Midtown Lunch

Yesterday, Luncher “Matt” emailed in with this report:

Washoku Cafe (aka Negi-Ya) may have closed! A coworker tells me the gate’s down, there’s no sign, and they stopped taking credit cards yesterday. It is the first of the month …

Calls to the Japanese cafe and noodle shop just get voicemail. Personally, I’m going to be very disappointed if the only source of decent tonkotsu this side of 40th Street has gone under. The weather might be warm today, but I know I’m going to need more soup before the summer comes.

Related:
Soup’s on at Negi-Ya (aka Washoku Cafe)

When it rains it pours, eh?! Sad news from the forums courtesy of Lunch’er whiskeyfrisky: “Teriyaki Boy on 7th bet 48th and 49th is closing its doors for good due to high rent. I’m sure going to miss their chicken curry soba.” And I will miss their $3.99 lunch special. Big loss for Lunchers in the notoriously overpriced greater Times Square area. Most importantly what is Stanley T. going to do? The closest other Teriyaki Boy is their just out of bounds location on 9th btw 57th and 58th.

Well, it looks like our days of defending Manganaro’s, and the two crazy sisters who run the place, are numbered.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the building that houses the 100+ year old Italian grocery store and restaurant is being sold, and once the deal goes through Manganaro’s will be no more.  We can take a little solace in knowing that Manganaro’s Hero Boy isn’t going anywhere, but anybody who has been to both knows there is little consolation in that.  Say what you want about the sisters, Manganaro’s is irreplaceable and will be missed. [via Eater]

I’m pretty devastated to discover that Salt & Pepper (on 33rd btw. 6+7th), one of my favorite lunch spots in Midtown, has closed. This was the place where you could get a large platter of rice, beans and stewed chicken or rice, lentils and stewed tripe or awesome Indian food for just $7. When I walked by there was no note, but I took a peek inside and the place looked totally gutted except for the counter where they used to have all their deliciousness laid out. *Sigh” I really hope they’re just doing some major renovations. Does anyone know what happened?

Salt & Pepper, 139 W 33rd St (btw. 6+7th)

Sad news from Grub Street on Friday… Barros Luco, the great Chilean sandwich and hot dog shop on 52nd and 2nd, has closed.  That makes three places in three years for that seemingly cursed location (99 Miles to Philly and Zip Burger closed in 2008 and 2009 respectively)  but this is definitely the saddest.  Where are we going to go now for our chacareros and completos?

Sad sad news in the forums this week… Sukhadia’s Gokul, the vegetarian Indian buffet that has been on 45th btw 5th+6th for years, has closed up shop and moved to Iselin, NJ. No word on why they’ve chosen to move their restaurant across the Hudson, but one can assume it’s financially prudent for them. I suppose our loss is Jersey’s gain: no more vegetarian Indian buffet, no more Indian sweets, no more odd Italian pizza place man out front. We’ll miss you S.G.

Sad news from Lunch’er “Rose” yesterday… Mantao, the Chinese sandwich shop that moved from Tribeca to Midtown East back in July of 2009 has closed. Their website is still up, but they haven’t twittered since February and their phone is disconnected. But that’s not the only news from 52nd btw. 2+3rd… Busan, the fancy pants Korean spot that was mentioned in the forums once, has also closed. Hopefully something good will replace both spots soon.

Got some sad news over the weekend via twitter… DC Fusion Cafe, the bourbon chicken spot that moved from the Manhattan Mall to 7th Ave. btw. 36+37th when JC Penny shut down the food court, appears to be closed. We have no official confirmation, but our new man Jeremiah walked by this morning and it definitely looks closed.  What’s a mall food court bourbon chicken lover to do?!

Related:
Giving In to Bourbon Chicken Temptation at DC Fusion