Midtown Lunch

Once again, we’re giving away two VIP tickets to Grand Central Partnership’s annual food festival. You may remember from year’s past that Grand Gourmet brings over 30 of the neighboring eating establishments together for a night of eating, drinking, and celebration in Vanderbilt Hall. Check out my delicious re-cap from last year’s event. The proceeds go to the Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services Corporation, which is a not-for-profit homeless services provider. For that reason, tickets aren’t cheap ($125 for general admission), but we’re giving away two VIP tickets (a $700 value!) to one lucky reader. The event is on Thursday, May 2 from 7-9:30pm and all you have to do to win is check out the list of vendors here and let us know which one you’re most excited for. A winner will be chosen at random on Thursday, April 25 at 3pm. Don’t want to leave it to chance?  You can purchase tickets at their website.

Amazing this happened a year ago already! Grand Gourmet: The Flavor of Midtown is returning to Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central on Thursday, May 10 from 7-9:30pm. The event is hosted by the Grand Central Partnership and will feature tastings from over 30 restaurants in the surrounding area, like Tulsi, Beer Table Pantry, and The National. Proceeds will benefit the Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services Corporation. Check out the website to purchase tickets and find out a list of the vendors. Tickets are a little out of ML’s usual price range – $100 and $350 for VIP – but once again we’re giving away a pair of VIP tickets to one lucky reader. All you have to do is leave a comment stating which dish or restaurant you’re most excited to try. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Thursday, May 3 at 3pm.

It’s been a big month for the online food delivery company formerly known as Seamless Web.  They dropped the “Web” from their name and recently opened up nominations for the “Craved Restaurant Awards”, to honor the best restaurants that deliver via Seamless… information we probably wouldn’t have passed along, if they hadn’t offered to give two of our readers $20 gift cards!  (The things we’ll do to get you people free food.)   All you have to do to enter to win one of the gift cards is post your favorite lunch spot to order delivery from. (Don’t believe in delivery?  Just post any random comment and you’ll still be entered to win… although, it would make us wonder why somebody who hates delivery would want to win $20 worth of delivery.)   Limit one entry per person, winners will be chosen at random next Monday, October 17th at 5pm EST.

It’s that time again, when the Grand Central Partnership brings together more than 30 of Midtown’s best restaurants and cafés for the annual Grand Gourmet: The Flavor of Midtown to celebrate and raise money for the Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services Corporation, the largest not-for-profit homeless services provider in New York City. For the price of admission, you get samples from many different venues ranging from high-end fare like The Capital Grille and Asia de Cuba to ML standbys such as Dee Daa and Grand Central Oyster Bar.

The feasting will commence at Vanderbilt Hall inside Grand Central on May 12 from 7-9pm. Regular admission tickets will run you $100, but Midtown Lunch is giving away a pair of VIP tickets (which includes early admission). To enter, simply leave a comment as to which dish or restaurant you are most excited to taste. Winners will be selected randomly on Thursday, May 5 at 3PM. You can see a list of participating restaurants here and find out how to purchase tickets for the event (because only one of you will win.) Good luck!

Last week A Voce, in the Time Warner Center, emailed us to request that we cover their new 3 course, Italian lunch menu for $29 that is perfect for a business lunch because it takes under an hour (provided that you call ahead for reservations.)  We told them that it was a bit out of our price range, but if they wanted to give away one of their fancy pants lunches to one of our readers we’d happily take the free grub on your behalf!  Want to score a free prix fixe lunch for 2 at A Voce?  Let us know in the comments why you deserve the lunch, and you’re entered to win.  (It’s that easy.)  A winner will be drawn at random on Wednesday, April 20th at 3pm.  Limit one entry per person.

The recent winner of the 2010 ‘Best Coffee As Voted On By You’ (and my personal favorite cup of Joe), Financier Patisserie recently contacted us to give a heads up that they’re now carrying retail tins of coffee at all nine of their locations. The coffee is roasted daily in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and is available in either their original blend, or their single origin fair trade espresso roast. Both flavors come in 8 oz tins ($8.50), and be purchased as either pre-ground or whole bean. Decaf is also available for the pre-ground versions.

To promote this new launch, they offered to give us free gift baskets to sample, but we’d rather hand these out to the loyal readers of Midtown lunch!  All you have to do is reply in the comments and tell us what goes wrong with your day if you don’t get your coffee fix?

The contest rules, plus a photo of what you’ll win is after the jump.
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Back in June we relayed the news that popular California based burger chain The Counter “Custom Built Burgers” was going to be taking over the old Juan Valdez space in Times Square (on Broadway and 41st).  Well, the sign is up and it looks like they’re getting ready to open.  We’re not sure the official opening date (Grub Street is saying Monday) but they’ve agreed to give 25 Midtown Lunch’ers and their guests a little sneak preview. The first 25 people to RSVP will have the chance to try a starter and a burger at The Counter for free this Friday, December 17 between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. To RSVP email your first and last name along with what time (has to be between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.) you wish to book your exclusive preview reservation to timessquare@thecounterburger.com. Winners will be contacted via email.

Keep in mind The Counter is a build your own burger situation (they boast 66 different toppings, and over 300,000 possible burger combinations) so you might want to study the menu before heading over. And if you need more guidance, Zach tried one of the Los Angeles locations back in June. (Spoiler: topping your burger with pineapple, cole slaw, brie, *and* onion rings might be going a bit overboard.)