Midtown Lunch

A belated Happy Purim to those who celebrated! A side trip to Grand Central yesterday revealed that Chocolate Hamantaschen are back. At $3.25 each, they don’t come cheap, but they are sizable (and sharable, I suppose). Zaro’s also sells the more traditional apricot, prune and poppy hamantaschen, but the chocolate ones have always been my favorite, the cookie part is like a light, slightly lemony shortbread and the filling has a similarly shortbready texture but it’s nice and chocolately. Even though Purim has ended, the lady at Zaro’s in Grand Central promised they would have these today.

A couple of weeks ago, Ben & Jerry’s debuted their new line of Greek frozen yogurt. I had the chance to taste all four flavors and will say that this is infinitely better than regular fro-yo. It’s creamy and thick like ice cream, but not as fat-laden since they use non-fat yogurt. When I got to taste the flavors, they weren’t sure when the individual stores would be rolling out the new flavors, and whether they would have plain vanilla or specific flavors. Well, a quick stop by the Rock Center store last week showed that they will be having a rotation of the flavors including my favorite, Blueberry Vanilla Graham. It’s made by swirling blueberry and vanilla yogurt together. Genius! I totally suggest stopping by for a scoop or a smoothie, especially for those of us already thinking about bikini season.

Before Thanksgiving, Dylan’s Candy Bar opened a pop-up store on the SW corner of 42nd and 6th, and apparently all of you did what we did: avoid the area at all costs until after the holidays. Well if you still want to stop by, the Pop-Up is going on through this Saturday. I checked it out only to find out that us lunch’ers have been missing out on Sprinkles cupcakes, and also the apocalypse is totally happening.

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This is it. Hanukkah starts tonight at sundown, and this weekend is full of Christmas. Do you know where you’re picking up special holiday treats for your employees–bosses, I’m looking at you–or to impress your in-laws?! Though Midtown might be lacking in the bakery department, there are still a few spots around to pick up some holiday desserts! I did some scouting on where to pick up everything from dreidel cookies to bûches.

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The out-of-bounds Leon Bakery (9th Ave. btw 47+48th), one of the greater Midtown area’s premiere purveyors of tamales (not to mention their selection of baked goods), is currently closed for renovations. From what I could see of the interior, the changes are extensive and the space will probably look much different. As long as there is still a barrel of tamales in the back, I’ll be happy. One of the workers told me they should reopen in the next few weeks. Can’t wait!

After tasting two of Potbelly’s three dessert options–I’m not counting the mini cookies as a real option–and being greatly surprised with the taste and quality of their cookies, I was anxious to try out the last dessert, the Dreambar. The Dreambar is a bar equivalent of their Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie in that it’s filled with chocolate chips and rolled oats. But there are some major differences that will steer you towards one or the other.

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When I first heard about Schweddy Balls, Ben & Jerry’s latest Limited Edition flavor named for the classic Alec Baldwin SNL sketch, I had to go check the Rock Center shop to see if they had scoops. And come on, Schweddy Balls are tailor made for amusing interactions.

Me: “hi, I’d like a cup of Schweddy Balls.”
Woman in business suit next to me: “Getting some Schweddy Balls today?”
Me: “Yup.”
Woman in business suit next to me: “Me, too. Those are some good Schweddy Balls.”

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With Potbelly Sandwich slowly blanketing Midtown, I decided to finally stop by their newly open Rock Center location to check out the desserts. When compared to some of the other dessert options around, theirs are fairly cheap, and apparently baked fresh for the shops. Since I was in a cookie mood, I picked up their oatmeal and chocolate chip cookie for some afternoon snacking. At less than $2, I was pleasantly surprised with what I got.

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Now that “hurricane” Irene has come and gone, it’s back to business as usual. And lately, business for us seems to be writing about the ice cream cake bar at Quality Meats. I know we’ve covered it twice in the past few weeks, but we couldn’t resist one more exciting piece of news. We just got confirmation that they will continue to serve their innovative and delicious mini-ice cream cakes until middle of October. Great news for both Blondie and myself who are addicted to these things and I suppose sad news to anybody who’s a fan of their charcuterie bar, which won’t return until all the ice cream is gone.

The long-standing ‘wichcraft kiosks in Bryant Park recently got a new outpost, an ice cream kiosk (40th btw 5+6th) close to the carousel. As far as I know, this is actually the first ‘wichcraft foray into ice cream, and they’ve decided to source their ice cream from Van Leeuwen! This actually makes a lot of sense knowing that ‘wichcraft likes to use organic and local products when available. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I headed over to the kiosk, but I ended up finding one of the cheapest ice cream treats around.

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