Midtown Lunch

This one is for those of you who can’t resist a good “I found a bug in my salad” post (we’re looking at you, Eater!) From Lunch’er Jenna: “I went to chopped [sic] for lunch today and ordered a kebob Cobb wrap and as I was eating it a ALIVE BUG came crawling out of my sandwich!!!!!!! I was so grossed out that I took the rest of my sandwich back to chopped and they refunded my money and said they try to clean the lettuce. Just want to get the word out there that if you go to Chopped you may bring back a bug!!!” Don’t be too upset Jenna… some people in Brooklyn would pay good money to eat that bug!

The photo she sent us is a particularly gross one, so as a public service we’ve placed it after the jump.

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It’s been almost three years since Macchiato Espresso Bar opened on 44th btw. Lex+3rd, selling their line of Italian coffee, sandwiches, salads, and pastries.  When it first opened, I posted my first impression (meh) which drew the ire of the owner because I hadn’t actually eaten any of the food or tries the coffee.  At the time I just wasn’t interested in trying another turkey and swiss sandwich for $9.  So sue me.  Well, it’s taken me almost three years… but I’ve finally gotten enough positive emails to warrant actually trying Macchiato Espresso Bar.  Well not me, but our resident coffee and baked goods expert Kathy YL Chan (from A Passion For Food).  I thought this place would be right up her alley, and asked her to check it out and report back.  Here’s what she found…

Welcome to Macchiato Espresso Bar on 44th Street, the last thing you’d expect to discover in discover in midtown. Coming in from 3rd Avenue, the bright blue entrance looks like some sort of strange oasis. The Bar exudes a Euro-trash meets midtown business vibe. Music is energetic, and the counter service is knowledgeable, efficient. Prices are high, though quality justifies to a certain extent.

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Photo courtesy of MychaelS

via Twitter: “What does this sign MEAN? Seen at Pergola above Salad Station on 40th near 5th”  Huh.  Uh… anybody care to hazard a guess?

Update via the Comments: Nevermind

Remember how I said I didn’t understand the whole banh mi backlash?  I take it back.  Chop’t, the salad chain with 3 locations in Midtown, has now introduced a banh mi cobb, featuring “Niman Ranch Pork alongside a blend of mesclun and cabbage, jalapenos, pickled carrots, cucumbers and a homemade chili-lime dressing.” Ok, now I’ll admit that maybe this has gone a bit too far.

A few weeks ago I posted a grievance sent in from a reader who wanted to complain about the salad at Flavors- a generic deli in the hallway beneath the Fox News building which may or may not be owned by Cafe Metro. Since then, it appears as if they have changed their policy… “Redemption song for flavors. I’m quite positive that the folks at flavors have read this grievance! I just got back from flavors and the salad was huge! not just mine but everyone around me as well. i think they’ve stepped up a notch because the salads taste great but now they are at a size worth its semi overpriced tag!”

Another luncher was quick to rebuke this shill enthusiastically delivered news by dropping a bit of science on me…

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I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…) Midtown Lunch operates under the assumption that most salads are a joke, so it’s hard for me to feel too bad when you get burned. That being said, these photos are kind of pathetic:

“Me and my co-workers are avid Midtownlunchers and we feel the need to vent about “Flavors”, the new spot in the Fox building on 6th between 47th and 48th. My co-worker just returned with a salad that is complete joke. The salad included 4 ingredients and cost $8, but that’s not the point. Check out the pics attached, they gave no lettuce whatsoever, its basically a half salad for $8!!! Being that we work in mid-town and are all New Yorkers, we understand what to expect when we go to lunch around here when it comes to prices, but to get half a salad and still charge full price is robbery, no wonder Flavors and Café Metro are run by the same joke company. We don’t need our names attached to anything but we wanted to vent. Thanks man and keep it up!!! PS- and the bread is stale.”

I am shocked… Flavors is owned by Cafe Metro? Hopefully this is lesson learned for everyone.

Got your own grievance you’d like to air? Feel free to email it zach@midtownlunch.com

I’ve walked by this cart on 55th btw. Park+Madison many times, and each time was equal parts turned off and intrigued by the sign. What exactly is “healthy” street meat? Is that even possible? And what would it taste like? Well, last week the question was partly answered when a couple of commenters recommended the Greek salad topped with chicken from this very cart.

Now, if you read this blog regularly you know my feelings on salad. I generally can’t bring myself to do it. If I want to eat healthy, I’ll get a “salad style” bibimbap from Cafe Duke on 51st btw. 6+7th (that’s about as healthy as I’ll get). But salad from cart? Well that is kind of interesting. I think I could get away with that, without ruining my reputation… plus it’s a Greek salad- so you throw in some feta cheese and grape leaves, and this fat guy is ready to eat some greens!

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I did a bad bad thing last week.  After reading about Chop’t in the New York Post, I was compelled to go and check out their Po’boy Salad.  Anybody who reads this blog with any frequency knows I have a special place in my heart for New Orleans- and even a generic salad chain like Chop’t can get me to pay attention to them by making something called a Po’boy Salad.  What does that even mean?  And quite frankly, how could I not? 

Walking into Chop’t was a particularly terrifying experience.  As described in the Post article, the place is packed, and very intimidating (the menu is very long and if you don’t know exactly what you want you’ll hold everything up), and while I find salad places to be scary enough on their own- imagine how much scarier it becomes when you put giant machetes in the hands of the people making these salads.  It’s much harder to look at people with derision in your eyes when they’re holding giant salad cutting knives.

Despite being excited mildly interested, I should have known something was wrong immediately when I spotted the ingredient list of the Po’boy Salad.  Fried chicken (that’s good), lettuce (sure), tomato (makes sense), and cheese (???).  Cheese?  I don’t seem to remember cheese on any Po’boy I’ve ever had.  I do remember pickles.  But there are no pickles on this salad.  I don’t know what I was expecting, and I probably would have just turned and walked out right then, if I hadn’t spotted spotted something that actually stirred a bit of genuine excitement inside me.  Something so grotesque (in a good way) that it could actually have a chance of redeeming this monstrosity of a lunch establishment.   Read more »

There is an actual article in this morning’s NY Post about (and this is a direct quote) “the cutthroat world of the tossed-to-order salad, which has replaced the three-martini lunch as the [Midtown] office worker’s mealtime measure of status and self-worth.” It goes on to explain what your lunchtime salad choices (Chop’t vs. Cafe Duke; Pre Made vs. Pick Your Own) say about you as a worker/human being. I don’t know why they didn’t interview me- I could have pinpointed exactly what eating at these salad places says about the world we live in… it says that this anti-salad-website is doing god’s work. (Although I have to admit the “Po’Boy Salad” at Chop’t does sound intriguing.)

Midtown Lunch’ing favorite, the Homefront Deli is up for sale after 15 great years at 41st St. between Madison & Park.  The Epoch Times has the story, starting from Owner Wanda Kassimis’ dream of leaving her Midtown desk job, and opening a deli.  The article says that the space is up for sale, and that “after almost two decades in her current location, [Wanda] is ready to make a fresh start in a new location, but real estate is competitive in Manhattan. ‘It’s been hard to find a buyer’, she confesses.”  The article doesn’t give any indication of when it will close, where she is going to move, or what the reason is for the sale, and curiously, no mention is made of her husband (and co-owner) Jimmy, who I got the full story from this morning, while he worked the breakfast line. Read more »