Midtown Lunch

While walking around in the area between Grand Central and Japan Society looking for a lunch spot (I had no idea what I wanted except that I was craving for Japanese food), I was drawn to Udon West’s big menu banner outside the restaurant (on 46th btw. Lex+3rd). It has been well documented that I love a good bowl of oyakodon and wouldn’t mind eating it everyday. So of course when I saw it on the menu I had to check it out.

Read more »

Falafel innards from Taim Mobile. Photo courtesy of Tasty Eating.

• Is that really a line for the Bapcha cart!? [Eater]
• What a good Midtown lunch week looks like [Wined & Dined]
• Check out the Korean/Chinese food at Food Gallery 32 [Bionic Bites]
• Taim Mobile is the real deal [Tasty Eating]
• Energy Kitchen is planning a major expansion [Eater]
• Two Park Ave is lashing out at the surrounding food trucks [DNAinfo]

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. Mamacita is taking this week off, so Clay has stepped up to the plate.

This week’s midtown happy hour breaks some rules. First, it’s pretty clearly not in Midtown and firmly in my Flatiron Lunch coverage area, secondly, it’s not really a bargain. What it is is awesome and worth a little rule breaking to try out. When La Birreria, the new rooftop beergarden and brewery at Italian megamarket, Eataly, opened a few weeks ago, I knew I had to check it out. Beer, pork and more after the jump.

Read more »

La Maison du Chocolat, the haute French chocolatier in Rockefeller Center, has served up some of the best ice cream in Midtown for years (apologies to Miss Softee!) The only problem is that the ice cream is only available during the summer months.  Well, June 21 has officially come and La Maison du Chocolat has made their ice cream available once again. I went into the shop the other day to scoop out the scene (pun intended), and it seems as if they’re doing things a little differently this year. The ice cream is still locally made using ingredients imported from France, but now they’re pre-packaging them. I don’t know if the older ladies who work in the Rock Center store have been getting weaker biceps or if this is a case of portion control. Now that they’re pre-packaged, it means no more samples and no more cones. And last year they charged $4 for a waffle cone and now you can only get a 4 ounce plastic cup for $4.50.

The limited flavors, which include a handful of fruit sorbets, are pretty standard. And I loved this ice cream last year, but with the new higher prices and unattractive serving style, La Maison du Chocolat may have officially taken the fun out of stopping in here for an afternoon ice cream fix.

Midtown lunchers have better things to do than wait an interminable amount of time for a bowl of (admittedly amazing) ramen at Totto Ramen. After I discovered Totto, my previous favorites, Minca and Ippudo became all but distant memories. Others raved about the lovely springy noodles and amazing chicken broth. But quality begets reputation, a flood of customers, and the inevitable line around the block, and as such, the wait and the cramped dining room seriously detract from the overall experience.

Enter Yakitori Totto (on 55th btw. B’way+8th), which recently put ramen on their menu for $9, alongside their other well regarded lunch specials. We already know that the Totto empire, which includes hit-or-miss spot, Hide Chan, knows their noodles, but how will this new dish stack up against the rest?
Read more »

In all the time I’ve been wandering the Flatiron District for good, cheap lunches, I have no idea how many times I passed Petite Abeille. The Belgian spot on 17th Street between 5th and 6th always seemed like it was going to break the ML budget, so I didn’t give it a second thought. One day, I decided I wanted to splurge for lunch and was on my way to Rye House when I decided to try something new. Turns out, the lunch here is more affordable than I’d expected – and pretty tasty too.

Read more »

• Operation: Leave our food trucks alone [Midtown Eating]
• Asbestos has closed a bunch of places on Lex [Midtown Eating]
• Midtown BK’s should sell spam burgers [Miscellaneous]