Midtown Lunch

On Thursday, Steak ‘n Shake opened its doors, and the Midtown masses descended in the rain, first for the free food for a year and then for lunch. Last week’s opening brought lots of media attention, including a New York Times article quoting Danny Meyer on growing up eating Steak ‘n Shake, which is the inspiration for our beloved Shake Shack. It’ll be interesting to see New Yorkers compare the two over time.

Luckily for us, Lunch’er Hightemp was on the scene on opening day, albeit for dinner, and wrote this review of the original double cheese burger (which is the most like Shake Shack), plus one of the dog options.

Since its in my ‘hood I went by for dinner. Waited outside for about 5 minutes around 8pm but I hit them right when the “perfect storm” of kitchen craziness hit so ended up waiting about 40 minutes inside to actually order. I got a free strawberry shake for waiting. The staff was all very friendly.

Got an Original Double Cheese ‘n fries and (since I had waited and felt like I had to justify the wait) a Chili Cheese Steak frank ‘n fries. Everything was good and came out fast. I can see how they get credited as the inspiration for the shake shack. Burger had that same crusty/salty thing going on. Frank was sort of a normal frank but the chili and the onions they put on was a nice touch…could have used more cheese. Fries were really good…thin and crunchy…though 2 orders was excessive even for me. Still I’m very glad to have it in the area.

When I was there, my wait was also longer than expected.

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Things got a little confusing on Friday re: the new Momofuku Milk Bar lunch specials. First we heard they had them at the Midtown branch (56th btw 5th+6th), then I got there and they didn’t. Then their PR person told us they weren’t going to offer them, and a few hours later Milk Bar tweeted out that they were!  So yesterday I called ahead just to be sure it was in fact on. Long story short, they’re now offering lunch specials at the Midtown Momofuku Mil Bar, but there aren’t as many options as some of the  other Milk Bar locations in the city.

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Suck on That East Village! Ramen Totto photo courtesy of Fork in the Road

• Robert Sietsema says Midtown has the #1 and #3 bowls of ramen in the city [FitR]
• Cafe China’s mapo tofu isn’t as good as Szechuan Gourmet’s [Food in Mouth]
• Uncle Gussy’s pastitsio is a winner [Tasty Eating]
• Here’s what the royal treatment at Steak N Shake looks like… [AHT]
• … and David Letterman loves it too! [Eater]
• We told you you should have come to Midtown, Japadog [Grub Street]
• It’s a good thing Tri Tip Grill fans listen to ML and not PR people! [Eater]

Thanks to Lunch’er Michelle for tipping us off to two new places about pop up on 44th street between 8th and 9th.  The first is a new burger joint called Smokey Burger Organic, which describes themselves as “organic burgers, salads, and sides, all natural shakes and sodas crafted from fresh quality ingredients.” I wish I could tell you more about it (price point, menu items, etc.), but the website they’ve plastered on the signs (smokeyburgerorganic.com) doesn’t appear to be functional yet.

With Five Napkin Burger and Island Burgers & Shakes up 9th avenue, Shake Shack half a block east and Steak ‘n Shake‘s debut yesterday, the burger market’s getting to be a crowded one. Unless they’ve got something cool up their sleeves to entice us over there, I’m not sure if a burger place is what we need more of in Midtown West.

Now, Japanese BBQ?  That’s a different story altogether!

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I think it’s safe to say that our dream of having a Momofuku’ish lunch available in Midtown all those years has finally come true.  And as if to completely seal the deal, Momofuku Milk Bar is now serving bonafied lunch specials.  They’re $8, 9 and $10 and come with one of their signature items (like the pastrami croissant), plus chips and a drink.  Not all items are available at all locations (for example, as of the other day the pork and veg buns were not available in Midtown as part of this deal), but we’ll take it! We’re being told that the pork bun special is available at the Midtown location!

Momofuku Milk Bar (inside Ma Peche), 15 W. 56th St. (btw. 5+6th)

UPDATE: Remember that nonsense about dreams coming true? We take it all back. Blondie headed over to Milk Bar today only to discover that the lunch specials aren’t available in Midtown! We still love you Milk Bar. Your twitter account and PR people? Not so much.

Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

When Mexicue announced they would be serving some brand new menu items this week, I realized we had never officially reviewed their brick and mortar location on 7th Avenue. Clay got a first look during their soft opening back in July, but we thought it was now time to get an official taste of the food.

I’m a big fan of the flavors at the truck and was excited by the prospect of their newest dish: a Bullet Burrito. Anybody who scored these puppies for free on Monday knows that they’re basically mini-burritos. They’re promoting them as a way to eat more than one burrito with different fillings inside and not enter a serious food coma. I definitely like this concept.

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2010 Vendy Award Winner Freddy the King of Falafel has reigned over Astoria for years now, but he recently announced on Twitter that he would be constructing a second cart to bring to Manhattan. He posted an updated photo of the cart on Facebook last night, but is reluctant to reveal exactly where he plans on parking this new cart – not even to fellow Vendy Award winner Thomas DeGeest from Wafels & Dinges. If the King of Falafel won’t even tell the King of Waffles, we’re not particularly hopeful he’s going to tell us… so rather than sit back and wait for him to make the big announcement about where he’s going to end up we’ve decided to harass the shit out of bring the decision to him! If you want Freddie in Midtown as much as we do, head over to Facebook, and tell him so.

• Sign of the Apocalypse? Panera is coming to Midtown. [Midtown Eating]
• Looking for good deals on late lunches [Midtown Eating]
• Mexicue’s creamy corn is kind of disappointing [Midtown Eating]
• The first ML Happy Hour meetup of 2012 is coming together [Connections]

Earlier this week, we received a tip from Lunch’er “Nick” about activity in the former Tomatoes space next to Chipotle on 52nd btw. 3rd + Lex. I went by for a look, and there does indeed seem to be a Cafe Today going up in that location. According to their website, they are a Portland, Oregon-based chain serving a variety of soups, salads, sandwiches, etc. as well as offering corporate catering. Are there any Portlanders out there who can let us know if this is something to get excited about?

Steak ‘n Shake is finally open, and the line is out the door, although not quite as out the door as Shake Shack on their first day in Midtown Does that mean Steak N Shake wins or loses their first head to head competition with the Shack?  An employee outside claimed the wait is about 10 minutes to the front of the line, plus 10 minutes to get your food-  so it looks like an infographic to determine your wait time will be unnecessary for this super-hyped new Midtown burger destination.  Did you brave the madness?  Let us know what you think in the comments.

Steak ‘n Shake, 1695 Broadway btw 53+54, 212-247-6584