Midtown Lunch

El Tequilazo (on 46th btw. 5+6th) has always been a bit too expensive, and… “bright”… for my tastes (well, the sign anyway) but I passed by yesterday and noticed their sandwich board is advertising lunch specials that are well within the Midtown Lunch price range.  I’m pretty sure they never had anything for this cheap [...]

When I first posted the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge I listed Sohpie’s Cuban’s fried pork and plantain sandwich as one of the major inspirations. So I was pretty pleased to hear that they were going to participate in the challenge. And while their entry (the “pernil with a twist”) isn’t really all that different from [...]

Lunch’er Danny, author of the blog Food in Mouth and frequent Midtown Lunch contributor, hit up Kebab Grill the other day- a Latin/Indian/Pakistani combo deli on 36 btw. B’way+7th. According to him, the naan is a little crispy, the kebabs have a “nice spicy kick”, and the goat stew (at the Latin food counter) is an acquired [...]

Got this email from Lunch’er “Spencer” who has been stalking a lady selling Latin food on the sidewalk of 48th btw. 5+6th on Fridays for the past few weeks. Not sure if a) she’s only there on Fridays, and b) if it’s the same Ecuadorian lady who used to sell food on 46th btw. 5+6th. [...]

I’ve got some really sad news to report to all-you-can eat buffet lovers:  The International Food House Buffet on 35th btw. 7+8th has turned into a pay for what it weighs, by the lb. buffet.  Considering the current economic state, this isn’t too surprising, but it is still depressing on many levels.  1) Serving up a wide [...]

This weekend’s New York Times Travel section features an article about the best Cuban restaurants in New York City and both Margon (on 46th btw. 6+7th) and Sophie’s Cuban (multiple locations) are briefly mentioned at the end, as cheap options).  I love them both, but isn’t it nteresting that neither is owned by Cubans (Sohpie’s was started by [...]

I guess the newsstand on 6th Ave. btw. 37+38th isn’t the only weird combo in Midtown. Sarah DiGregorio from the Village Voice ate at this “Indian-Pakistani-Spanish-American restaurant” on 33rd btw. 6+7th. The one downside?  All the food is halal, so it’s missing “the porky dishes that you’d find at any other Spanish lunch counter.”

 
Yesterday Eater felt the need to single out Empanada Joe’s with their own “Adventures in Shilling” post, pointing out many positive comments that could have only been posted by people with a financial interest in the new chain succeeding. We just got our own Empanada Joe’s location (the second in the chain) on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th, [...]

From a Lunch’er email: “Looks like the critically-panned Empanada Joe’s has setup shop and will be opening soon (on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th.) Interior looked 80% done, maybe within a month they’ll open?”  According to Eater, there is a location already open in Morningside Heights, where an empanada costs $3.38.  Hmmm.  A “critically panned” $3+ empanada [...]

Inspired by Profiled Lunch’er “Lou” and his love of morir sonando (the Dominican orange creamsicle drink) I headed over to Margon (on 46th btw. 6+7th) yesterday to sample their menu of tropical shakes.  I’m not a huge fan of orange, so I perused their list for inspiration which included passion fruit, banana, papaya, tamarind, wheat (whatever [...]