Midtown Lunch

Good news for lunchers in the mid-50s – Dainobu Japanese deli is opening an outpost on 56th St between 5th & 6th. Whether its their fried oysters, reasonably priced bento boxes, or their spin on mapo tofu, the original location at 47th & Lex has earned itself a good number of fans. We took a peek inside of the work-in-progress space, and while it doesn’t look close to opening, there’s definitely progress being made.

Recently I found out that one of my coworker started eating California rolls for breakfast (along with her cup of coffee). It may sound a little weird but why not? So obviously that got me craving sushi. Luckily Dainobu is right around the corner from my office and since I still haven’t tried their sushi I thought it would be a good time to do so (also I was still on the lookout for their fantastic looking spider roll that Zach got few years ago). Once I got there, I found something else completely that caught my attention: kaki fry! (aka fried oysters) Dainobu, selling fried seafood?! It was too crazy for me not to try it. Also, the box was still warm, a good sign that they were still some what fresh. (Freshly cooked, anyway.)

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It seems like the general consensus about Dainobu’s hot foods are just decent and you’re probably better off with their slightly cheaper sushi options. So during my most recent trip I was a little hesitant to get their newest hot food item, a mabo tofu with beef over rice ($6.50). I finally gave in when there was nothing I wanted to eat. Just by looking at it, it looked quite delicious. Maybe the mabo tofu will be different. There was only one way to find out.

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What I love about the area where my new job is, is how close I am to a lot of Japanese places. Maybe I can finally try out the vegetable soup from Menchanko Tei that Brownie raved about, or the Philly Lamb Steak sandwich from Sunrise Mart Ultraclay recently had. But what I REALLY wanted the other day for lunch was a cheap spider roll from Dainobu. Spider roll is one of my favorite rolls ever and I’m just few blocks away from it, so I had to go check it out.

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Kathy YL Chan, the author of the most excellent blog A Passion For Food, and Midtown Lunch’s resident Hawaiian expert, went to the new Japanese grocery store Dainobu (on 47th btw. Lex+3rd) the other day and uploaded these photos to the ML Flickr Pool:

Curry Rice… she said it was “just decent. Not good, not bad. Just rice with curry out of a box.” In other words, their curry won’t be replacing Yagura or Go Go Curry anytime soon.

Udon and more is after the jump…

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Dainobu, the new Japanese bento place/grocery store on 47th btw. Lex+3rd, quietly opened a few weeks ago and it looks like they are going to be some serious competition for Cafe Zest (on the same block).

Taking a page from the Yagura playbook, Dainobu is half grocery store (with all kinds of wet and dry Japanese ingredients) and half lunch spot.

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Speaking of Japanese bento places, Dainobu, the Japanese grocery store on 47th btw. Lex+3rd, is hoping to open for business on December 22nd.  Seeing how close they are to Cafe Zest, they plan on distinguishing themselves from Zest & Zaiya by offering more hot food, served fresh, and a whole grocery section. They will probably end up being be most similar to Yagura, one of the other Japanese places that makes up the “trinity” on 41st btw. Mad+5th.

If you are into seeing construction in action, that shot is after the jump… 

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Cafe Zest (on 47th btw. Lex+3rd), the semi-upscale Japanese bento place from the owners of Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. Mad+5th) is about to get some competition. A few doors down, the space that used to be a Burger King now has signs for “Dainobu” a Japanese Grocery/Bento/Sushi/Deli coming soon from Japan. Their website is no help at all, but I’m always up for more Japanese fun in Midtown! I’ll keep an eye on the progress…