Dig Inn Makes Me Want to Do the Opposite
Pump Energy Food on 55th Street has undergone a lot of changes in the last year or so. In addition to a complete renovation back in January, they just changed their name to Dig Inn, which is a pretty lame pun and doesn’t really say much about the food or the atmosphere. This type of healthy food is rarely on Midtown Lunch’s radar, but Brownie visited it before the name change and, most recently, I found myself walking by one Friday afternoon so figured I’d check it out to see if anything was worthwhile.
I had only been to Pump once many years ago and it was for a smoothie, so I can’t speak too much about how the food has changed. From what I gather, most everything has stayed the same with just a few additions. I did find the menu a little confusing so instead of creating my own Marketplate, I decided to go with one of their suggestions. I thought the turkey looked rather good so I chose their first suggestion: the Turkey Slim.
Bad choice, in retrospect. This was a colorful hodegpodge of items that don’t necessarily make sense together. Five different sides were thrown in the small container that reminded me of an indecisive visit to the Whole Foods salad bar. Baby spinach supported some tender carrots, a broccoli quinoa salad (this is a new addition to the menu), tofu, and rosemary turkey. According to the menu, this was supposed to be topped with a spicy pineapple sauce. Whatever sauce was mixed in was overwhelming. It tasted more like a tangy ginger dressing than a spicy pineapple sauce and didn’t allow any other flavors to come out. The pulled turkey was bland, dry, and lacked any rosemary flavor. I have no idea why the tofu was thrown in here in the first place and the quinoa salad was flavorless. In a surprising discovery, the carrots were the tastiest part of the dish.
To compensate (and to try something else), I ordered a side of the sweet potato casserole. I threw most of this away as it tasted more like cardboard than anything I’ve ever had on a Thanksgiving table. There was no flavor whatsoever. It could have used salt, pepper, butter, something to give it some life. And the pecans that were added to the mealy mashed potatoes only made the dish taste even drier.
This meal just didn’t do it for me, but I heard Brownie liked their spicy meatballs, so I’ll have to wait for her assessment of the new digs and food before I consider giving them a second chance.
Dig Inn, Multiple Locations
Posted by brianhoffman at 11:59 am, October 20th, 2011 under Pump Energy Food.
9 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
Oh man, this place is getting so much hate on the site this week! I had a similar fail, but Brownie’s right that the spicy meatballs are the way to go.