Midtown Lunch

Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

To recap my post from the first week of mad sq eats: I ate everything. Okay, okay. Not quite everything, but I sure tried. But since I left a few stones unturned and a few rice balls not eaten, I had to keep on, keepin’ on at Mad Sq Eats. And let this be your official warning that there is only one more week to go to visit Mad Sq Eats. The horror! Our only saving grace is that the festival returns in the fall. Hooray!

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Here’s a bit of Flatiron Lunch news before we lay this week’s review on you…

In not quite Midtown Lunch, Flatiron Lunch or Any Lunch news, but general good news, Hester Street Fair is teaming with Eventi Hotel, the hotel that gives much love to food with FoodParc (I just googled and it is now closed!?!? How did I miss this?), BeerParc and New York City Food and Wine Festival, among others, to present Hester Nights. Every Thursday night starting last night, May 24 [UPDATE: Due to rain, opening date postponed to May 31], they will present an outdoor market in the outdoor plaza behind the Eventi. I thought about trying to go last night to take a photo, but, honestly, the artist’s rendering with cop car out front is such a better visual. Vendors include Pies ‘n’ Thighs!!!! (Okay, there are others, like Little Muenster, Luke’s Lobster, La Sonrisa, Mimi & Coco, Bombay Sandwich Co, Schnitz, Purple Yam, Bian Dang, Good Eats To Go, Anderson’s 1949 Brooklyn, La Newyorkina, Prohibition Bakery, Iron Curtain.)

Hester Nights, Eventi Open Air Plaza – 851 6th Avenue btw 29 and 30 Streets, Event Hotel Number (212) 564-4567

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Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

As you probably already heard (because, really, there was an insane amount of press), Foragers City Grocer aka Foragers Market, a grocery institution that has been providing a curated market experience (aka upscale grocery store) in Dumbo, has landed in Chelsea. In terms of produce and roast chicken, they seemed to have it figured out from early on. I know this because a woman in there told me that she had a “problem” – she had bought about a dozen roast chickens in as many days during their first two or three weeks of being open. In contrast, the sandwich options have been a bit of a mess throughout the growing pains. So after a few visits (for science, of course), I feel that it might finally be hitting its stride. It doesn’t hurt that many of the sandwich prices have come down. As Rachel asked just this week, who actually lowers prices?

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Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

Today marks the end of week one of Mad Sq Eats, and I have been almost every day since it opened…because, you know, here at Midtown Lunch, we do stuff like this for ourselves you, the readers. For those of you not yet familiar with Mad Sq Eats (where have you been during all of our previews), it is the twice yearly festival in the shadow of the Flatiron Building where restaurants set up tents in Worth Square, the triangle between 5th Ave and Broadway and 25th and 24th Streets. Every year, the festival has a nice balance of different cuisines and types of eateries, as well as some returning favorites and some newcomers, and this spring’s edition continues this tradition, with Marimekko tablecloths, umbrellas and all. The kind folks over at Mad Park News were nice enough to round up most of the menus here: Keep in mind that some of the menus have already or might change, so best to use it as a guide to get you hungry to hit the tents, and once you are there let your eyes and stomach make the decisions.

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Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

Midtown Lunch, and especially Flatiron Lunch, has history of sweets for lunch. We don’t always have to worry ourselves with sandwiches, pastas, burgers and fried chicken – I mean, we have Doughnut Plant and we have contributors called Blondie and Brownie. And now we have Baconery! Which just opened this week in the cafe of Books of Wonder, a children’s bookstore. As an added bonus, through today, they have a 2 for 1 offer on all items, so go double your lunch!

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Madison Square Eats returns to Worth Square (more commonly known as the intersection of Broadway, 5th Avenue and 25th Street) this Friday. They’re planning a familiar month-long stint — May 4 through June 1.

According to a recent blog post, you can expect to find a lot of familiar food surrounding the brightly colored umbrellas, as well as some new additions: Antica Focacceria, Arancini Bros., Asiadog, Bar Suzette, Birch Coffee, Caffe Moak, Calexico, Eataly, Graffiti/Mehtaphor, Gravy, Hong Kong Street Cart, Hot Blondies Bakery, ililli, La Sonrísa, Macaron Parlour, Mayhem & Stout, Mexicue, Mighty Balls, Mile End, Momofuku Milk Bar, Nunu Chocolates, Quartino, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Resto, Roberta’s Pizza, Sigmund’s and Stuffed Artisan Cannolis.

Check out our Madison Square Eats post from last spring to find about Ilili’s kafta wraps, Momofuku’s compost cookies or Bar Suzette’s savory crepes. And, in last fall’s post we wrote about Sigmund’s pretzels, Hong Kong Cart and Graffiti/Mahtaphor’s burger. I’m kind of bummed Fatty Crab isn’t back, but I am personally excited for the Mighty Balls sliders, which I was a fan of at last year’s Grub Street Food Festival. Mark your calendars, my friends, Madison Square Eats is coming fast!

Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

If you have spent any time lunching in Union Square or if you have been keeping up with “The Best of New York/Cheap Eats” (Falafel Edition), you probably know about Rainbow, and you have probably already tried their falafel. The large number of press clippings taped in the door are a clear indication that they are well known for it. But I encourage you to take a second look, as they have an even more brilliant item lurking on their menu…Shawafel!

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Here’s a bit of Flatiron Lunch news before we lay this week’s review on you…

Openings: So the good news is Eataly is opening a lunch-only spot on Monday, April 30. Ready to hear more? Sorry, bad news. Pranzo will cost $25 for a two to three-course prix fixe meal. Since it is part of La Scuola, lunch includes cooking demos, so if Educational Development is part of your lunch budget, you should be fine. To apologize for getting your hopes up, I am here to remind you that Eataly has several ML-budget friendly options: here and here.

Closings: Ultra Clay sent me a tip that Sirtaj Indian, a place he reviewed, has closed. While we are never happy to see an Indian restaurant in Flatiron close, we can only hope this will lead to an even better Indian restaurant. Stay tuned…

Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

Since it seems like every other Profiled ML’er says they wish they worked in Chinatown for the lunch, this post is for those people. On the other hand, Di Di Dumpling is not as good as some in Chinatown… a sad reminder that we work in Midtown and not Chinatown. Then again, Di Di is on a corner with a cluster of Asian restaurants (KalBQ and Coco Fresh) so maybe we can  just pretend.

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