Midtown Lunch

Don’t know if you’ve seen this on any other blogs, but the Wandering Foodie (who ate 24 meals in 24 hours in Boston last year) is spending the entire month of January eating every meal out in NYC and posting about it (kind of like the exact opposite of my friend Cathy’s blog.) In Midtown, he’s already been to Szechuan Gourmet (with Chubby Chinese Girl) and and the Burger Joint (with Behind the Burner), and on Wednesday I’m taking him out for some street meat. You can follow his journey at here.

There’s something about eating lunch in a building’s loading dock that is just so fun… so awesome… so… well, Midtown Lunch’ish.  The most famous two examples of this are Pick-a-Pita (which was in a loading dock, before moving to 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th) and El Sabroso, which is still serving up delicious and cheap latin food out of a counter in a loading dock on 37th btw. 7+8th.

So, when Luncher Christina told me about Nick’s Place “tucked away in a freight entrance” on 39th btw. 7+8th, I naturally had to check it out.

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In case you missed it, on Friday I was grilled over at A Hamburger Today- giving them my thoughts on the almighty hamburger. Here were my picks for best and worst burgers in Midtown:

“Tough to say. Fast food, thin burger: Five Guys (on 55th btw. 5+6th). Fast food, thicker burger: Burger Joint (on 56th btw. 6+7th). Burger from a Cart: Carnegie John’s (on 56th & 7th). As for the more expensive, sit down burgers, I haven’t had very many. But HB Burger (on 43rd btw. B’way+6th) and Beacon (on 56th btw. 5+6th) are both really good. And the worst burger I’ve ever had in Midtown was at this place called Arome Cafe on 32nd between Broadway and 7th Avenue. Somebody twittered @midtownlunch that their burger was “$5.50 and bangin’”. Against my better judgment (Arome Cafe is one of those terrible generic delis that Midtown is famous for, and Midtown Lunch does its best to fight against) I tried the terrible terrible burger. Bad meat (not unlike what I got in my Jr. High Cafeteria), bad flavor, poorly cooked. Couldn’t even finish it. Damn you, Twitter!”

Check out the worst burger I’ve ever had, after the jump…

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About 2 and a half years ago, when I first ventured into the basement food court of the building on 3rd btw. 52+53rd to write about Fusion Grills (a typical Chinese/Japanese food court establishment), I got loads of emails recommending its neighbor Gourmet 53.  It might look like a typical generic Midtown deli, people would tell me, but it’s a really good deal- and the food is great.  Most  people recommended their coconut shrimp special (what can I say, the longtime readers know me so well!) and even though I put it off for way too long- I finally made to Gourmet 53 last week to see if all the hype was warranted.

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Our Downtown Lunchers have been eagerly searching for a Rosario’s replacement ever since the popular Italian deli closed last year.  But when Lunch’er “Goats” suggested in the comments that there was a Rosario’s-like option in Midtown, I had to check it out.

“My heart still cries when I think of Rosarios and how it was taken so quickly from me (after only 3 visits)…That was the first establishment I found via Midtown Lunch (and It was a downtown establishment!) .I was there the last day and was as close to tears as I get when a beloved food establishment shuts its doors. I have found 2 replacements in the last year as well, Milano Deli on 34th between Madison and 5th (HUGE Italian sandwiches for 7.75:get the Milano special and you will almost think you are back at rosarios) and Defontes of Brooklyn on 21st and 3rd.”

Defonte’s is well know, but sadly too far out of bounds for me… so I excitedly headed over to Milano last week to check the place out.

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Saw this sign outside the infamous Belly Delly Deli (on Broadway & 50th), which has been closed since the end of last year. I always thought it was a gross generic Midtown deli, but I know there are some who will be excited for it to reopen. Not sure if it’s going to still be the Belly Delly Deli, or something else, but either way from the looks of the sign we can count on it being generic. I wonder if you’ll be able to eat your turkey sandwich upstairs while getting your nails done. That would be different!

I don’t know the exact history of Six-0 Catering on 39th btw. 5+6th, but it has been around for as long as I can recall.  In fact, I still remember the first time I walked by the place, and was intrigued by its sign touting Mexican food- from an American looking catering place.  It was a complete dump, and the day I walked in was practically empty- save for the one guy behind the counter who told me “we have no burritos today.”  Since then, Six-0 has undergone a massive transformation (both physically and existentially.)  Before they seemed like catering company, that happened to serve lunch food if you hit them on the right day.  Now, under their new name Madeline’s, they seem like a Midtown lunch place that also happens to do catering.  And I was kind of surprised at how good and cheap all the food was.

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Based on this write up by James over at the blog The Eaten Path, the Green Leaf Deli (on Park Ave. btw. 34+35th) sounds like your typical, generic Midtown deli, save for one thing: their amazing home made pepper sauce.  “The steam tray lunch options at Green Leaf, a mostly mediocre offering of curries and stews over rice, are nowhere near the pepper sauce in terms of quality. When you’re faced with a condiment this magnetic, though, the food it’s on can quickly become irrelevant.”  James admits that you can find hot sauce this powerful (citing the red stuff at the cart on 53rd & 6th) but “rarely this sophisticated.” [The Eaten Path]

Ok, well maybe that is a bit of an overstatement… but between this, the duck sandwich at FreeFoods, and the Mexican Cheesesteak from the El Rey del Sabor cart- this Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge thing is turning out to be the best thing I’ve ever done for… well… for myself.  Seriously.  I can’t believe how well this is going, and after trying Certe’s “Thanksgiving Dip” (on 55th btw. 5+6th), I am ready to declare this challenge thing a complete success- even if not another sandwich gets made.

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Speaking of sandwiches, Serious Eats: New York conducted an experiment of their own recentlyand determined that you could make 5 “normal” size sandwiches out of one Carnegie Deli sandwich (on 7th Ave. btw. 54+55th). There is no mistaking the Carnegie Deli for a bonafide Midtown Lunch- the place is a complete tourist trap, their sandwiches are $15, and they charge you an extra $3 just for the “privilege” of sharing the food that you have paid for (a complete travesty!) But there is no denying they serve some damn good pastrami and corned beef, and even though Midtown Lunchers would have to eat two of those  ”normal” sandwiches to be satisfied, SENY has made it clear that getting a Carnegie Deli sandwich, and splitting it among multiple people, would be a completely worthy lunch for anybody who works in Midtown.