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!

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.

Each lucky winner will receive an 8 oz tin of Financier’s retail coffee, as well as a bag of financier almond cakes.

Contest Rules:
The contest is open from now until midnight next Thursday (3/10). Limit one entry per person, and five (5) winners will be selected randomly. Delivery address must be within Manhattan, although winners can opt to pick up their gift basket at any Financier location.  Good luck!

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.)

The much anticipated Glaze Teriyaki (Lexington between 54th & 55th) is set to have their grand opening today, and will be serving their Seattle based Japanese and Korean inspired teriyaki dishes for lunch. In honor of the grand opening, the Glaze team wants to give 3 Midtown Lunch’ers free teriyaki for a year! All you have to do to enter is reply in the comments below and share either your favorite teriyaki memory or write an original teriyaki inspired haiku. The contest is open from now until midnight next Tuesday (12/14).  Limit one entry per person, winners will be selected randomly.

Curious to see what you’ll get if you win? We snuck into their soft opening/preview last night to give you a first look. And the early indicators are more than promising.  (In other words, you’re going to want to win this prize.)

There’s a good amount of forethought that went into the concept of the restaurant and the food. The restaurant is modeled after traditional Seattle teriyaki joints when tend to be utilitarian, inexpensive Mom and Pop joints. Instead, Glaze’s décor is a carefully formulated hipster-garage chic with counters made of reclaimed Douglas Fir lumber from an old factory and chairs that were produced locally in Brooklyn.

In keeping with the recent dining trends, the menu exhibits contemporary bravado with a focus on organic proteins, locally sourced vegetables, and artisanal products, such as Brooklyn bottled Bruce Cost ginger ales.

The menu immediately passes the ML $10 litmus test – basic lunch plates are $9.50 and under, and arrive with either white or brown rice, and a small side salad. They also offer combinations of two meats ($10), such as the chicken thigh and pork loin teriyaki combo pictured above. Other previews of Glaze have been eager to point out the lineage of the house made teriyaki sauce, which was conceptualized by Glaze’s owner, a Seattle native, and Glaze’s Chef, the former executive Chef of Rosa Mexicano. A more discerning teriyaki expert might be able to find fault in the sauce – I however, could not.

The execution of proteins is commendably done across the board. Aforementioned chicken thighs and pork were tender and meaty, with nary the stringiness or gristle that may be found on lesser quality beasts. Teriyaki lacquered chunks of organic salmon ($9.50) were similarly moist and proficiently cooked.

Diners can also opt to create a combo of gyoza, cucumber salad or sautéed vegetables for an additional $2. The gyoza add-on arrives as a four-some, in veggie, chicken, or pork flavors. I found the pork gyoza to be pleasantly crispy, and blissfully meaty.

An appetizer menu is also available, and includes edamame ($3), vegetable miso soup ($3), Japanese shishito peppers ($5), cucumber salad ($3), cold soba salad ($3.50), the aforementioned crispy gyoza (5 for $3.50) or the charred pork rib ($5) pictured above.

For dessert, a small bowl of toasted almond rice pudding ($2) was slightly sweet, slightly crunchy and thoroughly refreshing.

Despite the early parade of publicity, at this point I will say that Glaze seems to be worth the hype.  Obviously they were putting on their A-Game for the “worthy” invitees, but you can be sure that I’ll be back – not only to do a follow-up quality check and make sure they weren’t just turning on the charm for the food bloggers, but because the food actually seems like it’s going to be quite good, the atmosphere was comfortable, and the service was polished.

Meanwhile, I’m already green with envy at the three lucky winners-to-be. So recall that happy teriyaki memory or pen a witty haiku and leave it in the comments. A year’s worth of free teriyaki awaits!

Glaze Teriyaki, 638 Lexington Ave. (btw 54+55th St), 212-935-3400 (website and menu)

*Fine Print: One entry per person. Each winner can get one meal per visit – (appetizer, entree, side and dessert). Does not include beverages. In-store only, not for delivery. Non-transferable

Miss Softee is running an ongoing contest to design your own cone, using the van/choc base flavors (vanilla, chocolate or swirl) and any toppings imaginable.  Each winner gets a week of free ice cream, and there’s no limit on how many people can win! Tweet your idea to @misssoftee, and if it’s chosen you win.  Last week I checked out her first winner, the Fall Harvest cone–squash puree, pumpkin seeds and graham cracker crumbles. Very tasty.