Midtown Lunch

 

Nicely played Cafe Metro… because everybody knows that nothing impresses Fashion Week attendees more than a guy in a logo’d red suit and top hat handing out fliers. (Or maybe it does work and they’re geniuses!!! I don’t know shit about fashion…)

… when it’s leftover roast pork bo ssam from Superbowl.  Obviously I’m normally against bringing your lunch (if too many people started doing it, it would be the death of this site) but this isn’t your momma’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a brown paper bag.  Oh, and by the way… the little pile on the left is just crispy skin and (delicious, melt in your mouth) pork fat. The pile on the right is the leftover meat. That’s right, don’t let the lettuce fool you…  if anything is going to kill me, it’s going to be eating this for the third day in a row. Completely worth it, and better than Cafe Cello (on 46th btw. 5+6th) if I do say so myself (probably because I splurged and bought the meat at Marlow and Daughters in Brooklyn.)

Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen (on 41st and 8th Ave. in the NYT Building) is officially open, and it’s already pretty crowded. Early reports are mixed, and they seem pretty disorganized- but what do you expect on day one? Its only fair to give them a few weeks to work out the kinks.

Most importantly I spotted two ladies partaking in the sloppy joe/mac and cheese combo- and despite looking like brown slop topped with yellow slop in a paper container (no bread), they both said it was
really good! Also looked small for $7 but to be honest I’m not sure how much of this stuff the body could take anyway. Unfortunately by the time I got in line to order (around 1:30pm), they were sold out of Sloppy Joe!  Terrible.  I ended up going to Go Go Curry for their new fish special.

Anybody else sample the Schnipper’s today? Feel free to comment below.

Photo by calculat0r

Just so you don’t think that major chains are recession proof… after 13 years the Ben & Jerry’s on 8th Ave and 43rd St. has closed! It may not be a huge deal today, but the reverberations will be felt throughout Midtown West come the next “free ice cream day” (it’s one of only two real B&J’s locations in Midtown). Thankfully we still have the one in the Rock Center Concourse.

The teary letter is after the jump…

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I have to commend them for their continued innovations, because
everytime I step into Yushi (on 47th btw Park+Lex) they’ve added
something that catches my eye. Last time it was the Peking duck roll-
this time it was a Thai chicken hand roll, with peanut sauce marinated
chicken wrapped with mango, lettuce, and a Thai chili sauce (which was
tasty, but could have been a tad bit spicier for my taste). At $3 it’s
not outrageously expensive, and washed down with some fresh squeezed
watermelon juice it’s almost like being in Thailand. Actually it’s
nothing like being in Thailand, but as a little after lunch snack, it
wasn’t terrible.

It’s freakin freezing outside today, so I had no choice but to go for my favorite non-soup, gut warming lunch: a bowl of Texas style red chili from the Daisy May’s cart on 50th btw 6+7th. It’s a beanless chili (your co-workers will thank you) filled with big chunks of super tender beef. Cheese, sour cream, onions, and a tortilla come on the side, all for $7. I don’t know if the tiny cup of rice and beans was worth it, but I was glad to have it at the end to mix with the leftover sauce and condiments. Slightly spicy, completely satisfying, and most importantly- it warmed me up.

Todai, the sushi buffet on 32nd btw. Mad+5th has changed their name to Ubi Umi Ichi Umi and raised their price to $18.95. Super expensive, but I made the exception for two reasons. 1) It’s an all u can eat buffet (fat man like buffets.) And 2) I was invited there by 3 competitve eaters (no joke). Massacre is not a good enough word to describe what is going right now… full report coming tomorrow.

Today it was my wife that had jury duty, so I hopped on the subway to meet her (any excuse to lunch in Chinatown.) We were going to go to Excellent Pork Chop House, but ended up at NY Noodle Town (on Bowery and Bayard). This place has lost a step over the years, but the price is still right, and the pan fried soy sauce noodles with chicken was pretty… pretty… pretty good.  (Although not as good as tripe from a cart.)

Any food court closing is a sad thing in my book, even though this particular one (on 8th Ave btw. 44+45th) could be better. It is, however, home to the only Church’s Chicken in Midtown– so for that reason alone, there is some sadness. No word on whether this is related to the past electricity problems this place has had, or a DOH issue… but if I were a betting man, I’d go with DOH. It would make sense that they were working their way up 8th Ave. Tips are always welcome at zach@midtownlunch.com