Archive for 'Deli'

The Belly Deli Has Returned: For those of you who are still willing to eat at generic delis with no redeeming qualities: "Just wanted to let you know, the Belly Deli is open again!  I guess they paid their taxes.   It is not my favorite place but I like their coffee and fried egg sandwich and they sell the carbonated Poland Spring water that is hard to find."

Rolly Wraps Are An Amazing Advancement in Midtown Deli Technology

I hate generic Midtown delis. Anybody who reads this site with any regularity knows this. In fact, that stupid deli at the bottom of your building, with its make your own salad bar, prepackaged sushi, and terrible sandwich counter is the reason I started this blog in the first place. Those choices exist solely because your co-workers are lazy losers; unwilling to walk an extra block or two to eat a worthwhile lunch.

Of course every once in awhile a Midtown deli innovation occurs, pushing the boundaries of gastronomic advancement; begging to be noticed, unwilling to following the standard formula. By the lb. buffets were one of the early innovations. The good ones are tough to resist (despite being a curse to us fatties.) Korean deli owners selling Korean food is a more recent example. The stations set up at Cafe Duke and Ambrosia elevate those delis to worthwhile status. Now, we have reached a new plateau… brought to my attention in this email:

Anyone tipped you off to this yet at the Old Bridge Deli? For about $6.50, you can get a fresh baked (i.e. made, then baked on the spot while you wait)… what is essentially an elongated calzone with a thinner crust with custom ingredients of your choosing (they call it a rolly wrap).

The fresh baked part is killer. So is the fresh chopping the guy does if you order chicken, or any cheese other than mozz. I’m a sucker for a little fresh cutting and baking on my lunch order, especially when it’s a FULL lunch and costs $6-7. Just wait in line, pile on pretty much as many ingredients as you like, and wait while it bakes. He’ll even give you a sour cream or hot sauce on the side if you ask nicely.

I usually roll with a choice of cheddar and/or mozz (sometimes rotate in the jalapeno jack too) the breaded chicken (grilled if I’m going “healthy”), some pepperoni or bacon, rotate the vegetable (onion, mushroom, broccoli, red peppers), then top it off with salsa and either sour cream or guac. Delicious.

Fresh baked? As many ingredients as you like? In a generic Midtown deli? Wait- ignore that last part and this kind of sounds amazing…  Read more »

Cafe Du Monde is Coming to Midtown

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That headline is cruel to anybody who has ever been to the real Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. I’m sorry… but I couldn’t help it. Clearly New Orleans’ Cafe du Monde is not opening up on 37th btw. 5+6th in Midtown. There is no mention of beignets on the sign, and the logo is terrible. I kind of have to wonder- are these people idiots? I know technically it just means “Cafe of the World”, and there is no fear of anybody confusing a generic Midtown deli with one of the greatest coffee shops/fried-dough-covered-in-powdered-sugar makers in the world. But is this legal?

Beignet lovers… I’ll make it up to you after the jump Read more »

Seized Again: The Old Bridge Deli Ain’t What She Used To Be

Old Bridge Deli Seized 1
Old Bridge Deli Seized 3From a Lunch’er: “The Old Bridge Deli (on 41st & Lex) got SEIZED (big orange stickers out front, doors closed)…. AGAIN.  That’s twice in like a few months. Same exact thing that happened before basically.  Lights on, people literally walking up to the door and yanking on it, only to then lookup and see the big orange sticker with massive “SEIZED” on it.  Didn’t bother reading the fine print on the sticker this time though.” She bounced back once, let’s see if she can do it again.

Thanks to Lunch’er Howard for the photos.

Milant Still Makes a Damn Good Sandwich

Newly Re-Opened Milant
Newly Re-Opened MilantAlways up for challenging my stomach, I decided to hit up Milant yesterday (on 39th btw. Lex+3rd) despite the fact that they’ve been closed for most of the past month or two. Since they were shuttered by the DOH, there has been concern about the freshness and cleanliness of what was once considered Midtown’s finest sandwich place.  All the food in the display case looked fine, although there is a creepy-ness that will probably only go away after multiple visits without incident (i.e. sickness). I went with my standby #13.  Chicken cutlet, fresh mozarella, sundried tomatoes, and pesto. 

Check it out, plus more- after the jump…  Read more »

Sam’s House Cafe is Just Bagelfeller in New Clothes

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For those who were hoping Bagelfeller (on 48th btw. 5+6th) would morph into a decent Midtown Lunch, I’ve got some bad news.  They changed the name (it’s called Sam’s House Cafe now), and they’ve added a weird greenish counter, but the food seems to be mostly the same.  The salad bar, the weird tex-mex food, the sushi… it’s all there.  So much for hopes…

Pampano Taqueria Food Court is Starting to Fill Out

 Silo Cafe

The food court on 3rd Ave. (btw. 49+50th) that is home to Pampano Taqueria, Sophie’s Cuban, Pump, and Yorganic is about to welcome another addition: the Silo Cafe. This will be the chain’s second branch in Midtown (there is another one located just-in-bounds on 32nd St. btw. Park+Madison), and from the looks of their website it’s just another generic Midtown deli. However, the 32nd St. location does have udon, teriyaki and bibimbap, so this place might be worth a quick looksee, provided they follow suit. The basement of the Crystal Pavillion is finally starting to look less like a war zone, and more like a food court.  (I love food courts.)

Anybody been to the Silo Cafe on 32nd? Feel free to comment below- the good citizens of 3rd avenue are eagerly awaiting your opinions. And if you want to see photos of the interior, they are posted after the jump…  Read more »

BAGELFELLER GOES DOH!: This straight from the M.L. Inbox: "The DOH must be cracking down on the 48th St. places.  Bagelfeller has a closed DOH sign up as well..."  Don't pretend to be surprised.  That place looks dirty, smells dirty and at one time they served something called a "banana roll" in their pre-made sushi section.  Wrong on so many levels...

Homefront Deli is Up for Sale!

Midtown Lunch’ing favorite, the Homefront Deli is up for sale after 15 great years at 41st St. between Madison & Park.  The Epoch Times has the story, starting from Owner Wanda Kassimis’ dream of leaving her Midtown desk job, and opening a deli.  The article says that the space is up for sale, and that “after almost two decades in her current location, [Wanda] is ready to make a fresh start in a new location, but real estate is competitive in Manhattan. ‘It’s been hard to find a buyer’, she confesses.”  The article doesn’t give any indication of when it will close, where she is going to move, or what the reason is for the sale, and curiously, no mention is made of her husband (and co-owner) Jimmy, who I got the full story from this morning, while he worked the breakfast line. Read more »

More Salad, Less Ice Cream on the East Side, While Pinkberry Surfaces on the West Side

This awesomeness popped up on the corner of 3rd Ave. & 43rd St.  What exactly is Crisp you ask?  No info on their website, but we get two clues:  “Fast fresh food that syncs your taste with your conscience.”  And, “It’s not what you think.  It’s better.”  Hmm… that’s interesting.  So it’s not an organic version of a generic salad bar/Midtown deli?  It’s better.  Can’t wait…

Just around the corner, on 43rd btw. Lex+3rd, the first Manhattan location of Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe has opened up, a chain with most of its locations in California, Oklahoma, Texas & Florida.  With a menu of fancy wraps, salads, pizzas and panini, I was slightly intrigued by their Bangkok Thai Wrap, until I saw that they add water chesnuts (meh), and provolone (huh?).  Oh well.

Blue Pig says goodbye, while Pinkberry says hello, after the jump… Read more »