner’s Journal blog reported yesterday that the Times Square Alliance is now accepting applications for concessions in the pedestrian plaza in Times Square. The 15 page invitation/application [PDF] that was sent out to various local businesses yesterday is pretty broad about what they will and will not accept (it doesn’t necessarily have to be food), but the important part for us was these words in section III: “Mobile carts or other light structures that can change position will be considered.”  How great would it be if some of our favorite food vendors had real spots, in Times Square, free from the cops or other brick and mortar businesses in the area?  And, quite frankly, what’s better than street food?  The tourists already have plenty of big box, big name, food options in Times Square… hopefully the folks at the Times Square Alliance will use this as an opportunity to give the hard working natives of Midtown something to get super excited about!

Applications are due by the end of May.  What would you guys like to see on the streets of Times Square?

Earlier this week we heard the new that Hello Pasta will launch its fast food pasta empire in Midtown this June, and was so distracted by the imminent arrival of “the Starbucks or Pinkberry of pasta” we neglected to mention Nooï, a French import and the OTHER fast food pasta chain that’s moving in this summer. Early reports place the soon-to-come Nooï at 41st and Lexington so, naturally, I went looking for it. With Pret a Manger dominating one corner and Cafe Metro, Barami clothing store, and Everyday Gourmet Deli swallowing the others, it was hard to tell where French pasta would fit in. The only vacant-looking spot was the recently shuttered Zaro’s Bakery location on 41st btw. Lex & Park, which looked pretty sad under scaffolding. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for the new place, but let us know if you find it first. In any case, prepare yourself for a fast food pasta face-off! (Yum?)

Do you wonder what the ML contributors do when they’re not eating lunch in Midtown? (They’re actually pretty easy to stalk!)

Danny returns from France, heads right for a delicious pastrami sandwich at Katz’s, and somehow manages to tie it in to a rant about illegal immigration? Blondie discovers some good eats at the Ft. Greene Flea, while Brownie kindly lets everyone know that Peter Pan is still selling chocolate filled St. Joseph’s day pastries. And Ultraclay gets curious about canned roland snails in Chinatown.