Midtown Lunch

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts 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. This week our new Happy Hour correspondent Jackie hits up an old restaurant row standby.

Surveying my friends (out of pure curiosity, boredom, and the need for inspiration) regarding the top three things that come to mind when they think of New York state, I realized how UN-New-York-y, they are. That said, there were quite a few “sensical” things that overlapped, including pizza (we’ll tackle that one later), the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Buffalo wings, and Brooklyn. Inspired by New York and the “little towns” in it, Little Town Restaurant Row pays homage to the Empire State in its entirety, including the “New York-y” things mentioned above.

Taking design cues from its first location in Union Square, Little Town is dark (or as I call it, sexy-lights-lit), accented with detailed woodwork, hand built butcher block tables, and booths made from reclaimed and recycled materials including wood from Coney Island’s old boardwalk. Flat screen televisions line both of Little Town’s two floors, making this a good sit-down spot for sports fans. Good design and ambiance aside, the food, drinks, and service at Little Town aren’t too shabby either.

Kat, our bartender for the evening kept our group of 12+ glasses constantly full.

With over A HUNDRED NY beers in house (including libations from Cooperstown’s very own Ommegang Brewery and one of my personal favorites, Brooklyn Brewery), 24 of them on tap at a time (for $5 5PM-8PM daily), and solid grub ranging from Long Island oysters at 99 cents a pop (yes, CENTS) 5PM-8PM Monday – Wednesdays and 8PM-Midnight Thursday – Saturday, to pretzel-covered chicken fingers and beer-battered Buffalo wings, Little Town is a soon-to-be tourist trap to beat.

The only thing I’d suggest avoiding (UNFORTUNATELY) is Eddie’s NY Style Whole Wheat Pizza. The first time I tried it at Little Town, I was told it tasted the way it did (cardboard-y) because they didn’t have pizza stones yet. The second time I tried it, it still tasted the way I remembered it to be – cardboard-y and NOT like the real Eddie’s pizza, even though I was told the stones were in. In short, if you want an Eddies pizza, go visit their truck.

Weekly beer tasting dinners hosted by beer sommeliers (yes, apparently, they exist) might be too fancy for me, but could be of some interest to you “beer-oes” out there.

Other specials to note: Daily from 4PM – 7PM, Vision Vodkas are 2-for-1; Taste of Drafts are a measly 2 bucks until midnight and 3 bucks from 10PM until close daily.

Little Town NYC, 366 West 46th Street (btw 8+9th Ave). 212-677-6300