Midtown Lunch

The other day I noticed a call out for vodka slice recommendations in the forums from lunch’er MattPeach. Lunch’er deanlo let him know that Jiannetto’s sometimes has vodka slices on their truck. With vodka slices on my mind I happened to be walking by Bella Napoli (on 49th btw. 6+7th) when I spied a familiar rose colored sauce topped pie on the counter right near the door. Bella Napoli does vodka slices? Now this was something I had to check out.
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Cupcakes can be a bit of a contentious subject here on ML. I happen to enjoy a good cupcake every now and then, but if I step back and look at it objectively, I can see where the haters are coming from. When cupcakes became trendy they became ubiquitous and as such there are a lot of mediocre (not to mention overpriced) ones out there. When Lunch’er Felicia recently asked for cupcake recommendations more than a few readers gave a shout out to Robicelli’s cupcakes available at Lily O’Brien’s off of Bryant Park. I’ve had Robicelli’s plenty of times back in ye olde Brooklyn*, but hadn’t yet had a chance to try them out in their midtown location. Meeting up with a cupcake loving friend for lunch last week, gave me the perfect reason to swing by and try several of their brand new flavors.
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Korilla BBQ Tacos. Photo courtesy of Jwannie

• Another look at Korilla BBQ’s first week [Frites N Fries]
• Akdeniz’s baby okra is very satisfying [SENY]
• The chef of Del Posto loves Midtown izakaya [Feast]
• The garlic and herb cream cheese at Times Sq. Bagels is damn good [Tasty Eating]
• Persimmon chef to launch kimchi taco truck [Fork in the Road]
• Don’t go vegetarian at Bai Cha [Ramen & Friends]
• Pure Thai Chophouse looks worth the trek to 9th Ave. [Grub Street]
• A fire broke out at Naples 45 yesterday!? [DNAinfo via Eater]
• Financier makes a mean napoleon [Life With Food & Drink]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so every week our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

Mercury Bar isn’t terribly noticeable when compared to the other watering holes on 9th Avenue. It always seems a bit dark from the outside but once you come inside the ample, black naugahyde booths, cocktail tables and enormous bar reveal a lounge with many possibilities. I stopped in this week for a beer and to give you all a look inside.

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I headed to Koreatown for lunch yesterday hoping to get some of my favorite katsu in the neighborhood, only to find the door locked up at Arang (on 32nd btw. 5th+B’way). A quick phone call got no answer or voicemail. Judging by the Halloween decoration in the window, it doesn’t seem like they’ve been closed for very long. Has anyone heard about them closing up shop? Let us know in the comments.

It’s not unusual to walk into Café Zaiya (41st btw. Mad+5th) and see some new item that seems out of step with the rest of their offerings. In fact, at this point, it seems as if all bets are off. But even expecting the unexpected still couldn’t prepare me for the appearance of Taco Rice!? I don’t know exactly what the madmen behind Zaiya were going for with this one, but I’m always game for a Japanese fast food adventure.

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This week while I was hunting for the Sami Dosa truck (which I now know has migrated to 39th and B’way) I noticed a new 99¢ Fresh Pizza shop under construction on Broadway just below 55th Street. With so many dollar pizza spots opening, it’s hard to keep track of them all!  To help solve that, we’ve compiled a list of them all after the jump.

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Now that Downtown has its very own section of the site, what are we going to post on Fridays? Answer… how about a column devoted to those lunches just south of the ML boundaries. Every week we post about a lunch in Murray Hill south, Gramercy, Flatiron, and everything in between… or to make it easy: Flatiron Lunch.

When the Souvlaki GR truck took home Rookie of the Year honors at this year’s Vendy Awards, they were still in their infancy, but I was really looking forward to them eventually serving lunch in Midtown. Unfortunately, they seem to be getting very cozy in a regular noon-9pm spot at 21st and 6th. Hopefully, they will still make it to Midtown eventually, but why wait? A few weeks ago, I took a (temporary) break from mourning Midtown’s loss to celebrate Flatiron’s gain (it’s still better than trekking to Astoria, right?). I can now say that wherever they park, Souvlaki GR is a great addition to the NYC food truck scene (and it’s just a few F stops away).

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