If you’re a fan of the $10 lunch special at AJ Maxwell’s (on 48th btw. 5+6th) you should love the deal featured today on our deals page. Get an AJ Maxwell’s steak sandwich with soup, salad or fries and a crusty bread basket for just $6. The deal is available from 11am to 4pm, for take out only.

A couple of commenters clued me in to the fact that Ina Garten’s kitchen isn’t the only thing going on in the Rock Center plaza this week. It’s accompanied by a “Tastes of Summer” outdoor food court. Sadly nothing is being giving away for free, but there is lunch being sold by some of the area restaurants.

It’s fun when there are food events like this in Midtown, but most of the food at this one is completely useless since you can just walk an extra few feet to the stores themselves and pay the same amount of money for the same food. But there were three burger options that are worth mentioning…

Rock Center Cafe, AJ Maxwell’s, and Brasserie Ruhlman were all cooking up burgers that I’m pretty sure are cheaper than what you’d pay in the restaurant:

Brasserie Ruhlman was selling a Kobe beef burger for $8, with cheese for $9. Some will complain that Kobe should never be turned into a burger. So those people can check out…

… the good looking $7 cheeseburger being served by the Rock Center Cafe.

Finally AJ Maxwell’s was there, selling two mini-burgers for $8, and a steak sandwich for $10. This is the one burger I have had… and it’s good. I’m pretty sure you can still get the two mini-burger deal for takeout every day at AJ Maxwell’s (for $10 with a soup or salad), but for those who don’t care about the soup or salad, this is a better deal.

Don’t know if either of the first two burgers are any good, and with the other burger specials going on around Midtown this week it might not be worth it… but they looked good, and there are few things better than eating a quality hamburger grilled outside on a BBQ. Anybody try this out? Let us know in the comments. It’s open from 11am to 2pm, and according to this schedule, today is the last day.

Well, with a recession comes the recession specials… and A.J. Maxwell’s (on 49th btw. 5+6th) has created a take-out-only lunch special for those of us who’d like to enjoy a steak sandwich made with quality steak (or mini burgers, or a chicken sandwich) for just $10.  You get your choice of any one of the three, plus a soup or salad, for $10.

A.J. Maxwell’s is one of those wannabe old school steakhouses that probably wouldn’t exist if the tourist or expense account had never been invented.  I don’t know if their steaks are good, or worth the money, but I’m guessing they’re not bad.  And they must be better than Tad’s or the Steak Truck.  So, I called the number and ordered my $10 lunch specials (I didn’t want to choose… so I just got all three!)

It may look huge in the photo, but the sandwiches are only slightly bigger than a half sandwich, and although the chicken sandwich was fine… we didn’t come here for no chicken!

You get 2 mini burgers for your ten bucks, plus your choice of cheese, and these were definitely tasty.  Good quality meat, nicely cooked medium rare, and really flavorful.  It’s what you would expect a steak house’s burger to taste like.  Far superior to Pop Burger, but also more expensive.  If only they came with french fries!  Can’t decide if this was worth $10 though…

The steak… now here’s what you’re looking for (ok so the photo does not look super appetizing, but trust me. It was good.)  Not a huge sandwich, but a good amount of steak. Perfectly cooked, medium rare.  The bread is a good french roll, cut in half, and perfectly tasty.  But in the end, all that really matters is the steak… and esaentially you’re getting 1/2 of a quality steak with bread and soup (or salad) for $10.  Not bad at all.

Sadly both soups we tried (the pea soup and the cauliflower soup) were watery and just not that great.  The salad was perfectly fine (if you’re into that thing) but the thing that might put the special over the top is the “bread basket”.

Along with our three lunch specials, they gave us a bag of bread and breadsticks… with a massive plastic container full of tasty salted butter.  Niiiiice.  Sure, it’s free when you eat there… but it’s a nice touch to see them include it in the lunch special.  Especially nice if the two mini burgers or the (half) steak sandwich doesn’t end up filling you up (which for some of our bigger eaters, might be a problem.)

All in all, it’s a pretty good lunch… although not as great a “deal” as it sounds.  If you order mini burgers off the bar menu, you get 4 (instead of 2) plus fries and onions rings (preferable to bad soup), all for $20.  So technically, you could order that to go for two people and split it for the same price as two lunch specials.  Sure, you have to share the fries and onion rings, but I didn’t really eat my soup anyway- so it’s win win.   Next time I might try to talk them into giving me fries with the special instead of soup.  (Why didn’t I think of that before damnit!)

THE +

• Quality red meat, in Midtown, for lunch, for $10
• Pefectly cooked mini burgers, and steak for the steak sandwich
• The give you bread, breadsticks and butter!

THE -

• The two soups we tried were pretty bad… and without eating the soup it may not be filling enough for lunch (unless you eat all the breadsticks)
• The sandwiches were more like half sandwiches
• No french fries!  That would put this special over the top…
• Not sure if the burgers are worth the money… they were really good, but there are a lot of good burgers for under $10 in Midtown
• It’s take out only

A.J. Maxwell’s, 57 W. 48th St. (btw. 5+6th), 212-262-6200