Midtown Lunch

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 Lunch’er Moe, a finance guy who wants to tell us about the REAL Little Italy Pizza.

Name: Moe

Age: 25

Occupation: Finance

Where in Midtown do you work? Mid 40’s near Madison Ave

Favorite Kind of Food: My whole motto in life is “I live to eat, not eat to live.” My favorite kind of food can be described in one word — SPICY! I like food with flavor like BAM! If my tongue had a face, I want food that breaks its nose with one punch. I grew up in Queens, which has a large asian population, and combined with my affinity for spicy food, it’s no surprise that my favorite cuisines are mostly from Asia. I enjoy Pakistani, Indian, Afghani, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Lebanese, and Turkish food (yes, Turkey is partially in Asia).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: 4Food on Madison b/w 40th and 41st has to be the WORST place to eat for many reasons. First and foremost, their food was horrible. It’s the kind of food that makes you really sad after you eat it, because now you’re full and can’t make up for it by eating something good, so you’re stuck with horrible food in your belly. Secondly, they tried making their menu really interactive, but ended up making it overcomplicated. They even had an employee out in front that had to explain the ridiculous menu.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: My co-workers and I are really into food trucks and carts, so we frequent Korilla BBQ (bulgogi tacos ofcourse), Taim Mobile (Harissa Falafel), Jamaican Dutchy (jerk chicken, duh), Luke’s Lobster (uhhh Lobster rolls), Biryani Cart (spicy buradi rolls), Wafles N Dinges (speculoos ice cream w/ nutella on top), and Mr. Khan’s halal cart on 45th st b/w 5th and 6th ave.

When the trucks aren’t around, we frequent Naya express (the lebanese chipotle on 3rd ave b/w 43rd and 44th st), Potbelly’s (just for the oatmeal/chocolate cookie), Num Pang (grilled skirt steak sandwich!), Kati roll (chicken unda / beef tikka rolls), and Crisp (African and Parisian falafel). There needs to be a special burger section, because here at work, we are all burger fanatics. In fact, we had a taste test between 5 of the supposedly best burgers in midtown (Shake Shack, Pop burger, PJ Clarke’s, Burger Joint, and Bill’s burger — photo attached for proof). Shake Shack won with an overwhelming majority.

Special Midtown dessert tip: Go to the Doubletree Hotel on 51st and Lexington and buy a tin of their amazing cookies for around $10. These cookies are heavenly.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? I want to take this time to tell everyone about the real Little Italy pizza (on 43rd st b/w Madison and 5th ave). Many times on ML I’ve seen comments on how the Little Italy on 45th b/w 5th and 6th is actually the real Little Italy, and how it’s one of the best pizza places out there. Well, my co-workers and I collectively disagree. We recently had a blind taste test between the two Little Italy’s and Eddie’s pizza truck, and everyone chose the pizza from Little Italy on 43rd b/w Madison and 5th ave. Get the chipotle chicken and original grandma slices!

Places you have discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? Here at work, we all use the ML work-safe twitter tracker everyday between 11:00 and 11:30 AM (it seems to get earlier everyday though). But aside from that, Flex Donuts in Grand Central Terminal was an amazing find. My co-workers and I all love dessert, and recently bought 20 donuts from Flex Donuts for a breakfast party at work. I’d recommend getting the peanut butter and chocolate filled and the raspberry cheesecake filled donuts. I hear Flex Donuts is only around for a limited time, so go get some!

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Somewhere in front of a parking lot with all of NYC’s food trucks, without any lines. I think this may exist in Long Island City?

Anything you’d like to ask the midtown lunch readers? For those of you who work late in midtown, what are some good dinner options open past 8 PM? All the good stuff is usually closed. And I refuse to get Chipotle again.

But didn’t you see their ad during the Grammy’s? It even made me want to eat Chipotle… and I *hate* Chipotle. Got a suggestion for Moe? Put it in the comments. And as always, if you want to be next week’s Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nominate)? Email editor@midtownlunch.com.