Archive for January 2013

Get a Sneak Preview of Wafels & Dinges’ Cafe, Set to Open in the Spring

You may have heard rumors floating around that Wafels & Dinges will be opening up a brick and mortar café sometime in the near future. Well, we spoke to waffle master himself Thomas DeGeest, who confirms that the store will be downtown and is targeted to open in the spring of this year. He’s given us some more details, including that the 30-something seat shop will be designed by Belgian architect D+DSAO and will feature lots of neon! On the food side of things, the usual sweet and savory waffles will be on offer in addition to some new menu items, like grab ‘n’ go options, coffee from Brooklyn Roasting Company, and ice cream and shakes (like speculoos and Belgian chocolate).

If you just can’t wait until the spring, the truck will be testing out one of their new menu items today. The “Das Guten Wafel” is similar to the chewy and sweet liege waffle, but cooked with farmer’s ham and Raclette cheese inside and topped with scallions. They’ll only be available today at the Kastaar truck on 32nd and Park from 1-3pm, or while supplies last. Remember, this is a menu item that will only be available in the café, so today could potentially be your only chance to try this savory waffle in Midtown.

Flatiron Lunch: Ennju has all the Japanese food you want and FAST!

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.

Recently, a friend who works in the northern boundaries of Flatiron Lunch asked me for udon recommendations. From her location, I would probably recommend she head to K-town, but it made me think of Ennju which I passed many months ago.

What can I say about Ennju? They manage to cover most of the bases of Japanese food with a mix of premade and made to order dishes. While the online menu will give you an idea of all they have, but I tried to take photos of most of the stations to try to illustrate how many options they have. Before you even walk in, you will see several photo menus in the front window.

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Cer Te’s New Gluten Free Chocolate Cookie is Kind of Amazing

Pizza by Cer Te

Certe (55th btw 5th+6th) and Pizza by Certe (56th btw Park+Lex) are great go-to for savory options, but they aren’t slacking when it comes to picking up an afternoon treat. Their latest sweet is a Chocolate Cherry Pecan Lizardi and what’s wonderful about it is that your gluten-free coworkers can get in on the action!

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Your First Look at the Steak & Crepes Cart

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I don’t know about you, but Cheesesteaks and Crepes aren’t the most obvious combination to me. In fact, it seems a little weird. To be honest, when Brian reported on the new Steak & Crepes cart hitting midtown a little while back, it seemed a little goofy.Then the cart showed up in front of my office on 46th Street last week and curiosity got the better of me.

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Buy One Get One Free Wrap or Salad Alert (If You Have Friends)

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We’re not exactly fans of Just Salad, although I will admit to kind of liking their Thai chicken crunch wrap in one of my weaker moments a few years back. That being said, if you’re going to eat a salad it might as well be a free salad. Today a new location of Just Salad opens on 49th btw. 8+9th in World Wide Plaza, and to celebrate they’re offering buy one get one free wraps and salads (when you bring a friend) from 11am to 3pm, plus free Hint Water with any purchase of a wrap or salad. I guess it is possible to win friends with salad?  Freeloaders… find a friend, and prepare to engage.

Just Salad, 321 West 49th Street (btw. 8+9th)

Did TD Bank Get Inspired by Midtown Lunch? Probably Not: Honored doesn't really cover how we felt yesterday to see Robert Sietsema wondering on Fork in the Road if the folks at TD Bank were finding their advertising inspiration on the pages of Midtown Lunch.  Sadly, Andrea points out on the Downtown section of the site why they probably didn't.  Thanks Andrea, but we'll stick to believing what Robert wrote! And TD Bank, we'll take our royalties in the form of kofta sandwiches.

Pie Face’s #PiePalooza Starts Today

Pie Face is celebrating their first anniversary in the US with #PiePalooza, a four-day celebration at both their Murray Hill and Midtown West locations. Today is National Pie Day, which means they’ll be passing out free samples of Pie Face’s savory selections in areas around their shops. If you actually go to the stores, you can try your luck with their prize wheel as well, which includes a chance to win free coffee, pies and desserts. Freeloaders, engage!

Pie Face, Multiple Locations

  • 3rd Ave. & 34th, Murray Hill
  • B’way & 53rd, Times Square

First Look At Kimchi Taco Truck’s New Specialty Tacos

Korean tacos, once a novelty, are now available from a number of trucks that frequent Midtown. It can’t be easy for truck owners to differentiate themselves from the pack, but the Kimchi Taco Truck is doing just that by introducing some new menu items, including Korean fried chicken tacos. The updated menu includes burritos as well, but I went straight for the new tacos, ordering two Korean fried chicken tacos and one new fish taco. Usually the truck’s combination deal means three tacos cost $7 and four tacos are $9. However, if you want one of the new specialty tacos, which I obviously did, each taco will cost one dollar extra, which brought my combo to exactly $10. Pretty steep for a taco trio, but was it worth the price?

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Crisp Closes Greeley Sq. Location And Publicly Ends Affiliation With Crisp on Wheels

We’ve always been a fan of Crisp and their unique brand of falafel, first from their original store on 3rd Ave. to their 40th street expansion and then finally at their food truck.  But all is not well in the Crisp empire. We got a tip from Lunch’er sparmethecensor that the Koreatown location of Crisp on 32nd Street between B’way and 6th, which opened barely a year ago, is now closed.  Maybe they should have tried serving a kimchi topped falafel?

But the real shocker came in in the form of an email to everybody on Crisp’s mailing list…

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Schmackary’s Does Unbelievable “Schmackaroons”

Schmackary’s didn’t do so hot in the 2012 Readers’ Poll for desserts, which was disappointing to me, because it’s at the top of my list for cookies around Times Square. In addition to fulfilling your cookie fix, though, there are plenty other options in their arsenal of sweets, including “Schmackaroons,” or coconut macaroons with the Schmackary’s twist. Usually $3 each, and without discounts when bought in bulk, the Schmackaroons don’t come cheap. But, on Tuesdays Schmackary’s treats Schmackaroons like cookies. Instead of $3, they are the price of cookies (pricing structure in this post), and if you buy more than one, the price per Schmackaroon is reduced. So, I purchased a cookie and a Schmackaroon and forked over $5, the price of two cookies.
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