Midtown Lunch

***THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED***

I have been very outspoken when it comes to burritos.  Various posts have had me prattling on about how there are no good authentic burritos in Midtown, Chipotle sucks, Burritoville is just glorified wraps, blah blah blah.  So I’m almost embarassed about what I am about to write.  If push came to shove, I would never call something a burrito if it wasn’t Mexican.  But that being said, the other day, while I sat in the recently opened  Sugo! e Basilico, munching on my Campo Piadina Wrap, it occured to me, that what I was eating was possibly the best burrito I’ve had since I started working in Midtown.  It was definitely not Mexican (it is Italian), and there was no rice and beans, or guacamole or sour cream- so technically it’s not a burrito.  But it’s stuff, wrapped up in something pretty similar to a tortilla, and most importantly, it was delicious.  A delicious Italian burrito.  (Hey, if Taco Bell can have a “Mexican Pizza”…)

Sugo! is a fairly new, soon to be fast food chain, an Italian Chipotle if you will, but instead of Mexican burritos, they specialize in Piadina, an Italian flat bread that gets stuffed with various Mediterranean ingredients of your choosing.  There is only one location right now (on 5th Ave. btw. 44+45th), but I’m guessing if this one is sucessful (and I’m pretty sure it will be), there are plenty more to come.

What I got, piadina porn and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

If you look at my Restaurant Index, it’s not hard to realize where my heart lies.  12 Japanese places, 9 Indian, 8 Korean, 6 Chinese.  What can I say?  I love Asian food.  Doesn’t matter what kind.  You email me about a new Asian place, I will be there the very next day with a camera (and bib) in hand, ready to check it out.  Italian, not so much.  There are only two Italian places listed, and one of them (Naples 45) was written about for their late afternoon pizza special.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like Italian food.  (Who doesn’t like Italian food?)  And if you want to talk about the actual food I ate when I visited Rome, Venice & Florence, I would even say I love Italian food.  What’s not to love?  But when it comes to Italian subs and Chicken parm, I could take it or leave it.

Now, let me clarify a little bit before the commentors go crazy.  I like a good chicken parm sub.  I’m a fat man.  I obviously don’t think there is anything wrong with taking a piece of chicken, covering it in bread crumbs, deep frying it and serving it on a gigantic roll covered in cheese and sauce.  It’s good.  I’m just saying, if given the choice for lunch, unlike most people, I would rather have any kind of Asian food (or Latin food, or street meat), before Italian.

That being said, the other day a couple of co-workers and I checked out an Italian place on 55th btw. 5+6th that piqued my interested enough to pull me in and get me to order.  Tuscany Catering.  Why, you ask?  Because it’s cheap, it’s sort of hidden, and even once you’re inside (and told you can order food by your co-worker)- you’re still not sure if you’re actually going to walk out with some lunch.

What they’ve got, and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

I hate people.  Maybe hate is a strong word… but I don’t really like talking to people I don’t know.  That can be a positive and a negative when it comes to Midtown Lunch’ing.  On one hand, I can just get it in and out of a new place- eat my food, and take a few quick pictures, without getting influenced by a super nice cashier, or an overzealous manager trying to sell me on what they have to offer.  It can be all about the food!

On the other hand, if I asked a few questions and made a few friends I probably would get some useful information about the place I was writing about.  Here’s a perfect example of how a little friendliness will go a long way.  A few weeks ago I wrote about the fried calamari sandwich at Tuscan Square Marketplace.  I wrote that it was a good sandwich, but a little pricey ($9)- and only available on Tuesdays.  It also could suffer a little bit depending on when you got there- because the sandwich comes pre-packaged and you don’t know how much time has passed from fryer to counter.

The sandwich came recommended to me by Joann, a woman who works with my wife-  but the sandwich I ate, and the sandwich you might have eaten on the Tuesday after I wrote about this, was not the same sandwich she eats.  She gets a special sandwich.  And that sandwich is available any day she wants it.  And I’m pretty sure her sandwich has more calamari.  How does she do it?  She’s nice.  And she made friends with someone who works there.  And here’s the best part… you can have that sandwich too!  The “special” sandwich, and how to get it- after the jump. Read more »

As you can tell, lunch time is very sacred for me.  I am definitely not one of those “whenever I have time to go” kind of lunch people.  With me, it’s more of an “Only 17 minutes left until the socially acceptable lunchtime of Noon” kind of thing.  I still don’t understand how people can forget to eat lunch.  I don’t care how busy I am, I could never forget lunchtime.  In fact, if I haven’t eaten by 1pm, there’s a decent chance I’ll just pass out.  I’ve never tested this theory, but I’m pretty sure that’s what would happen.

Of course, there are occasions when I do go for a “late lunch”.  Usually these days coincide with times when there is some sort of free food in the kitchen to serve as a mid-morning snack, or I’ve eaten a late or extra large breakfast.  On these days, I get to take advantage of all the late lunch specials that midtown has to offer.  If you can wait to eat, there are some great deals to be had in Midtown and hands down, my favorite is Ho Yip.  I have a soft spot for cheap chinese food, and I love by the lb. buffets- but the price always kills me.  Ho Yip solves this by lowering their price after 2:15pm.  A great deal, and my favorite place to eat a late lunch.  I’ve also heard that alot of chain delis charge less for pre-packaged sandwiches at a certain time.   

A few months ago, a reader tipped me off to another one of these late lunch specials.  Naples 45, a nice sit down pizza place in Midtown, lowers their take out slices to $1.25 after 2pm.  For months I have been waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of this deal… and finally last week I was looking for something to eat around 2pm- so I headed over to Naples 45 to check it out.

What I found, pizza porn and the +/- after the jump… Read more »

***************THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED**********************

There are no shortage of expensive sandwiches in Midtown.  Lenny’s, ‘wichcraft & Cosi have designed entire franchises around them, and all the upscale delis have followed suit.  Some use fresh baked bread to trick you into thinking it’s worth it, some use fancy ingredients, and some just jack up the price because it’s Midtown, and quite frankly- where else are we going to go?  It’s half the reason why I don’t even bother writing about most delis (that and the by the lb. buffets, which are always dangerous for us fatties.)

Occasionally though, I will come across one of these expensive sandwiches that deserves mention.  Something so unique or delicious, that maybe- just maybe it is worth that expensive price tag.  The Fried Calamari Sandwich at Tuscan Square just might fall into that category.  It’s actually a very simple concept, but most of my lunchmates couldn’t quite grasp it at first (“fried calamari what?”).  That’s right.  Fried Calamari, between two pieces of bread (hence the term sandwich).  Genius!!! 

A picture of the sandwich, and +/- after the jump… Read more »