Midtown Lunch

‘Tis the season to spend your lunch hour jostling with tourists while shopping for gifts, and wishing you could spend the warm afternoon ice skating. Oh yes, the Bryant Park shops (6th btw 40th+42nd) have been back for a week or two now and a few things have changed since we dutifully covered them last year. Most notably, we can temporarily get Sigmund Pretzels in Midtown!

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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 Victoria, an administrative assistant who wishes soul food had more flavor, and is looking to eat more locally sourced foods.

Name: Victoria

Age: Let’s keep things mysterious…

Occupation: Freelance writer/executive assistant

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Brooklyn/51st and Park

Favorite Kind of Food: This is tough. I can’t limit myself: Thai, Indian, Korean, salads, and macro (I shake it up between heavy ethnic foods and fresh/healthy stuff).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Soul food – I usually find it pretty bland!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Donburi to-go at Katsuhama/Sushi Tei (on 47th btw. Mad+5th), the buffet at Cafe Bistro.

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Sometimes when I take lunch I want to just chill out for a little while, but let’s be honest here, I’m cheap, so hitting up most traditional sit down restaurants is generally going to be out of my lunch budget. ‘wichcraft in Rock Center is my sometimes oasis. If you hit it a the right time (early or late lunch), you can get a table and hole up with your lunch and a complimentary magazine. Most tourists don’t venture that far into the Rock Center underbelly, so the seating situation is much more pleasant than jostling for a free table in the open seating area. But as far as chains go, ‘wichcraft is a pricey spot, so getting out of there feeling like you get your $$ worth is a constant struggle.

Zach covered some of the best bet options for under $10 dining, way back when, but one of the things he missed is that ‘wichcraft serves breakfast all day long.

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Ultraclay wasn’t the only ML contributor in print yesterday… This week’s New York Magazine has a guide to food delivery and two of our peoples were included in the issue.  Our Downtown guru Andrea gave her delivery recs for Crown Heights, and Amy covered 2nd Ave. in Midtown East (apparently the chow fun at Mee Noodle is great.)  Other Midtown tidbits of note?  Danyelle Freeman, aka Restaurant Girl, likes Wondee Siam, the roast pork at Tina’s Cuban, and the tempura udon at Ise (on 56th btw 5+6th Ave.)    Check out the entire list of delivery recs by neighborhood here, and let us know what your favorite Midtown delivery option is in the comments…

Thanks to Luncher “Donny” for this great tip and photo. The Japanese East Village supermarket Sunrise Mart will be opening up a new location in the old Book Off space on 41st btw. Mad+5th- just west of Mai Cuisine and Cafe Zaiya. In other words the famous “Japanese Trinity” on 41st is about to become a foursome. I’ve wandered the aisles of the East Village location many times picking up cool and interesting ingredients to cook with, but I hear there are also some lunch-able snacks there as well. Any Sunrise Mart fans out there? What are we in for?

I know this isn’t really about lunch- but I noticed an interesting bit of happy hour news in my weekly New York Aston Villa Fan Club newsletter (yes, I support a fairly-obscure-here-but-storied-in-the-UK premier league soccer football team. Please don’t give me shit.) Legends, the bar on 33rd btw. Mad+5th (5+6th) that Mamacita kind of hated when she tried it back in February of last year, is re-branding itself as The Football Factory at Legends. Jack Keane, the bar manager who turned Nevada Smith’s in the EV into the football mecca that it is today before being fired in an underage drinking scandal, is in charge and plans to slowly transform the place over time- replacing the memorabilia with permanent flags for the different football teams whose supporters come to the bar. (Hopefully that will include getting rid of the “faux Renaissance art, candle chandeliers…fake palm trees” and the sushi bar!) There is also word of a “Jack Keane Sandwich” featuring “rashers, sausage, pudding, eggs and cheese.” We can only hope this treat will also be served at lunch! Although from looking at the menu on their website it probably won’t be under $10.  Even so, it sounds like this could end up being a great lunchtime spot for soccer fans to play lunchtime hookey from work and watch weekday games.

The best part is, they’re having a launch party tonight from 6-8pm (possibly 9) with an open bar and free finger foods. Freeloading footie fans… engage.

Related:
Midtown Happy Hour: The Legends Mistake (aka Why Subway Stops Shouldn’t Dictate Your Happy Hour Destination)

I’m embarrassed to admit that last week while I was doing some lunch time errands, I noticed this sign promoting the new specials at the Biryani Cart (on 46th and 6th).  I was in a rush, and not completely sure they were new, plus I had already had lunch- so I didn’t bother stopping.  But once I read on Friday that these specials were totally new, I had to go check out the channa dal!
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