A few weeks ago, we reported that Vic’s Bagel Bar (on 3rd Ave. btw. 36+37th) had opened and was offering Midtown bagel lovers the option to customize their cream cheese (Cold Stone Creamery style.) Curiosity always gets the best of me, so of course I had to return to try one of their bagel monstrosities… the Backyard BBQ. Read more »
Posted by Amy Cao at 11:45 am, April 7th, 2010 under Bagels, Kosher, Vic's Bagel Bar.
The Jewish holiday of Passover starts tonight at sundown, so all of the Kosher spots in Midtown will be closed from 3/29 until at least 4/5. It’s not too late for a last minute Kosher Midtown Lunch, though… Pick a Pita (on 8th btw. 39+40th) is open today. But Kosher Deluxe, Olympic Pita, and all the Diamond District spots are already closed. Strangely enough Maoz (on 40th & 7th) will stay open through Passover (I thought they were certified Kosher?) On the plus side there are some spots still open with passover lunch’ing options… Sarge’s (on 3rd btw. 36+37th) has matzoh ball soup and matzoh brie, and so does the Cafe Edison (along with a special “passover” menu starting tonight.) But the 2nd Ave. Deli will be closed. Have any other good tips for those Midtown Lunch’ers celebrating Passover? Feel free to put them in the comments…
Related:
Your Last Midtown Lunch Before Passover (aka, the best bread in Midtown)
Have you ever been kind of jealous of the winners of Zach’s various cart tours? Even though I work in midtown and can hit the great midtown carts anytime I want, there’s something to be said about the fun of taking on a bunch of them at once. To really do it right you need strength in numbers, so when I learned that a couple of my friends from Seattle, would be in town and free for lunch during the week, I started plotting potential food adventures. Both of them regularly read Blondie & Brownie and they were jealous of the midtown cart/food truck scene. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that we should try to hit as many carts for as many different types of foods as possible and with that in mind, may a present Brownie’s Cart Canyon Tour: 10 carts/10 cuisines/$10 a person…
Posted by Brownie at 11:30 am, March 4th, 2010 under American, Austrian, Biriyani Cart, Cart, El Rey Del Sabor, Falafel, Jamaican, Jamaican Dutchy, Kim's Aunt Kitchen Cart, Korean, Kosher, Mexican, Schnitzel & Things, Treats Truck, Trini Paki Boys Cart, Wafels and Dinges.
See… the Kosher gods aren’t so terrible after all. Yesterday we reported the sad sad loss of the Diamond Dairy, but today we get to tell you about Gan Eden by Jacob- a new Glatt Kosher restaurant opening in the same building as El Rincon del Sabor (on 47th btw. 5+6th). I don’t know a ton about Bukharian food, or Glatt Kosher for that matter, but the menu looks very similar to Taam Tov. Check it out, after the jump…
Posted by Zach Brooks at 9:00 am, December 8th, 2009 under 47th btw. 5+6th, Gan Eden, Kosher.
You would think keeping kosher would eliminate the desire for pepperoni pizza (it’s pork, plus you’ve got the whole milk and meat thing), but apparently those who follow the kosher laws still want to feel like they’re breaking the rules without actually doing it. Solution? Draw rings of “pepperoni” using red sauce. Genius! Does anybody know if this is a widespread phenomenon, or just a single inspired act of brilliant subterfuge? Who cares that it will taste like a regular cheese slice with extra sauce. It’s still amazing! Want to try this faux pepperoni pizza? It’s at Aroma, a new generic Kosher deli on 36th btw. 5+6th.
Maoz Vegetarian, the European build your own falafel chain with branches in Union Square, NYU, and the UWS, opened their very first Midtown location a few weeks ago (on 7th Ave. and 40th Street). There is no shortage of falafel options in Midtown, but I have always been intrigued by Maoz- especially since Serious Eats: New York named it the best falafel in Union Square. So last week I headed over to give this new addition to the Midtown Lunch scene a try.
If you’ve already been to Maoz, I’m guessing this is no different than any of the other locations. Like any chain, the operation seems pretty streamlined and I’m guessing it’s the same from place to place. I had no basis for comparison, so on this visit was just a fat guy wondering if this was going to replace any of my other go to falafel places in Midtown. I like the idea of building my own sandwich, because layering is incredibly important to me- and so many places just don’t do it right. I was kind of excited to get to give the sandwich building a go.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:45 am, October 5th, 2009 under 40th btw. 7+8th, Falafel, Kosher, Maoz Vegetarian.
The new Kosher Oasis Cart has had an interesting first couple of months. It first appeared on 44th street (btw. 6+7th) at the end of last year, but then like a mirage (or oasis?) it reappeared on 47th, only to disappear and reappear again a few times throughout August. It seems to have settled in over on 47th Street (btw. 6+7th), but it was forced to move somewhere else on Wednesdays (possibly related to the intimidation reported by the local news?)
But what about the food? I headed over recently to sample a few of their menu items. (And by “sample” I mean stuff my fat face with pretty much everything they make.)
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:45 am, September 10th, 2009 under 47th btw. 6+7th, 49th btw 6+7th, Burger, Falafel, Kosher, Kosher Oasis.
Midtown’s Kosher scene has seen a flurry of activity this week, as reported by the website Kosher-NY. Eli’s Deli, in the Citigroup Building Food Court will close at the end of the week, the Mendy’s in the Rock Center concourse has officially moved to their new digs on street level (on 48th btw. 5+6th) and may have some Grand Opening specials, and Mr. Broadway (on B’way btw. 37+38th) was closed by the DOH on Tuesday. They hope to reopen tomorrow. Also, in Downtown Lunch news… Little Lad’s (the vegetarian place Daniel reviewed this past Friday) will no longer be under Kosher supervision after this week.
Related:
Mendy’s Beats Out Soup Nazi in Battle of the Seinfeld Spin Offs
The Kosher Oasis cart, which appeared briefly back in December on 44th & 6th, reappeared earlier in the week on the SW corner of 47th & 6th. I stopped by yesterday to sample their menu of schnitzel, falafel, hot dogs and hamburgers, and they had disappeared once again. If you spot this cart, let us know in the comments (can you believe they’re not on twitter yet!?!) I did discover the other day that they are owned by the same people who own the Brooklyn location of Burgers Bar. I had never heard of it, but apparently it’s a very large Israeli hamburger chain which has a few locations here in NYC. Anybody ever been? If it’s good, it might bode well for the burgers from this cart… that is, if it ever returns.
UPDATE: The cart parks on 47th btw. 6+7th every day but Wednesdays. On Wednesday it has been parking on 49th btw. 6+7th.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 8:30 am, August 13th, 2009 under Cart, Cart Watch, Kosher, Kosher Oasis.
There has been a lot of press (and even more twittering) about the new Schnitzel and Things truck, coming soon to Midtown. Hell, they even have “merch” for sale– and they haven’t even sold a single bite of schnitzel yet! Well, Fressagirl is reporting that another truck serving schnitzel quietly hit the scene a month ago on 9th Ave. btw. 32+33rd (just outside the Midtown Lunch boundaries.) In fairness to Schnitzel & Things, schnitzel is just one of the many items on the Brucha Caterer truck- which is entirely kosher. (And, as you know from this post, Austrian schnitzel and kosher schnitzel can be two completely different things.)
Of course Midtown has plenty of room for two schnitzel trucks. And I’m still looking forward to the arrival of veal schnitzel! In fact, Schnitzel & Things just released the first photo of their truck, which you can check out after the jump…
Posted by Zach Brooks at 12:30 pm, July 2nd, 2009 under Cart, Kosher, Out of Bounds, Schnitzel & Things.
