Midtown Lunch

Room Service is one of the many Thai joints open on 9th Avenue, slightly north of what I call “Yum Yum row,” more commonly known as 46th street. It’s not wholly different from its neighbors — they all have similar lunch specials, most within the Midtown Lunch price range — but when I’m in the mood for a salad, instead of hitting up some deli, I often turn to the crispy duck salad at Room Service.

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Tuk Tuk Boy, the Thai food cart on 50th btw. 6+7th, got off to a rough start back when it opened, but now that they’ve been on the street for a few months (and presumably had a chance to work out the kinks) I checked back in to see if there’s been any improvement. You might remember, Chris experienced a particularly sad looking Pad Thai that certainly didn’t justify the wait he endured to get it.  Well I’m happy to report that my chicken pad thai ($6.99) looked nothing like Chris’, and didn’t taste the way he described either.

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As Anna wrote earlier this week, the Columbus Circle Holiday Market is going on now, and there are several great options for lunch. She sampled the empanadas from both Sizzle and La Sonrisa, as well as cider things at Breezy Hill Orchard. Plus, there’s Wafels & Dinges, German Delights Bratwurst and the Turkish pastries from MMM … Enfes that Brownie was a big fan of from the Bryant Park holiday fair. Shamefully omitted from the previous writeup was Red Basil Thai Kitchen, which hails from Astoria and has a stand between the Brats and the Turks.

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Today my weekly Thai food craving struck. Having just come off a gluttonous holiday weekend, I decided to forgo my usual noodle grease bomb and try something a little lighter. As I was perusing menus for places in my neighborhood, I came across Rain Thai, a relatively new addition to the ethnic food enclave on 53rd between 2nd and 3rd. I was particularly struck by the delicious sounding and amusingly named item Grilled Moo Yang: marinated pork served with spicy chili and sticky rice ($10).

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If the new Pad Thai Cart on 50th and 6th has taught us anything this week it’s that the heart of Midtown has a serious craving for thai food.  The cart was packed yesterday (reports had the line at 20+ people) and they ran out of food shortly after 1pm.  But I’m more of a pad see ew kind of girl.  Located on 8th Ave. btw. 42+43rd, Qi Thai isn’t quite as far as the places on 9th and Chris had nice things to say about their reasonable lunch specials back in the spring.

But how is their Pad See Ew?  I needed to find out…

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The other week, we got a peek inside the newly opened Qi Thai restaurant (43rd St & 8th Ave), and I recently dropped by for lunch. Given the location, just a stone’s throw from Times Square, I came with the most modest of expectations. Those expectations were, for the most part, met and exceeded by this fledgling restaurant, which serves fairly priced, moderate-to-good food in a startlingly gorgeous dining room.
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The lunchers of Midtown West just got another Thai restaurant with the opening of a Midtown branch of Qi (pronounced: “Chee”) Thai restaurant (8th Ave between 42nd and 43rd St). What’ll set this place apart from the original Qi Thai in Union Square, is that notable pâtisserie and restaurateur, Pichet Ong, will be the consulting Chef for the restaurant, and is hoping to focus the flavors on food from the Bangkok region of Thailand.

The early good news – the lunch prices seem more than fair, with everything falling comfortably under the $10 mark. And the restaurant space is exceptionally large for the area, ensuring enough seating to accommodate workday lunchers as well as the inevitable cadre of tourists. To get more of a preview, click through for the lunch menu and a shot of the interior.
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Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Perhaps – but when it comes to Midtown lunches and good Thai food, I say go for the gusto. During my rave first look of Pure Thai Shophouse, luncher wayne inquired if they served khao soi, and I shared his admiration for the dish (at the time, they were not). However I recently stopped by Pure Thai for lunch, and noticed that they are now serving khao soi as a rotating daily special. Pure Thai has quickly become one of my favorite Thai joints in the city, and khao soi is easily my favorite dish in any Thai repertoire. As it turns out, too much of a good thing, is a great thing.
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We somehow missed the opening of a new Thai restaurant, Tom & Toon (241 51st St. between 7th & 8th), which launched with little fanfare in August of 2010. Our oversight may have been appropriate, given the predictable narrative of the restaurant. There’s an un-extraordinary menu akin to its neighboring Thai brethren in the ‘hood, such as Siam Inn two store fronts down, or the overabundance of Thai joints up and down 9th ave. However, Tom & Toon shouldn’t be easily dismissed, for it is the only Thai restaurant that has an all you can eat lunch buffet in Midtown. At $11.95, it’s a bit over our $10 lunch rule, but we’ve always be willing to stretch the price boundaries to $11 for buffets.  So what’s another buck when something as rare as Thai AYCE is involved!?

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