Midtown Lunch

As I was walking down 45th Street last week, I was startled to find the windows of Lebanese spot Karam papered over. New York Magazine named the chicken shawarma at their Bay Ridge location one of the 101 best sandwiches in NYC, but I guess their Midtown location couldn’t hack it.  Last year, I enjoyed a lunch there but found the pitas a bit tough and dry and Jen agreed. When Bread and Olive became Karam, the change over wasn’t that drastic, so here’s hoping that we’ll still have a tasty North African option when the doors open again. And while we’re at it, let’s hope they get better pita bread, too!

I stumbled on Karam the other day while walking down 45th Street between 5th and 6th and I have to admit, I was impressed off the bat. Without having tasted the food at all, I was pretty surprised just to see that a brick and mortar Middle Eastern shop could survive in an area with just so many halal carts. Sure, Karam, formerly Bread and Olive, is Lebanese and skews toward the higher end, but there are no less than half a dozen carts within a block, including Biryani Cart, Kwik Meal and Moishe’s. The fact that Karam was there and seemed to be doing well was confirmation enough that I ought to give it a try.

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Lunch’r Mike sent us the heads up that Bread & Olive (45th btw 5th and 6th) is now under new management. The restaurant has been rebranded as Karam, but I paid a quick visit yesterday and the menu seemed exactly as I remembered it (same signage, too with the Bread & Olive stripped off). Any regulars notice a difference in the food? Let us know in the comments.

Everybody loves falafel!  So the second week of Midtown Lunch’s existence was dubbed Falafel Week- and each day I visited and wrote about a different Midtown falafel joint (I was made fun of by Gawker and everything… it was very exciting.)  Well, alot has changed in 8 months.  I still haven’t found Miriam’s Falafel, Aron’s has closed, and months after Falafel week, I found the best falafel deal in Midtown.  All those things aside, one of my favorite discoveries that particular week was Bread & Olive- and I thought it might be time to head back for some non-falafel eating, and a full +/-.

Bread & Olive is a Lebanese take out place on 45th btw. 5th & 6th ave.  They have both beef and chicken shwarma, kafta, delicious homemade breads, and an array of maza (Lebanese salads and dips).  There is a small seating area in the back, but most people take the food to go.  Everything is Lebanese style, so the spices are going to be different than the shwarma at an Israeli place, or the gyro from a Greek place.

What we ordered, food porn and the +/- after the jump…

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DAY 4 of Falafel Week

It’s day 4 of Falafel Week and I was supposed to go to Miriam’s, which I have never seen but was told is on the SW corner of 46th & 6th.  It was recommended on Chowhound… but when I walked by on Wednesday it was not there- so for today I decided to go to Bread & Olive (also recommended to me on Chowhound), and find another place for tomorrow.

Bread & Olive has falafel, along with a ton of other options, including chicken and beef schawarma, numerous pastries, vegetable entrees, and what looked like lebanese style flat bread pizza.  All of it looked delicious… but alas, this is falafel week, so falafel is what I got.

This is a lebanese place, so a beet juice pickled vegetable made it’s first appearance of the week (I’m pretty sure it was turnip, but not positive).  It was one of the first layers to go down on top of the fresh baked flat bread- that I believe they make on site (another first for the week).  It also had lettuce and slices of tomatos, and then the falafel and tahini, all rolled up burrito style in the flat bread.

A picture of the sandwich, and the +/-, after the jump… Read more »