Midtown Lunch

It looks like the short lived Empanada Joe’s (on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th) is becoming a place called Roma Pizza.  If the look of the sign is any indication, I’m guessing this will be just another generic 8th Ave. New York City fast food pizza place (aka for the tourists.)  I guess only time will tell.

File this email I just received under ‘Surprising (but not that surprising)’: “Just walked by the 43rd and 8th Avenue Empanada Joe’s (I had given this place two chances, and disappointed twice) and it was closed, a sign directing people to go to their 6th Avenue location.”

Got a really interesting comment about Empanada Joe’s (on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th) recently that I wanted to share. I just want to say up front, I have absolutely no evidence that this comment is a shill. The person who made the comment has never commented before, but there is nothing that would indicate they are not telling the truth- except for the actual words that they typed. Enjoy:

“TO be honest… I really do not understand what people don’t like about this place. I work IN Times Square, and for the past several months, each time I have to go on break for lunch, I’ve found myself at an impasse trying to figure out what to do, and when I found Empanada Joe’s early last week and I had a meal there, I was so happy, and for one whole week… I have literally gone NO WHERE but there for break every single time. In the space of one week, I think I’ve gone there 6 times. I’m only paying $8.11 now, where before, I was paying anywhere from $15 to $25 for lunch.”

So far so good (kind of)… but wait, there’s more.

Read more »

Clearly the shilling from the newly opened Empanada Joe’s (on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th) knows no boundaries. I got the comment you see above on one of my flickr photos over the weekend. The shilling that happens in the comments of this site is well documented, and Eater makes a point of calling out all shillers on message boards, blogs, and listings websites… but this may be the first time I’ve seen it done in Flickr. Come on Joe. Give it a rest!

Yesterday Eater felt the need to single out Empanada Joe’s with their own “Adventures in Shilling” post, pointing out many positive comments that could have only been posted by people with a financial interest in the new chain succeeding. We just got our own Empanada Joe’s location (the second in the chain) on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th, and I believe they have been doing a little shilling on Midtown Lunch as well. Take this comment for example:

Critically panned? Not by all the happy customers I saw when I tried it out. Personally, I’d rather pay three-something for an item from a nice clean restaurant than two-something from a street vendor whose cart has been God only knows where. Liked all the empanadas I tried: the Argentine beef, the Dolce sausage and peppers and the pina colada. It’s definitely a nice change of pace. See you in line.

I can’t be entirely sure that this comment was a shill, but there are some hints. “All the happy customers” is not something a normal person would necessarily notice, and “See you in line” is not something you would usually say to a bunch of strangers on a website. But the biggest proof may be in the food itself. I tried Empanada Joe’s the other day… and while I will stop short of saying it’s terrible- it’s not exactly going to engender an army of enthusiastic commenters.   Read more »

The original post about this new chain got some interesting comments. Some of the negative ones were obviously fake, and some of the positive ones were obviously shills. Tomorrow, we get to check it out for ourselves. The empanadas are touted as “always fresh, not frozen” and clearly “gourmet.”  They’re also overpriced- but I’ll reserve judgement until after I actually taste them. 8th Avenue between 43+44th. Store doesn’t open until 4pm, but apparently they will be giving out free samples until 8pm.  Might be a good stop off on the way home from work.  Friday will be their first day open for lunch.

From a Lunch’er email: “Looks like the critically-panned Empanada Joe’s has setup shop and will be opening soon (on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th.) Interior looked 80% done, maybe within a month they’ll open?”  According to Eater, there is a location already open in Morningside Heights, where an empanada costs $3.38.  Hmmm.  A “critically panned” $3+ empanada doesn’t sound too promising… but we’ll see what happens when it opens.  Anybody tried Empanada Joe yet?

For those who care- an interior shot of construction after the jump.   Read more »