Midtown Lunch

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, I turn the site over to you at the end of the year to vote for your favorite Midtown Lunches. So… you voted… and here are the results, along with my picks. Some are expected… some are surprises… and a couple were downright shocking. Here are the results of the 2008 Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll:

Best Fast Food Hamburger: Burger Joint

Five Guys put on a good show this year, but it wasn’t enough to unseat the consensus best burger in Midtown: Burger Joint at the Parker Meridien (on 56th btw. 6+7th).  There’s been a lot of talk about City Burger in recent days, but not nearly enough people have tried it for them to have had a legitimate chance… maybe next year.  And while I admit Burger Joint and City Burger are making the best quality burger in Midtown, the free toppings and fresh cut fries make Five Guys tops in my book. Editor’s Pick: Five Guys (poll link)

Best Korean Fast Food: Woorijip

There is plenty of Korean food in Midtown if you work too far away from 32nd street, and want your fix. But if you’ve got time, and you want the best- 32nd Street btw. B’way+6th is the place to be, and Woorijip is far and away the best Midtown Lunch’ish option on the block. The readers have spoken, and I have to agree. Editor’s Pick: Woorijip (poll link)

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If you were away for the Holidays, and missed the end of the year Readers’ Poll, today is your last chance to vote for your favorite steak, soup, street cart, pizza, saddest closing, Indian buffet, sandwiches, sit down Chinese, chicken parm, Mexican, Japanese, street meat, sweets, Latin food, Chinese fast food, Indian, falafel, Korean, and burger. Winners will be posted tomorrow.

It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

Whether or not you want to treat this as a “Best Philly Cheesesteak” or just a plain “Best Steak” category is up to you… but one thing is for sure, if you want a large sandwich with sliced bits of steak, topped with some kind of cheese, you’ve got a decent number of options in Midtown. And if you want just a plain steak, for under $10, well, you can have that too! Here are the nominees for Best Steak in Midtown:

• Carl’s Steaks (3rd Ave. btw. 34+35th)
• Five Miles to Philly (2nd & 52nd)
• Hawaiian Island Grill (53rd btw. 2+3rd)
• Magdy’s Cheesesteak Cart (Park & 46th)
• Shorty’s (formerly Tony Luke’s on 9th Ave. btw. 41+42nd)
• The Steak Truck (on Park btw. 47+48th)
• Tad’s Steaks (Multiple Locations)

Vote for your favorite, after the jump…

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

When you talk about the best soups in Midtown, ramen is definitely going to come up… but there are a few other spots worth a mention as well. Here are the nominees for best soup in Midtown:

• Edison Cafe (47th btw. B’way+8th)
• Fashion Soup (41st btw. 6+B’way)
• Hot Soup Carts (Multiple Locations)
• Menchanko Tei (45th btw. Lex+3rd & 55th btw. 5+6th)
• Men Kui Tei (56th btw. 5+6th)
• Sapporo (49th btw. 6+7th)

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

Nothing defines Midtown Lunch more than the street food, and while we complain about Midtown as a “wasteland” for good food- our lunchtime street food has no rival in New York City. While there are plenty of Hot Dog and street meat carts to go around, there are also a host of unique offerings. Here are the nominees for “Best Non-Traditional Street Food” in Midtown (none of these carts were nominated in any other category):

• Ecuadorian Street Food Lady (46th btw. 5+6th?)
• Hallo Berlin (54th btw. 5+6th)
• Jamaican Dutchy (51st & 7th)
• Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart (46th btw 5+6th)
• Papa Perrone’s (55th btw. Mad+Park)
• Rickshaw Dumpling Truck (Multiple Locations)

*UPDATE* Let’s try this one more time. There was a Poll Daddy glitch, so I had to reset the poll… if you voted between 1:30 and 2:40pm EST on Tuesday, please vote again. Thanks!

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

Even with all the crazy price hikes this year, pizza is still one of the cheaper options on the Midtown Lunch landscape. And even though I don’t ever think there will be a consensus in this category… it doesn’t mean we can’t try, right? Here are the nominees for Best Pizza in Midtown.

• 99 Cent Fresh Pizza (43rd btw. Lex+3rd)
• Bella Napoli (49th btw. 6+7th)
• Bella Vita (58th btw. 6+7th)
• Jiannetto’s Pizza Truck (47th btw. Park+Mad)
• Lazzarra’s Pizza (38th btw. 7+8th)
• Little Italy Pizza (43rd btw. Mad+5th)
• Little Italy Pizza (45th btw. 5+6th)
• Mondelo (37th btw. Mad+5th)
• Naples 45 (45th btw. Mad+Park)
• Two Boots (Grand Central Terminal)

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

If 2008 was the year of the price hike, 2009 will undoubtedly be the year of the “closing”… and from the looks of this list we’ve already gotten a head start. The economic climate has already taken a toll on some of our favorite Midtown lunches, but there’s no question that some hurt more than others. Here are the nominees for Saddest Closing of 2008:

• Belly Deli (B’way btw. 49+50th)
• Blimpie with the Spicy Vegetarian Sandwich (on 46th btw. 5+6th)
• Burritoville (Multiple Locations)
• Church’s Chicken Food Court (8th Ave. btw. 44+45th)
• Sakae Sushi (on 43rd btw. Lex+3rd)
• Sophie’s Cuban (40th btw. 7+8th)
• Starwich (38th btw. 5+6th)
• Sugo e Basilico (5th Ave. btw. 44+45th)
• Two Boots (Rock Center)
• Zen Burger (Lex btw. 45+46th)

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

The all-you-can-eat-buffet is probably my favorite style of eating, but with only one (mediocre) Chinese buffet in Midtown, and our one Latin buffet converting to a pay-by-the-lb. situation, Indian all you can eat buffets are all we have left. And with all the recent price hikes, $11 has to be the price limit, or else the category would be reduced to practically nothing. (Plus, what is an extra $1 when all-you-can-eat is involved.) Here are the nominees for best all you can eat Indian Buffet in Midtown:

• Bombay Grill (Lex. & 40th)
• Curry Dream (39th btw. 5+6th)
• Spice Fusion (8th Ave. btw. 47+48th)
• Sukhadia’s Gokul (45th btw. 5+6th)
• Touch of India (formerly West Tandoori Club on 37th btw. 7+8th)

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

I’ll admit that sandwiches is a pretty tough category.  In a lot of ways, Midtown Lunch exists so you don’t have to eat a boring sandwich every day.  And yet, there are a few places that are doing something out of the ordinary… whether it’s the fresh turkey sandwich at City 75, the unique offerings of Milant, or the (admittedly overpriced) fancy sandwiches at Le Pain Quotidien and ‘wichcraft. Plus Lenny’s (because if I didn’t, somebody would complain.)  One final note… the sandwiches at Sophie’s and Tina’s are identical, so I combined them into once choice.  Didn’t seem right to make them compete against each other.  Here are the nominees for best sandwiches in Midtown…   

• Boi to Go (2nd Ave. btw. 42+43rd)
• City 75 (51st btw. 5+6th)
• Homefront Deli (41st btw. Mad+Park)
• Le Pain Quotidien (40th btw. 5+6th)
• Lenny’s (Multiple Locations)
• Macaron Cafe (36th btw. B’way+7th)
• Milant (39th btw. Lex+3rd)
• Sophie’s Cuban/Tina’s Restaurant (Multiple Locations)
• ‘wichcraft (Multiple Locations)

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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It’s time for the 2nd Annual Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Between now and the end of the year I’ll be asking all of you to decide on the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

Midtown Lunch is all about cheap Chinese fast food, but there are some sit down Chinese places worthy of attention… including one which got two stars from the New York Times this year. I don’t normally like to eat at sit down places for lunch, but I make exceptions for Chinese food.  Here are the nominees for Best Sit Down Chinese Food in Midtown (with take out lunch for under $10).

• Big Bowl Noodles (6th Ave. btw. 37+38th)
• Chef Yu (8th Ave. and 36th St.)
• Nanking (B’way btw. 50+51st)
• Oriental Noodle Shop (45th btw. Lex+3rd)
• Szechuan Gourmet (39th btw. 5+6th)
• Wu Liang Ye (on 48th btw. 5+6th)

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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