The turkey sandwich at City 75 (on 51st btw. 5+6th). $6.45. Every day this otherwise generic Midtown deli roasts a whole turkey (sometimes 2) and carves it up fresh for turkey sandwiches.  There isn’t any stuffing or gravy or cranberry sauce, but it’s still a big notch above Boar’s Head.

The cranberry sauce and stuffing option is after the jump…

The H1 at Lenny’s (alternate choice, the G4) $7.50 to $8.  Overall, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Lenny’s.  They make a decent product, and I am all for the addition of cole slaw and russian dressing into any sandwich, but it’s just too expensive for what it is.  That being said, they deserve big points for their H1, a Thanksgiving sandwich served all year long.  Roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy.  How can that be bad?  Too close to the big day for you?  I also like their G4, a hot grilled sandwich with turkey, ham, swiss, russian dressing and cole slaw (in the sandwich of course.)

Photo by Robyn Lee, Courtesy of Serious Eats:New York

And finally, the turkey sandwich at Sophie’s Cuban (on Lex btw. 40+41st.) $6.95. Roast turkey with mayo and onions… naturally, it gets outshined by the most excellent cuban sandwich and the fried pork and plantain sandwich- but it is awesome in its own right (and probably the best of the three turkey sandwiches in this post.) While Tina’s Restaurant- the Sophie’s offshoot- doesn’t have the turkey sandwich on their menu, they can make the sandwich for you on Mondays because they offer roast turkey as one of their specials.  They’re working on getting a turkey sandwich on their menu full time.

Got your favorite turkey sandwich?  Post it in the comments.

Now, before you email me with “I’m a woman, and I eat at the ‘Man Bar’!!!”, I want to say this- I’m sure a lot of you women eat at the “Man Bar” in City 75- but you also read this blog… and those two things put you in the minority of Midtown Lunching Women (When I say “most women”, I’m talking about your annoying co-workers.  If they are not reading this blog, they clearly have no taste in food).  The simple fact is this… if the “Man Bar” wasn’t there, most men would not set foot into City 75 (it’s way too fancy, and expensive).  And if the rest of the place disappeared, and City 75 was only the “Man Bar”, and nothing else, most Midtown Lunch’ing women wouldn’t eat there.  It’s the perfect blending of the two that makes a nicely dressed business woman (with every intention of eating a salad) willing to eat a steak and cheese sandwich, and a guy like me willing to eat at a place like City 75.

Pics of the food, and a +/- after the jump…

The “Man Bar” has got many items of interest, but there were only two that stood out to me.  The aforementioned Philly Cheesesteak (surprisingly, only $5.95) and the Sirloin Burger.  I ordered the Cheesesteak which comes with peppers and onions, and of course- nacho cheese sauce (or cheese whiz as they like to call it in Philly).  If you are from New England, you may be used to your Cheesesteaks coming with Provolone or some other kind of real cheese melted on top of your sub- but when you see the word “Philly”, it should come with a yellow cheese sauce, and this one fit the bill.

I’m not a huge fan of the cheese sauce, so I was happy there wasn’t a ton of it- but if you are into the cheese sauce, you might be disapointed that the the sub isn’t drenched in it… although I’m sure you can ask for extra sauce.  Other than that fact I would recommend it… a nice size, steak tasted like real meat and it came with onions and peppers.  For $6, in Midtown, it’s a pretty good deal.

My co-worker got the Sirloin Cheeseburger Deluxe (deluxe just means with fries).  The burger was pretty big, and it came with a ton of shoestring fries (my favorite).  I don’t know how it compares to a place like the Burger Joint, Prime Burger, or Goodburger- but for $7.45, it’s big, tasted good, and came with a ton of fries (way to much to eat on your own).  If you work in the Rock Center area, and need a burger fix, but don’t have time to walk 10 minutes to the popular burger places- the City 75 sirloin burger is a pretty good solution.

Now I have to issue a warning to all men reading this who aren’t used to places like City 75, but are going to go because of what I have written.  When you walk in to City 75, the pull of the by the lb. buffet is going to be very strong.  It looks like an all you can eat buffet, and the food looks delicious- so it’s understandable that you would be drawn to it.  The variety, the cute little containers… it’s very distracting.  DO NOT BE FOOLED!  Continue straight to the back left hand corner and order immediately from the “Man Bar”.  Any attempt to get lunch from the buffet will end with you saying “Why the hell did I pay $14 for this!!!”

Yes the food is good.  Yes, it’s fun to eat from a buffet.  But I cannot stress this enough… THEY WEIGH THE FOOD AND CHARGE YOU ACCORDINGLY.  It’s a fat guy trap, and I guarantee that no matter how hard you follow my rules and try to limit yourself, and pick “light” items, it will end up costing you more than you want to spend.  Our friend Marco was fooled, and while we were scarfing down our delicious cheesesteak and burger,  he was going on about how his lunch was “worth the money” ($14) because it was “soooo good”, but you could see it in his eyes that he was trying to convince himself, more than us.

(Dislaimer: If any part of my talk about “typical Midtown Woman” or a ”Man Bar” offends you, than I was totally just kidding!  It’s just stupid stereotypes… can’t you take a joke?  If you relate to what I wrote, than I stand by every word of the post.)

THE +

• $5.95 for a good Philly Cheesesteak (with peppers and onions), at a upscale generic Midtown deli is a great deal!
• Same goes for a cheese burger and fries for $7.50
• I love shoestring fries!!!
• Perfect for the person who wants to eat something gross for lunch, but your co-workers want to eat at a generic deli

THE -

• The cheesesteak doesn’t have enough cheese whiz
• The burger is not as good as other burgers in Midtown
• The shoestring fries were a little dry
• The allure of the by the lb. buffet might end of costing you a ton of money…

City 75, 75 Rockefeller Plaza (51st btw. 5+6th), 212-247-1500