Sweets, Korean Tacos, Falafel & Grub: On the ML Twitter Tracker today... Sweetery is on 52nd and Lex, Big D's Grub Truck is on 40th and Lex, Eddie's Pizza is on 46th btw. 5+6th, Rickshaw is on 50th and 6th, Papa Perrone is on 55th with calzone, Mexicue is on 45th and 6th, Kimchi Truck is on 55th and 6th, and Taim Mobile is on 51st btw. 6+7th.
Posted at 11:20 am, April 6th, 2011 | 2 Comments
Photo courtesy of SENY/Ben Fishner
It looks like Serious Eats New York has discovered something that our man Chris H has been saying for months and months… Pure Thai Shophouse (on 9th Ave. btw. 51+52nd) is one of the best (if not THE best) Thai restaurant on 9th Avenue. They especially liked the green papaya salad with salted blue crab.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 9:30 am, April 6th, 2011 under Pure Thai Shophouse.
It’s Shark & Bake Day at Trini Pak: Found out a bit more info about Trini Pak's shark and bake that we wrote about last week. You can actually get the shark steamed or fried, but it's only offered Wednesday through Friday. They ran out pretty early last Friday, so if you want to check it out you might not want to wait too long to go out to lunch today.
Posted at 8:30 am, April 6th, 2011 | 4 Comments
This was mentioned in the forums back in March, but we didn’t notice until just today thanks to Lunch’er Harry: the Sombrero Cart, which has been parked on 50th just West of 6th Ave. for as long as we can remember, has moved to 54th and Madison. Hard shell tortilla and nacho cheese lovers, take note!
Posted by The ML Team at 3:30 pm, April 5th, 2011 under Sombrero Cart.
Rising Food Costs Mean A More Expensive Lunch: Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on how the rising cost of food worldwide is effecting the prices at restaurants like 'wichcraft, who just raised the price of their turkey sandwich by 37 cents. [via Grub Street]
Posted at 1:45 pm, April 5th, 2011 | 1 Comment
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 Lauren, a freelance writer who gets all tingly around injera.
Name: Lauren
Age: 28
Occupation: Freelance writer, photographer, trendsetter
Where in Midtown do you Work?: Restaurantgirl.com and bestfooding.com! My office is wherever there’s free internet and something to graze on.
Favorite Kind of Food: Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexican-ese….basically any cuisine that ends in -ese and encourages eating with chopsticks or your hands. Forks are so 2010.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Ethiopian. The injera bread makes my fingers tingly, which freaks me out.
Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: SnAKs in Saks (on 5th btw. 49+50th) for quick shopping and lobster salad sandwich lunch break. Mooncake Foods (on 54th btw. 8+9th) broiled salmon over salad. Grand Central Market’s Pescatore Seafood Co tuna fish. Le Pain Quotidien’s quiche lorraine is killer, the ricotta and fig tartine if I’m not starving.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:55 am, April 5th, 2011 under PROFILE: Midtown Lunch'er.
ML Twitter Tracker: Eddie's Pizza is on 40th and 6th, Rickshaw is on 40th and 8th and 52nd and Lex, Comme Ci Comme Ca is on 38th and B'way, Mexicue is on 45th and 6th, Wafels & Dinges is on 52nd btw. Lex+3rd, and Eggstravaganza is on 52nd and Park with skirt steak tacos on blue corn tortillas. As always be sure to check the ML Twitter Tracker before heading out...
Posted at 11:15 am, April 5th, 2011 | 0 Comments
In hindsight, it was unfair of us to post a mostly unfavorable write-up of Bai Cha, which opened on 9th Ave last August. We don’t call ourselves professional restaurant critics, but any professional food writer worth their salt will wait at least a month before visiting a restaurant with the intent to critique. So when I saw that Bai Cha’s bánh mì fell around the middle of the pack in Serious Eats’ recent assessment – earning a place right behind Bánh Mì Saigon, but besting Baoguette and Nicky’s among others – I knew it was time a for another visit.
Read more »
Posted by Chris H. at 9:45 am, April 5th, 2011 under Bai Cha, Vietnamese.
Back in January, Ciro restaurant (49th & 8th Ave) quietly shuttered, though the Midtown lunch populace didn’t seem too concerned. I walked by over the weekend and noticed that the (seemingly) generic West End Bar and Grill had opened in its place. The drinks on tap are your standard variety, though the restaurant staff promised a daily rotation of happy hours (Mamacita, here’s your cue).
I took a quick peek at the menu, and noted that its your standard line-up of pub grub, wraps, obligatory chicken wings and the like – most of which are over the $10 mark. However, I did notice that their burger, an 8oz Pat LaFrieda patty that comes with fries and all the fixin’s only costs $10. I confirmed with the restaurant staff that the kitchen would be open 7 days a week, including weekday lunch service. Also, according to TONY, the Chef of the restaurant is a former Jean Georges line cook.
Although this type of restaurant is tough to get excited about, the $10 LaFrieda burger and fry deal definitely piqued my interest. If any early adopters try the food here, please chime in with your thoughts in the comments.
West End Bar and Grill, 813 8th Ave (btw. 48+49th)
Posted by Chris H. at 8:30 am, April 5th, 2011 under West End Bar & Grill.
Photo courtesy of Lunch’er “Harry”
Sad news in the forums for fans of Montreal bagels and greek dips. Marketa, the upscale (for lack of a better term) “market” on 56th btw. 6+7th from the owners of Milos, has closed for renovations. It will be interesting to see if they are actually making improvements to the place that will make it more Midtown Lunch’ish (i.e. lower the prices) or just calling it “renovations” until it reopens as something completely different. Only time will tell…
Posted by The ML Team at 3:45 pm, April 4th, 2011 under Marketa.
