At Lunch Now: Preparing for Tonight’s Choice Eats Fest
Gotta take it easy at lunch today so I’m in tip top shape for the Choice Eats Festival tonight at the Puck Bldg (advance tickets are sold out, but there will be limited $35 tickets at the door starting at 5:30pm- more details here). So, I headed over to one of the few generic Midtown delis I can stomach (Cafe Duke on 51st btw. 6+7th) for some sushi (that’s about as light as it gets for me). I could do without the california roll, but any place that gives me eel, spicy tuna and one other raw fish/avocado roll together in one sushi box is alright in my book (even if it’s $8.95, and the rolls are half the size of a normal sushi roll).
Of course, I can’t leave Cafe Duke without some of their delicious fake shrimp. With $1.05 left in my budget, I can handle two “shrimps”… Read more »
Posted by Zach Brooks at 1:04 pm, March 11th, 2008 under 51st btw. 6+7th, Deli.
Midtown is too much ground for one man to cover, so comments, suggestions and emails are always welcome. Most “discoveries” I make come from suggestions, and the comments are always a great place to see where other people are eating. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. When I was having chest pains last week, I attributed it to my “work” here on Midtown Lunch and decided to take a salad suggestion from a commenter, only to find another lame, generic deli, not worth the walk out of my way. The next day the doctor told me there was nothing wrong with my heart, and that I probably only had the death plague that’s been circulating around New York City (she didn’t use those words exactly…) Thankfully, I didn’t have to try out any more salad suggestions.
Yesterday it worked out a little better when I checked out the Homefront Deli on 41st btw. Park+Madison, which was mentioned awhile back as a good place for a hot pastrami sandwich. Expecting a soup, sandwich and salad bar deli, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a hole in the wall sandwich place, with more similarities to 
Growing up in a Jewish family meant bagels and lox were always served on special occasions. Break the fast and special Sunday mornings visiting Grandma always made exciting events, if for no other reason than the appearance of bagels and a giant platter of smoked fish. Even funerals were an event to get a little excited about. Sure, somebody died- but isn’t this pickled herring delicious? I don’t really celebrate the holidays that often anymore, but I have not lost my appreciation for a nice bagel with cream cheese, onion, lox and white fish.
Unfortunately, the one drawback to this food (and the thing that makes it difficult in the context of Midtown Lunch’ing) is the price. Smoked fish is expensi
I’ll be honest, I have no idea what Mongolian Food is. I don’t even know anything about Mongolia itself. But I feel pretty safe in saying that if you ever find yourself at a restaurant in Mongolia, there will be no sign of a gigantic round griddle, and they will not allow you to pick out your own ingredients from a buffet. If you were a soldier in the Mongol Empire, you may have eaten copious amounts of meat and vegetables off of your overturned shield, cooked over a fire and stirred with your sword, but that’s pretty much where the comparison ends. (Although I’m not sure if I should be getting my Mongol Empire historical information from a 
Anyway, regardless of its origin, Mongolian BBQ is here, and people love it. I’m constantly asked “Where can I find some good Mongolian BBQ in Midtown?” Which is a tough one for me to answer, because I don’t usually eat Mongolian BBQ. And there are four words to explain why: Pay by the Pound. Take me to an all you can eat Mongolian BBQ (like Fire & Ice in Boston), and I’m a madman. You force me to weigh my food and there’s going to be trouble… but for the sake of you people, I headed to Food World- the freshest looking Mongolian BBQ I’ve seen in Midtown.
In the far reaches of Midtown, there exists a magical place whose enormity, and depth of choice, is only eclipsed by its price. A wonderland of lunches, that makes 
This place I speak of is Whole Foods, and I finally got a chance to check it out last week for lunch. It rests on the Upper West Side corner of the Midtown Lunch boundries, on 8th Ave. & 59th St., Columbus Circle, in the basement of the Time Warner Center. It is easily the best “Grocery Store” in Midtown, and despite its high prices and questionable business practices, the food is undeniably fresh and of a much higher quality than any other place in our area.
I take for granted sometimes that everyone knows about every kind of food I write about. I spend 17 posts writing about a strange bulgogi cart outside my building, but I feel like some people still don’t actually know what the hell bulgogi is. The same could probably be said about Bi Bim Bap. Maybe it’s just Korean stuff. Despite being a short walk away from Koreatown, it seems as if people are still not versed in the delicious ways of Korean dining. Well, if you’ve never eaten Bi Bim Bap, here is a quick primer. 
Bi Bim Bap is basically a deconstructed Korean rice dish. You get white rice, a number of vegetables (usually carrots, cooked spinach, bean sprouts and others) and sometimes a little bit of meat. The dish is then topped off with a fried egg, which you are supposed to break over the whole thing. It all gets mixed together with this sweet and spicy red sauce to make a rice dish/meal. It’s delicious, and in the past few months, it seems to popping up at delis everywhere in Midtown. I’ve had a decent pre-packaged version at 
I’ve always been content with the Cafe Duke version, despite the fact that it was pre-packaged- but after discovering Ambrosia, I think Duke has been unseeded. While Korean food is a unique option for Midtown Lunch’ing, Ambrosia is not. It’s just another one of those generic delis that serve everthing under the sun- complete with sandwiches, salads, pizza and the requisite by the lb. buffet. Although I’m sure some have partaken in the Mexican Fiesta station, I suggest ignoring it all and heading back to the Korean Food window in the back of the store.