Midtown Lunch

Do you have time during your lunch break for a six course meal?? Well, Chinese Mirch has challenged you to try with a new dine-in lunch menu. At $9.99 for vegetarian and chicken dishes (a total of 15 options, including Clay and Jason’s chicken hot garlic and chili cheese gravy from 2010), and $10.99 for seafood and lamb options. It might be worth taking an extended lunch. Don’t ignore the $10.99 options yet either. Chinese Mirch is offering a free meal after you eat seven…amortized over all your meals, all choices are now in budget! What does the six courses consist of? The special includes the soup of the day, appetizer of the day (vegetarian or non-vegetarian), choice of salad or bhel, two hand-rolled steamed or fried momos, choice of entrée, choice of steamed rice and dessert of the day. (I count seven courses if you include the rice. Am I right?) Considering Clay’s meal cost only $5.95 but only included entrée and rice, the new special seems more than generous to me.

If you can’t manage a leisurely six course lunch, don’t despair. Chinese Mirch also has a modified take out lunch box without the salad/bhel and dessert courses for $8.99 for vegetable or chicken, and $9.99 for lamb or seafood. Still very reasonable.

Chinese Mirch, 120 Lexington Avenue at 28th Street, (212) 532-3663

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.

Time Out New York Gives Some Love to Flatiron

Last week, Brian broke down Time Out New York’s newest list of 100 Best Dishes and Drinks in New York to identify Midtown spots. Not to be left out, I scoured the list to see what was in our backyard. In fact, the food porn roast chicken on the magazine’s cover is from NoMad at Broadway and 28th. Since it is way out of ML price range at $79, I won’t tell you that it has foie gras, black truffles and brioche all under the skin. Nope, that information doesn’t help anyone.

Also featured in our area is Eataly’s porchetta sandwich. Offered only on Thursday, this item will run you $11.80 for the small and $14.80 for large. Perhaps these prices explain how Eataly reported gross revenues of $70 million for its first calendar year. And that number is expected to climb for the coming year.

Three additional dishes over $10 were also on the list. The pork crépinettes ($13) Foragers City Table, lamb tartare ($16) at the Cannibal, and everything duck roll ($12) at Silk Road Tavern. Foragers had outstanding butcher sandwiches so I would guess these pork meatballs are quite delicious. I have had the lamb tartare at Cannibal and while it is good, the flavors are so strong, I couldn’t come close to finishing it, even with help. And Silk Road Tavern’s duck roll isn’t available during lunch.

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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.

MidtownLunch has a long and amorous history with buffets (thank you, Zach Brooks!) When I walked by the above sign, I knew it was my Contributor duty to check it out. Additionally, I was excited that I would get to try Sri Lankan food. Given the proximity to India (and after reading a little online, I learned about Sri Lanka’s role as a major trading hub leading to additional influences), Banana Leaf was a good bet.

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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.

So last spring, I couldn’t help but spend every day of Mad. Sq. Eats’ opening week stuffing my face with a multitude of dishes. This past week, I have spent a good amount of quality time at the market, but I found that with only a handful of newcomers and the overall prices have prevented me from really going to town. But I gave it my best shot! And now I am going to hit you with it.

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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.

With so many options in Curry Hill, everyone has their favorite or, really, favorites. Favorite dosas. Favorite buffet to stay and eat. Favorite thali set. Favorite kathi roll. Favorite take out. Favorite all-round (mine is still Bhatti). With such a high density of Indian restaurants in a couple blocks, it is totally reasonable to have a different favorite in every category in just Curry Hill. Curry Express has always been my favorite for buffet-style take-out. It strikes me as a little bit cheaper and more laid back than Curry In A Hurry.

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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.

Sometimes as Flatiron Lunch’ers, we feel like the forgotten child and no more so than during Street Meat Palooza (SMP). The nominations for the annual competition (Edition #5!), which will take place sometime in the coming weeks, are strictly limited to the normal Midtown boundaries. That didn’t stop a reader from writing to lament the restriction and wishing to nominate a cart in the Flatiron District. So in advance of the upcoming chow-down, I checked out this “nominated” cart on the southwest corner of 28th and Broadway. I am all for filling the comments field with other Flatiron “nominees”.

The first thing I noticed on approaching this corner was that there is no cart on the southwest corner of 28th and Broadway. After confirming the location on my email and with scaffolding on the southwest corner, I decided perhaps the cart, called City Halal, on the northwest corner was possibly my target. I asked the vendor if he always at this spot, and he confirmed. Of course, a shadow of doubt that I hadn’t found the right cart hung over my entire meal.

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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.

Last week’s post about Blue Dog got me thinking about (and craving) No. 7 Sub. I haven’t been in a while. They make, arguably, the best sub in Flatiron, if not NYC (not that I am looking to start a fight). They change their menu somewhat regularly so they probably had some new sandwiches to try. Clearly, it was time for a revisit.

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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.

Sometimes you just want a sandwich. Something a little more simple than the gourmet exotic sandwiches you might find at Num Pang (see exciting news that one is opening in Flatiron this year) or Sub No. 7 (although they both make insanely delicious sandwiches). And a little more special than a Boars Head turkey sandwich at the deli. Blue Dog has the sandwich you need.

In fact, they have a lot of sandwiches you might need. They also have smoothies, juices, wraps, egg sandwiches and salads, but I focused in on the sandwiches and soups. And almost everything is under $10. Even with many sandwiches featuring avocado, they don’t charge an extra $3 or so for avocado like so many Midtown Lunch spots. The sandwiches come with the option of baguette, multi-grains, ciabatta, or focaccia bread.

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

Entire libraries could be filled with prose about Num Pang. I know the above photo doesn’t look like much, but we have been informed that this is the future site of Num Pang. With the new branch opening later this year, Flatiron Lunchers have a few months to read up and prepare for the opening. To that end, find some light bedtime reading here, here and here.

Num Pang, 1129 Broadway (btwn 25th and 26th Streets), Opening fall/winter 2012

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.

A couple weeks ago, while MJP was tasting and waxing poetic about KoFoo, a great Korean spot in Chelsea, I was simultaneously discovering the joy of KoFoo as well. But I was a few blocks away at the Four Season Cafe, a generic deli with dry looking paninis, salad bar, racks of bags of chips, etc. But this generic deli happens to have a counter in the back serving delicious Korean food. You may remember that a few weeks ago, I wrote about a Korean spot hiding in an office building lobby. Which begs the question: why are these Korean restaurants making us work so hard to find them? Just kidding, they know we love the hunt!

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