Midtown Lunch

When Certe (55th btw 5+6th) introduced this month’s sandwich, the Montauk Hangover, it looked a little lacking to me. Certe’s sandwiches usually have a good amount of heft and meat to them, but this sandwich’s main part was a fried duck egg? And who puts creamed corn in a sandwich? Is this the sort of sandwich abomination rich people eat on the South Fork?! I’ve never really felt gypped before when handing over $9 for a Certe sandwich, but what was I getting here? A glorified breakfast sandwich? Yes, indeed, that’s what it is. Read more »

If you were sad when Cer Te (on 56th btw. 5+6th) stopped serving their July sandwich of the month, fire up that defibrillator and let’s get ready to party!  The “Deep in the Heart Attack of Texas” sandwich ($8.95), featuring chicken fried steak and macaroni and cheese on Texas toast, has been added to the permanent menu as a Tuesday special (right alongside the “Mr. Potatoskin”).  Between this and the August sandwich of the month, Cer Te is clearly the place to be for anybody looking to cure a hangover today.

Just a friendly reminder about something we casually mentioned last week… Cer Te is now serving its August sandwich of the month.  Meet the Montauk Hangover: a fried duck egg, creamed corn with pancetta, spicy lobster sauce, and crispy leeks, on a grilled potato roll.  Nice.

Now that Cer Te has settled their issues with the DOH, there is nothing keeping you from trying their Texas Heart Attack (except caring about your general health and well being.) The sandwich was the July sandwich of the month, so today is the last day to get it before they introduce the August sandwich on Monday, the Montauk Hangover- featuring fried duck egg, creamed corn with pancetta, spicy lobster sauce, and crispy leeks, on a grilled potato roll.

Despite DOH vindication, Cer Te couldn’t help getting in one last upside down jab

It’s been one year since the DOH started giving out letter grades to restaurants in NYC, and to commemorate the milestone the Wall Street Journal has gone all Nate Silver on the data.  There are some interesting tidbits, and other sites are weighing in with their opinions, but we’re far more excited about the big DOH news that arrived in our inbox today.  “After a year of paying big bucks and sucking ass, we have finally received our duly earned “A” from the DOH.” Signed, Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th).  You might remember Cer Te from such wonderful movies as “I Turned My B from the DOH Into Lemonade” and “Give Us a C and We’ll Get Even Angrier”.

Those grades didn’t seem to act as much of a deterrent for hardcore Midtown Lunchers, but it’s good to see that Cer Te’s letter finally matches the quality of their food.

When I heard about Cer Te’s newest sandwich that debuted on Monday, I stopped on by to check it out-DOH scores be damned! For the record, I’ve been taking the DOH scores rather lightly. I’ve spied terrible things in some of the A or B restaurants, and Cer Te has never made me sick. The other day, there wasn’t a grade at all in their window-that’s a definite no-no if you’ve been scored. But onto the sandwich…

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Yesterday Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) introduced their latest sandwich of the month, and it’s a doozy. Designed by Lunch’er “Jeffrey”, it’s called the “Deep In the Heart ‘Attack’ of Texas” and features (are you sitting down for this?) chicken fried steak, creamed gravy, and layer of mac and cheese sandwiched between two pieces of Texas toast.  The sandwich is $8.95 and will be available until August 12th (or until it kills somebody.)

Despite being one of our favorite places in all of Midtown for sandwiches, Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) has been battling  poor Department of Health scores ever since the city started hanging letter grades on the windows.  They dressed up their “B” back in September, and last week a tipster pointed out that the B is now a C.  And they’re hiding it all the way at the bottom of the door.

Two lunchers decided to take them to task in the comments, and Cer Te responded with this…

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This month marks the second time the Chubby Chinese Girl lives in infamy via a sandwich at Cer Te (55th btw 5+6th). It’s hard to follow up to last year’s Chubby Chinese Girl, especially since it’s still available on Thursdays. But once I saw that this sandwich involved crisped pork belly braised with soy and beer, I knew it had to be a winner. They should seriously consider taking Chubby Chinese Girl on as a sandwich consultant.

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