Midtown Lunch

Every Tuesday we 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 Patrick, a glutton who is dying to find a decent chicken fried steak in NYC.

Name: Patrick

Age: 26

Occupation: Finance Professional and Co-Founder of Appetite for Good

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Midtown West, Too close to Time Square

Favorite Kind of Food: Don’t let the picture fool you, for I am a glutton. I am a non-stop binge eater, but if I had to choose a few absolute favorites, it would be Chicken Fried Steak, Tex Mex Fajitas, and Sushi. Unfortunately, two of the three (CFS and Tex Mex Fajitas) are nowhere to be found in New York! I’ve searched near and far, TriBeCa to Morningside Heights, for a decent chicken fried steak but have fallen short. I am convinced it doesn’t exist in New York – please prove me wrong! As a born and bred Texan, there is nothing that warms my soul better than a good chicken fried steak, which is neither chicken nor steak. The thought of the crispy golden brown breading wrapped around a tenderized steak, all smothered in white thick cream gravy speckled with flecks of pepper makes my mouth water and stomach rumble. Mmm, can you just taste the goodness?

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything that is considered healthy or vegetarian. Whoever said it was painful to eat healthy is absolutely right!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: GoGo Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th) without a doubt! There is no way to beat this place! Talk about the perfect combination of quality and quantity at the right price! Unfortunately when I’m at GoGo Curry, I am slightly over the midtown lunch budget with a Grand Slam with an extra side of fried fish. After a lunch like this, the rest of the day is usually a total wash as I am mayor of Food Comaville. And yet somehow, by dinner time, I’m miraculously recovered and ready to start all over. I also love Meze Grill (8th Avenue between 55th and 56th) and its Rice Pilaf Bowl with Chicken, Batata Harra, pickled turnips (must have!), topped off with homemade Tzatziki Sauce and Spicy Hummus. Meze Grill also supports countless number of charities such as StreetWise Partners, American Cancer Society and more! Soon to be Shake Shack Midtown.

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The newest Goodburger (on 8th Ave. btw. 57+58th) is now open and it’s already making waves.  Apparently they’re testing out a slightly different menu at the new location.  In order to offer more affordable options, they’ve introduced a new “single” burger which is 4oz instead of 5.5oz.  The “classic” 5.5oz burger is still available, but for those who want to spend a bit less money they’ll now have the “single” option.  We’ve never really subscribed to the less is more thing, but just an FYI- the burger at the Shake Shack is 4oz.  And, the best news about this change is that now a combo at the new Goodburger, with a “single” burger, fries and a soda will run you a ML friendly $8.27 (at the other Goodburger locations, a combo with the 5.5oz burger goes for $10.35.)  There’s also a smaller milkshake option, and a new ice cream sandwich dessert.  With all the burger craziness going on in Midtown these days (Shake Shake, Bill Bar & Burger, 4Food, and the Counter are all coming soon) it’s no surprise that Goodburger would want to shake things up a bit… and I have to say it’s nice to see a Goodburger combo finally come in under the $10 mark.

The new option is only available at the newly opened 8th Ave. location, but if the response is good they’ll roll it out to the other locations. Want to try it out for yourself?  Today only, from 11am to 3pm you can get the new Goodburger Combo #1 for just $5.  All you have to do to score the deal is mention Midtown Lunch. (Only available in the new store on 8th Ave. btw. 57+58th.  Not for delivery, limit one per customer.

Want to check out the new menu?  It’s after the jump.

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From Lunch’er Jason:

Dear Midtown Lunch, I have been a loyal reader for the better part of the last 5 or 6 months, and this has been the tastiest half year of my life. I work at 51st and Park Ave, and today I saw a new truck on the corner of 50th and Park. It seemed to be a Greek style chicken/lamb and rice truck that also offered souvlaki. All of their dishes seem to come in the form of sandwiches too. I would have stopped for lunch had I not already mentally committed to a huarache from El Rey del Sabor. The attached picture is the truck in question. I’ve never seen it before and I was wondering if [anybody] may have additional information about this mysterious blue Greek truck.

We’re on the case Jason. In the meantime, has anybody already tried this cart? Let us know how it is in the comments. Turns out this truck is an oldie but goodie…

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Thanks to Lunch’er “Marissa” for letting us know about this one… Submarina, a 30+ year old San Diego based sandwich chain with a branch in Astoria, will be opening its first Manhattan location next to Pro Hot Korean (on 56th btw. 5+6th). Here’s hoping it will be better than Subway! Although their website doesn’t really give us much hope… we’ll try to reserve judgement until after they open, but it’s hard when their owners take pride in the fact that when they first opened they had “no experience, no capital and by every rule of business we should have failed. We didn’t know an avocado from prosciutto, but we were willing to learn.” Really guys? I play the “I’m just a fat guy who likes to eat” card more than anybody… but seriously? You didn’t know the difference between an avocado and proscuitto? That’s kind of silly.

According to the sign you can get a free 6″ sub by signing up for their “Best Sub Club”.  Anybody tried the location in Astoria?  Let us know how it is in the comments…

Last week we reported that New Jersey’s QBA Cuban Kitchen truck had started making appearances in Manhattan, and according to the schedule on their website they’re hoping to make it a permanent Tuesday and Thursday thing (on  the SE corner of 48th and 6th) Excited about a new truck in the face of NYC’s coming food truck apocalypse, I immediately headed out to welcome QBA to the neighborhood, and to see what they had to offer.

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Got some sad news over the weekend via twitter… DC Fusion Cafe, the bourbon chicken spot that moved from the Manhattan Mall to 7th Ave. btw. 36+37th when JC Penny shut down the food court, appears to be closed. We have no official confirmation, but our new man Jeremiah walked by this morning and it definitely looks closed.  What’s a mall food court bourbon chicken lover to do?!

Related:
Giving In to Bourbon Chicken Temptation at DC Fusion

Last month Blondie gave you a good look at the food from Eddie’s Pizza Truck, but last week Lunch’er Peter checked in to tell us why the food isn’t what makes this truck great…

Similar to the experience of Lunch’er John at Tri Tip Grill recently, I wanted to pass along a positive experience I had at Eddie’s Pizza Truck today.  I called in an order at 12:20pm and was told to come pick it up at 12:45. After arriving a few minutes early to pay and make sure I got my pie hot & right out of the oven, I noticed the guy that takes the pies out struggling with retrieving a pizza from the oven. Sure enough it was my pie that had stuck to the bottom of the oven. After a few minutes of struggling he managed to get it out, slice it and get in a box, but not in great shape.

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