Midtown Lunch

As Anna wrote earlier this week, the Columbus Circle Holiday Market is going on now, and there are several great options for lunch. She sampled the empanadas from both Sizzle and La Sonrisa, as well as cider things at Breezy Hill Orchard. Plus, there’s Wafels & Dinges, German Delights Bratwurst and the Turkish pastries from MMM … Enfes that Brownie was a big fan of from the Bryant Park holiday fair. Shamefully omitted from the previous writeup was Red Basil Thai Kitchen, which hails from Astoria and has a stand between the Brats and the Turks.

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Last month, On Tap at Whole Foods Market opened at their Columbus Circle location. Beer at a supermarket? Sounds kind of weird, but considering Whole Foods is the best generic Midtown deli, the food at On Tap may be worth a look-see.

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(image via urbanspacenyc.com)

The Columbus Circle Holiday Market is going on now through December 24th. According to their website, it is open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 8pm, and Sunday from 10am to 7pm. There are stalls with gifts and goodies, as well as food and dessert vendors.

Lunch’er Jill mentioned it in the forums the other day, and seemed pretty excited about Pies & Thighs (which was at the market last year). Sadly, I don’t think Pies & Thighs is back. But I did manage to drum up some other tasty treats.

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Food truck as promotional gimmick sort of hacks us off, but you can’t go wrong with food from New Orleans. Grub Street reports that HBO is promoting a new season of Tremé today by handing out pralines, king cake, and Hubiq’s pie from a truck. The freebie madness begins at Columbus Circle at 10am, goes down to Bryant Park for 11:30am then makes its way down to Flatiron Lunch bounds with stops at Madison Square Park and Union Square in the late afternoon and evening.

Gothamist has just launched a new column called “Lunch Quadrant” that sounds right up our alley. They’ll pick a subway stop, and then tell you four places to have lunch within walking distance… 2 cheap spots (one sit down, one take out) and 2 pricier spots (one sit down, one take out.)  The first installment centers around Columbus Circle, where they recommend the Lunch Box (take out cheap on 9th Ave.), AQ Kafe (sit down cheap on Broadway), Bouchon Bakery (take out pricey in the Time Warner Center), and Nougatine (sit down pricey inside Jean Georges.)  Hard to disagree with any of those…

I love the chicken biscuit from Pies ‘n’ Thighs. Made up of a hot sauce decked fried chicken cutlet sandwiched between a honey buttered biscuit that would make Paula Deen blush, it’s nothing short of spectacular in my book. When I saw in Chris’ post that Brooklyn based Pies ‘n’ Thighs was holding court at the Columbus Circle Holiday Market, I had to go check it out for myself.

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I generally don’t get excited when a major establishment sends me a glossy press release about an upcoming special event. The ersatz nature of the Columbus Circle pop-up Holiday market smacks at my general preference for hole-in-the-wall places and secret spaces, whether they be in Midtown, the Village or Brooklyn. So I was more than excited to see some of my far flung favorites make an appearance, like Crif Dogs, Fatty Crab, and Pies n Thighs among others. Lingering questions remained though – would the quality of food be as good as the original? And is it possible to construct a $10 Midtown lunch in one of the most opulent areas of the city, right on the doorsteps of the house of Per Se?

The answer is Yes and Yes.

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With the exception of Whole Foods, and the take out window of Bouchon Bakery, most of the restaurants in the Time Warner Center are outside the Midtown Lunch price range. But that doesn’t mean we’d turn down free food, right? The TWC in Columbus Circle has just launched a culinary club called “Circle of Taste”. Become a member (it’s free to join), and you’ll get special access to free events and exclusive tastings, like a smoked meats tasting at Porterhouse (on 11/16) or a mussels and beer thing at Landmarc (12/3).

The kick off event is a free dessert tasting this Friday at 5:30pm with free desserts from Bouchon Bakery, A Voce, Landmarc and more (hello double truffle brownies!) That one is completely open to the public, but in the future events will only be open to members. You can get more info and sign up now at www.circleoftaste.com

I’m not exactly sure how much “new Midtown truck!” news you can handle… but clearly this week we’re pushing the limits.  Got a few reports from Lunchers about this new crepe truck (known as “Tripie”?) parked in Columbus Circle. Lunch’er Mike tracked them down on Facebook and Lunch’er “Jonathan” was kind enough to send along the photo on the left via twitter. $4.95 for a crepe is kind of cheap by Midtown standards. Has anybody tried this cart yet, or know anything about it?  I’m curious how it stacks up against Madeleine the Crepe Lady (on 49th btw. B’way+8th) or the Le Gamin Truck (which parked in Midtown for the first time yesterday, and will be back in the same spot today.)