Luckily for Midtown Lunchers, some of the best food vendors from the Bryant Park holiday shops have extended their stay through February. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t bare the thought of going for lunch back when all the tourists were in town, so I didn’t go near the place. (I work in Times Square, which is bad enough!) Yesterday I walked by and saw no lines, making it the perfect opportunity to try TopArepa.

These are not the everyday arepas you’ll find at the generic NYC street fair du jour. TopArepa serves what I can only describe as elevated arepas, offering a multitude of delicious-sounding toppings that will surely make ordering difficult for the indecisive. I was very happy with my mushroom and sunny side up egg ($7.50), which was actually over easy, but who’s counting. The arepa was savory, yet sweet (due to the sweet corn); soft and gooey, yet crunchy. What more could you ask for, really?

All the set menu items are under $10, or you can construct your own arepa with your choice of many fillings and toppings. Remember, the extension for TopArepa, Mmm…Enfes, Wafels and Dinges and the rest of the food stalls ends February 26, so check it out while you still can!

If you enjoyed the food at the Bryant Park Holiday Market, but hated the red sweater wearing tourists, you’re in luck. Ten of the best food vendors from the market will remain open in Bryant Park through February 26, including Mmm.. Enfes, TopArepa, and Wafels & Dinges. The vendors are now all congregated around the fountain, and you can check out the complete list and map of the continuing food options here.

Related:
Get Turkish lunch in Bryant Park at Mmm…Enfes
There’s a Ton of Food in The Shops at Bryant Park

Outside of doner kebabs, I don’t know a ton about Turkish food. That’s a shame because the last time I tried some was way back at Turkish Kitchen in Gramercy. So, when I saw in the forums that there was a Turkish stand in the Bryant Park holiday market, I decided to check it out.

The stand, which is right near the corner of 6th Ave and 42nd St, has a selection of around a dozen different types of filled wraps and pastries. The flat gozemes caught my attention, but there were others that looked very much like meat filled danishes.

There were also these larger than bite-sized nuggets that I believe were made from lentils with crab meat and spinach mixed in.

The stand doesn’t have anything like a menu that I could see, so the only price I ever got was $6.50 for the Beef Gozeme, which I ordered.

It got a quick heating on the sandwich press, which left some light grillmarks behind.

I was happily surprised to find the gozeme is more substantial than I thought when I was ordering it. It’s a good size and heavier than it looked behind the counter.

I was also surprised to find that the wrapping wasn’t a flatbread, but seemingly a million layers of soft, thin, phyllo bread. Soft and slightly chewy, the gozeme was moist and much more satisfying than I’d expected.

That said, the ground beef inside wasn’t packed tight or overflowing. Having never tried it before, I can’t say if that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but of course I wouldn’t have objected to more.

I washed the gozeme down with one of the many different canned fruit nectars they were selling. This one, apricot flavored, was sweet, but not sugary and I wished there had been more of it. Next time I might have to get two, perhaps another of these and one of the other flavors.

Since I wasn’t sure how filling the gozeme was going to be, I’d picked up an order of pistachio-laden baklava as well. It was wonderful. Not as excessively thick as some I’ve had before, it also tasted fresh in a way I’d never had before.

The great sadness of Mmm…Enfes is that it’s here temporarily. This stand and the one in the Columbus Circle market are just here for the next few weeks. In the meantime, I plan to do my best to explore the other options available before they disappear.

I found the Turkish booth in the NW (42nd+6th) area of the park, next to returning Vegetarian Oasis and Wafels & Dinges. I went with the chicken and dill gozleme, which is now selling for $6.50, and found this Turkish burrito adequate as your main lunch. I was thankful that they are heavy-handed on the dill and asked-for hot sauce because chicken and cheese on its own would be incredibly bland. The homemade phyllo wrap was excellent–thin enough to not add too much starchy heft, but thick enough to hold everything together.

As I walked around, a few new vendors caught my eye. One was Brooklyn’s own “Pickle Me Pete” right by the fountain. I’m like Snooki when it comes to pickles, so you can expect me to be stopping by for some kosher dills before the seasons up. I did pick up a small one for $1, and it was briny, garlicky, dill goodness.

Another vendor on my list is “Daisy’s Grits” by the Southwest Porch. Though it seems pricey for grits, I am intrigued by someone selling Colombian Chorizo or Cantonese Crab grits. The Southern in me says blasphemy, the Northern in me says interesting. Any early adopters on these grits, please let me know your thoughts in the comments.

There seem to be just as many dessert options as there are savory ones. A fair number of booths are selling chocolate or hot chocolate (enough that there may need to be a head-to-head), but I made my way back to the other side, towards the library for some churros. Sophie’s–no relation to Sophie’s Cuban–is selling freshly made churros and Bavarian hot cider. According to them, Bavarian cider is cranberry juice and orange juice, mulled with spices. It’s tarter than regular cider, and might be more enjoyable for those needing a hot drink, but not something too sweet. The churros, though fresh and delicious, were especially pricey at $5. My addition of some Nutella evidently cost an extra $1 too! Since you do get about five, it’s a good dessert to split with a friend because after eating lunch, it totally puts you over the edge into a food coma when eating alone.

The Shops at Bryant Park are going on every day until January 8th.

In case you haven’t noticed, preparations are under way for the Holiday Shops at Bryant Park which open this Wednesday Thursday. I was prepared to snark about it not even being Halloween yet, but then I saw the ladies setting up the Turkish pastry booth that I so enjoyed last year. Grinch be gone. Can’t wait for some spinach gözleme! The shops are opened Monday–Friday: 11am–8pm (as well as 10am–9pm on Saturday and 10am–6pm on Sunday). The official website doesn’t have much info yet. We’ll keep you posted on the other food options once the place is up and running.

I was actually planning on just walking through Bryant Park and finding lunch elsewhere south of 42nd street. When I spotted Mmm…Enfes’ booth at the NW corner of the park, I knew I didn’t need to go any farther for lunch. Their menu features a selection of Turkish pastries including bourek, gul bourek, baklava, and gözleme, a traditional Turkish hand rolled pastry. One of the ladies behind the counter strongly recommended the spinach and onion gözleme ($6) so I went for that. It was heated to order and I chose to get it with hot sauce.

The gözleme was truly delicious. The pastry itself was light and tender with a very tasty spinach and onion filling. The hot sauce perked up the flavor with a tangy little zing. I had just the gözleme for lunch and to be honest, if I had time, I would have supplemented that with soup or perhaps another pastry. If you have a lighter appetite, you might find that the gözleme is satisfying enough itself.

For sweets lovers, Rebecca over at the Bryant Park Blog calls their baklava the “moistest and most honey-laden I’ve ever tasted.” The lady running the stand says that she doesn’t have a stop yet, but she’s trying to do fairs and festivals to get started. They just started a Mmm…Enfes Facebook page and it’s pretty bare now, but the owner told me that’s where she plans to put updates etc.

I’ll definitely be paying a return visit while the market is still up. For more info on the Shops at Bryant Park, check out their site.

‘Tis the season to spend your lunch hour jostling with tourists while shopping for gifts, and wishing you could spend the warm afternoon ice skating. Oh yes, the Bryant Park shops (6th btw 40th+42nd) have been back for a week or two now and a few things have changed since we dutifully covered them last year. Most notably, we can temporarily get Sigmund Pretzels in Midtown!

As I checked out the scene yesterday, I came across the Sigmund Pretzel Shop booth on the New York Public Library side of The Pond. Having tasted their cheddar pretzel over the summer and absolutely loving it, I was down to fork over $3 for a little pretzel snack. I decided to go for the feta and olive-the olives being in the pretzel dough. The ladies in the booth placed my pretzel in the warming oven for what seemed like half a second, and only later did I realize that staying in that oven is key to enjoying the pretzel. Though the pretzel was hours old and a bit cold, I still enjoyed the saltiness of both the feta and olives. I definitely want to go back for more pretzel snacks, this time I’ll be sure to ask for it extra hot.

Get more info about the Holiday Shops at Bryant Park on their website.

The Bryant Park Pond is in full swing now, with free ice skating (you still have to pay to rent skates), little shopping kiosks, and a bunch of food. We covered most of the food a few weeks ago, but there were a couple of holdovers that we missed on the SW side of the park. Like kettle korn! (Who doesn’t like the salty sweet goodness that is kettle corn?) And there is also a chicken teriyaki bowl place as well that we missed. But the thing I was most excited to see was MOZZAREPAS!!!

I am well aware that if you go to Jackson Heights (or even the East Village) you can get “real”, homemade arepas that are delicious. But to me arepas have always meant the circular discs of fried corn bread’ish mush sandwiching thick melty slices of mozzarella cheese. Here in New York they’re known by their corporate knock off name: the MozzArepa. You can blame this on my upbringing in Miami, where these kind of arepas were at every street fair… and more importantly, on the walk from the MetroRail to the Miami Arena (hello Heat games!)

And now they’re at Bryant Park! Admittedly my arepa was on the stale side (it had clearly been sitting out for awhile), there wasn’t a ton of melty cheese, and IT WAS $5 (shockingly expensive). But I was too excited about seeing arepas in Midtown to get too angry. Although at that price, I can probably just wait for a weekend street fair to have my MozzArepa fix.

Has anybody had anything at the Bryant Park holiday thing that’s worth checking out? I haven’t seen anything too tempting, and most of the things are just a tad bit more expensive than I’d like. There was quite a crowd at the teriyaki bowl place. Has anybody tried that?

Related:
Bryant Park Pond is Now Open With More Food Than Ever Before

Hello boreks! If you’re a fan of Turkish pastries, but don’t have the time to walk all the way to 2nd Ave. for some Gulluoglu, Eat & Go Istanbul has got you covered.  They’re got spinach or beef boreks ($5), plus five different kinds of golzeme, this Turkish quesadilla/crepe looking thing ($6.) 

It all looked pretty tasty, and they even had Gulluoglu brand baklava. If you’ve ever flown to Istanbul from JFK you may have noticed them in the terminal, and they plan on opening a store in Manhattan on 1st Ave soon.  But in the meantime, we’ve got the Bryant Park Holiday Market.  Definitely on my list to try.

Not nearly as exciting was this flautas stand.  Normally I’d be pumped for more fried Mexican food action, but at $4 for a single flauta I will most certainly pass.

A Taste of Venice features little white bread sandwiches stuffed with mayo based salad (think tuna, chicken, egg) that apparently are a popular food item in Venice.  Not bad looking if you like this kind of thing, and they will be adding hot pressed panini very soon.  ($3 for half, $5.50 for a whole).

Of all the savory items, the most interesting to Midtown Lunch’ers will probably be the Dumpling Soup House- featuring steamed and pan fried dumplings that you can order with or without soup.  The prices are not too bad (especially when compared to spots like Richshaw) so it might worth a try. (Although I don’t have high hopes.)

As far as sweets go, the hot apple cider stand returns as does Augustin’s Waffles (the pre packaged waffle company that figured prominently in wafflegate a few years back).  There’s also a cookie place that I’m sure will have some fans.  But the biggest addition is the gigantic Max Brenner kiosk, which features hot chocolate, chocolate pizza (!?), and chocolate filled syringes… you know, for the kids (?) 

Laugh if you like, but the guy behind the counter actually touted the chocolate as being so much fun for kids to walk around with.  Amazing.

I have highest hopes for the Turkish pastries (and maybe the dumplings), but we’ll see.  In any case, if you work around Bryant Park and you’re bored of all your lunch options, this year’s market is certainly the best food year yet.  It’s not as good as the Madison Square Park pop up market that ended last week (uh, hello Fatty Crab!) but it’s all we’ve got.

The food stands are mostly in the NE corner of the park (near the entrance on 42nd btw. 5+6th.)  Get more details here.