Midtown Lunch

I’ve been quite intrigued by this current trend of fried pizzas, and after reading Chris’s review of Don Antonio‘s (50th btw 8th+9th) fried panini, I knew I wanted to stop by to try one out. Unfortunately since his visit, some of the lower priced options have snuck up $1, but still a buck shy of the ML price ceiling. I decided to take a gander at the other panini under $10, the Toscano. For $9, I will say you do get your money’s worth.

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I recently learned in the forums that ML favorite, Hing Won recently ran afoul of the DOH (again) and were briefly closed last week for inspection violations. Last week I posted about the slightly out of ML price range Tuna Burger from the Oyster Bar’s takeout window and Midtown Lunch’r infoman411 called me out in the comments saying:

Are you sure you want to promote this place on ML? Did you happen to notice the Giant C in the doorway? They have it so that if the door is open you can’t actually see the fact that their NYC Dept of Health Inspection rating shows a C. What’s amazing is that I walk by every day and I never saw the rating sign until recently yet DOH site shows its been a C since December 2011.

I actually didn’t know that they received a C, I’ve since learned that the sign is posted in the corner near the door of restaurant, if you went straight to the take out window, as I did, there’s a good chance you might not see the sign at all. But it got me thinking…if I had known at the time that the Oyster Bar was a C, would I have cared? Would you care? Read more »

Sadly, we never got to try B-Bap, the quirky little Korean fast-casual restaurant on 9th between 54th & 55th. The place had always been on my ‘to review’ list, but fusion bibimbap just couldn’t get my excited enough to go out of bounds for lunch. Thanks to a tip from Michael, we learned that B-Bap has shuttered, and a Thai restaurant called Noodles Thai Kitchen has taken its place. The tipster seemed to like the food, so we’ll certainly be back for a full review.

Early adopters, please let us know in the comments what you think as well. In the meantime, you can check out the menu, which is right around the $10 price point, after the jump.
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• Seriously, Potbelly is worse than Subway [Midtown Eating]
• Joy Curry & Tandoori is opening a 2nd location on 39th? [Midtown Eating]
• Essen Slow Fast Food is coming to Madison Ave. [Midtown Eating]
• Little Morocco will be serving kofte on Fridays [Midtown Eating]
• Anybody seen the Indian cart from 39th & 6th? [Midtown Eating]

After having been missing in action for the past five months, the Salume Kiosk has reappeared in Times Square in the pedestrian walkway on 46th and Broadway, moving Snack Box back to their spot across the street. They’re not open yet, and I’m sure Times Square tourists will shell out $11 for a panini, but I’m interested to see if their return also brings an updated (more ML friendly) menu …

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 Mike, a non profit marketer who has a good halal rec near Columbus Circle.

Name: Mike

Age: 34

Occupation: Non-profit marketer

Where in Midtown do you work? 61st & Columbus

Favorite Kind of Food: Mexican

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Chinese-American (I won’t say Chinese because I’ve never had the real stuff)

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Chai Thai (55th and 8th) – super tasty, quick and cheap sit-down joint. The Pad Sea Eiw is like crack. The Flame Diner (58th and 9th) – dependable diner food; vines on the ceiling. Turkey burger and turkey club are standards. Halal Food Cart (61st and Broadway) – in a land of a thousand Halal carts, the guy with the beanie hat is king. Chicken over rice goodness for just $5.

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I know Bryant Park’s Southwest Porch is kitschy, but I’m a sucker for porch swings. And fire pits. And I keep thinking that someday we’ll wake up and it will be gone. No more porch swinging! Horrors! For this summer, they added a few things to the menu, including calorie counts. When I heard an actual grilled burger was on the menu, I was game–even if it was $1 above the ML ceiling.

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The Hallo Berlin empire has lost one of its outlets, as Hallo Berlin Express on 9th Avenue between 50th & 51st closed some time ago. We clearly didn’t catch that closing, but sharp eyed luncher Hightemp wrote in with a tip that The Claw restaurant had opened in its place. I walked by, and confirmed that they are open for business.

It’s not a devastating loss considering that Hallo Berlin itself is only an avenue away (on 10th between 44th & 45th) and the Hallo Berlin cart returned to 5th Ave. and 54th street last year. But we’re being careful to not get too excited over this opening. First, the menu at The Claw is priced well beyond what we’d want to pay for lunch, it’s well out of our normal bounds, and their Chelsea location received a pretty tepid review over at the Village Voice. Personally, I’ve been 100% faithful to Luke’s Lobster, and Lauren Shockey’s take is that The Claw probably won’t change your mind on Luke’s. She then adds, “Nevertheless, even an OK lobster roll is better than no lobster roll at all.” Truth.

I received some very exciting news this week when Meru, kati roll master and owner of Biryani Cart told me he would be opening his first restaurant this week. My excitement waned only slightly when he told me it would be in Jamaica, Queens. Field trip, anyone?

The restaurant is called Voot-er Adda NY and if all goes according to plan, it will open on Thursday. The menu is a very interesting fusion of Bangladeshi and Chinese cuisine. Meru gave me a copy of the menu and it looks like a perfect Midtown Lunch spot (except for the whole geographical issue) with most dishes well under $10. Some of the wings he was serving at Juicy Wings are featured as appetizers, along with some deliciously described entrees like sizzling chicken katsu, Manchurian fried rice, and Thai style masala beef. The famous kati rolls are offered, along with (surprise, surprise) a $6.95 lunch special.

For now, Meru will still be manning the 46th Street cart during the day and will be at the restaurant in the evening. When I asked the busy chef if he plans on bringing any of these new dishes to Midtown, I got a good-for-now “maybe.”