Midtown Lunch

This just in… today is the free cupcake day for the newly opened Crumbs on Broadway btw. 52+53rd. They’re only giving away 1000, and the employee I just talked to on the phone said they’re already at #600. Of course, if you don’t make it there, there’s always the free waffle sample from Noon to 1pm at the Wafels and Dinges Truck on 45th btw. 6+7th. Freeloaders engage! (Thanks to Blondie and Brownie for the Crumbs tip.)

Love cupcakes or hate them, it’s hard not to wonder if Midtown can take *another* cupcake place. Seriously. “Hey not sure if you’ve seen/heard – but ANOTHER Crumbs is opening over here on the East side (on 3rd Ave. btw. 53+54th)”. This location, which has been planned for awhile, is set to open sometime in Feburary. This will be in addition to their orginal 42nd street location, their newer location on Madison and 52nd, plus a new location planned for Broadway btw. 52+53rd. Oh yeah, plus the Magnolia Bakery in Rock Center (which surprisingly has not fully entered the tourist radar yet.) I’m sure Crumbs’ giant expansion was planned long before the economic collapse, but you can’t help but wonder if they’re making a mistake by not scaling back. Or perhaps cupcakes are recession proof?

I dreaded dragging my ass out of bed early enough to make it to Crumbs (on Madison btw. 52+53rd) at 8 a.m. this morning for their free cupcake giveaway (I don’t even like cupcakes that much)… but luckily Dessert Buzz did it for me!  “As of 8:45 a.m… there is no line.”  Maybe these 1000 cupcakes will last a little longer than we thought…

Grub Street is reporting that Crumbs will finally be doing their 1000 cupcake giveaway this Friday at three different stores in Manhattan- including the new Midtown location on Madison and 52nd. Only one catch: none of the stores have been told yet. A call to the Madison location (in particular) got this response: “Uh… I don’t think so.  It may be on the 6th but we haven’t received confirmation from our corporate offices yet.”  Wow.  I think Crumbs is on track to win the most disorganized company in all of Midtown award.

As you know, the last “Free 1000 Cupcake” thing ended up turning into a “free samples at random times” thing. Hopefully corporate will let the stores know in time for us to enjoy free cupcakes on Friday morning!

The plywood has officially gone up for the new Crumbs on Broadway btw. 52+53rd that Cupcake Takes the Cake says will open at the end of the year.  They also mention another Crumbs going up on 54th and 3rd Ave.  I honestly can’t see how Midtown can support this crazy cupcake expansion.

And Lenny’s seems to be in the same boat…  Read more »

 
Banana Pudding From Magnolia Bakery. Photograph from Serious Eats:New York

Earlier today I noted how Cosi was unusually empty at lunchtime… Lunch’er “Adam” checks in to say Magnolia Bakery & Crumbs are having no such problems (and Crumbs did have some free mini cupcakes, as promised):

During lunch, I visited the two new cupcake shops in Midtown. Here is my report… I first hit up Crumbs on Madison between 52+53rd Streets. Although I wouldn’t classify their sampling as “aggressive,” as the manager had promised, there were free mini vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles on top sitting on a plate next to the registers. Only about 8 cupcakes remained when we arrived. My friend and I each grabbed two in rapid succession, as it was clear the cupcakes wouldn’t last for long. We were correct — in a matter of 3 minutes, all of the cupcakes were gone. We decided to wait it out to see if there would be a new plate put out, but no luck. One woman even walked in and asked for free samples, but was told they were all gone. We made it just in the nick of time! But that victory was short lived…

Read more »

Free cupcake fail!  The new location of Crumbs on Madison Ave. btw. 52nd & 53rd is officially open for business… but, despite what was reported at the end of last week– they will *not* be giving away free full size cupcakes today, or tomorrow.  They will, however, be doing “agressive sampling” (in the words of the Manager) of little mini cupcakes.  They are almost out for today, but they will have more tomorrow.  (No guarantee though, on the free mini cupcakes.)

There is an official Grand Opening in the works which may or may not happen on November 6th, which may or may not include a 1000 free full sized cupcake giveaway- but none of that is confirmed.  I’ll keep you up to date…

The CW11 Blog is falsely (?) reporting that the new location of Crumbs (on Madison btw. 52+53rd) is opening this Monday morning at 8 a.m. and giving away 1000 free cupcakes.  But I was just told by somebody at Crumbs, this is not true and the planned grand opening is next Friday (10/24). Cupcake fans, mark the 24th on your calendar (in pencil of course…)  Overly suspicious cupcake fans?  Feel free to do a walk by on Monday morning and let us know if there’s anything going on!