Midtown Lunch

Fatburger is here! Packed quite nicely at 1:15 PM on opening day, there was brisk business coming in and going out. Plus a full bar for those who want a more liquid lunch. Not a bad first day by any means, but the California burger debate has been rumbling for years now, and we’re just now feeling the aftershocks as if the San Andreas Fault had Chipotle for lunch. After getting a 24-hour Citibike pass to get all the way to 3rd from my office on the westside, I was hungry to bite down into something to invalidate the ride out and the ride back at the same time. Fatburger, prove your worth against the perils of physical exercise!
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If you thought the only way to try a cronut, the new Dominique Ansel pastry taking the city by storm, is either waiting in an absurd line in Soho at 7am or paying someone off, I’m here to tell you there is now a much easier option for Midtown Lunchers. This week, Gregory’s Coffee introduced a fried doughnut comprised of flaky croissant layers, filled with vanilla cream, and then glazed. Of course, for legal reasons, these are not cronuts, but croissant doughnuts. They’ll cost you $4 each, but that’s a dollar cheaper than the real thing and a whole lot less stressful.

Gregory’s Coffee, multiple locations

Last week, Alexa forewarned of Certe’s June sandwich, the Count of Stonington. This baby’s got lobster salad and spicy grano padana frico on vanilla-honey and sea-salted French toast. Yep, I was just as overwhelmed by that description as you- but it didn’t sufficiently prepare for what was to come.

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Just a friendly reminder for those who missed the news last week… Grand Central Terminal turns 100 years old this year, and as part of the celebration a lot of the retailers are rolling back their prices to 1913 levels today only.  You’ll be able to get a 19 cent piece of cheesecake at Grand Central Oyster Bar (dine in only, with the purchase of an entree), a 10 cent bambini scoop of Ciao Bella Gelato (from 1-3pm only), a 5 cent cup of coffee from Financier Patisserie (from Noon to 1pm only) and a bunch more food and non-food deals.  For a complete list, check out their website.

It looks like Diso’s Italian Sandwich Truck (which we told you about this morning) had a crazy first day in Midtown.  Luncher “ahntop” reported in the comments that his sandwich was very good, although he had to wait 45 minutes for it. I got there at 1:30pm, and waited in line for 15 minutes before they announced that they had run out of bread. This ain’t the FiDi Diso’s! Got to come ready if you’re going to do lunch in Midtown. Did get a free piece of prosciutto tho! Guess I’ll have to try again for the sandwich next time…

The last time we checked in with Banzobar, Anna did a double take when the name switched from Barbanzo, and found her chicken shwarma pita sandwich to be “average to pretty good” Mediterranean fare. After we recently found out that Banzobar was actually managed by the team that brought us Taboon (known for their irresistible flatbread) and Taboonette, we thought it was worth another look!

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Over on the Downtown section of the site Andrea discovered this new gourmet Italian sandwich truck yesterday.  They’ve been parking in the FiDi for a week now, but it looks like today they’re venturing up to Midtown.  According to their twitter feed they’ll be on 47th & Park today.  Early adopters let us know how it is in the comments.

Spotted en route to one of the better cheap Mexican carts anywhere, this bright splash of signage leaps out as you approach a unique junction of worst dollar slice pizza, best Japanese curry, and cheap delicious steam-table Chinese: Sweet Heaven has come down from on high to bring crepes, bubble tea, and shakes to 8th and 38th.
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