Midtown Lunch

Over the past several months, rumors started flying amongst friends and co-workers about a new bodega on 8th Avenue with an eclectic but intriguing variety of international foods. European friends murmured about their hefty line-up of Kinder chocolates and Cadbury confectioneries, and Korean friends spoke of their impressive stock of kimchi, banchan, and packaged noodle soups. The bodega that they were referring to, was none other than Midtown West newcomer, Bread & Honey.

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Last week, Rachel announced the launch of Pizza by Certe’s Thanksgiving Pizza special featuring turkey meatballs, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, butternut squash, and cranberries ($3.95 + tax). To be honest I was a little skeptical, but I headed over to check it out anyway, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

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Today’s the final week in Mastercard’s Priceless Food Truck Feast Promotion. The good news is each truck is giving out 500 free lunches once again. The bad news is we get very little love in Midtown this week. Our only options in Midtown are La Cense Burger and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream (two trucks that rarely come to Midtown any longer) both located on Lexington between 52nd and 53rd. Taim and Souvlaki GR will also be parked a bit out of bounds even for the Flatiron on 28th between 1st and 2nd. If you can stop by and deal with the crazy lines, remember to flash your Mastercard, like them on Facebook, or tweet using the hashtag #pricelessny. And if we’re really lucky, maybe they’ll extend the promotion through December. But I wouldn’t count on it.

Do you wonder what the ML contributors do when they’re not eating lunch in Midtown? (We’re actually pretty easy to stalk!)

Pork Katsu from the Curry on Wheels Truck in Los Angeles

Brian picked his favorite sandwiches in New York, Blondie checked out Greenpoint’s Lobster Joint, Brownie had a super chocolatey pain au chocolat at Brancaccio’s in Kensington, Donny has returned to his Foodaissance project with a visit to Cut Brooklyn, Rachel discovered Earl’s Beer and Cheese on the Upper East Side and I recapped some of the events I’ve photographed this fall for Edible Brooklyn & Manhattan.

Elsewhere in the ML universe… Andrea checks out the sandwiches at Tribeca pizza spot Saluggi’s, Jamie gets a flashback to Israel at Mama’s Vegetarian in Philly and Zach makes me jealous of L.A. by eating at new Japanese curry truck, A Curry On Wheels.

Well, that was fast. Looks like Swissmaker went the way of Teriyaki Boy and has shuttered. Courtesy of the forums, Lunch’er Wade noticed the closing this week and didn’t seem surprised:

Swissmaker is the place that replaced the Teriyaki Boy on 7th Ave. I never understood how they stayed in business. There was almost never anybody in there. I would go in for a pretzel once in a while. I think I saw another customer in there like once or twice. I don’t know how they possibly thought they’d make enough money to stay in a prime two floor storefront on 7th Ave. Anyway, it’s gone.

According to Crain’s the pretzel shop had signed a pretty hefty lease, which would explain their closing possibly due to not enough foot traffic.

Swissmaker, 732 7th Ave (btw. 48+49th), 212-265-2706

Ever since Chris H. wrote about Main Noodle House in July I’ve been meaning to check it out. So when the hankering for mapo tofu hit the other day I figured I’d head over, but before I did I decided to check Chris’ post to see if any commenters had other suggestions- and I’m glad I did. Read more »

As they do every year, Gourmet 53 will be celebrating their 17th Anniversary today (11/16) from 11:30am to 3pm. Just like last year, they will be offering all lunch meals at their original 1994 price of $3 (CASH ONLY), and 10 lucky customers will win free lunch for a whole month! I speak from experience when I say the line will be disconcertingly massive, but it moves quickly and they’ll be passing around their famous coconut shrimp as well as bruschetta, so the short wait will be well worth it. See you all there!

Gourmet 53, Food Court in the Basement of 875 3rd Ave. (btw. 52+53rd), (212) 223-8481