Midtown Lunch

It’s been a duck kind of a week. Yesterday I wrote about the Thursday duck pancake special at Yushi… and then subconsciously (or consciously) I felt a sudden urge to try the duck soup from Aura Thai. I’ve seen the soups at Aura mentioned a bunch of times on Midtown Lunch (most notably by Lunch’er “Nantini”) but the place is out of bounds (9th Ave. btw. 35+36th) and there are plenty of good soups in Midtown. We don’t need to be hiking out to 9th Ave. just for soup.

Now that I’ve tried the soup, though, I think hiking out to 9th Ave. is exactly what we all need to be doing (especially now that’s it starting to get colder.)

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Ever since visiting Thailand 2 1/2 years ago I’ve been borderline obsessed with khao soi, the soup-like curry noodle dish topped with pickled cabbage, shallots, lime, and deep-fried crispy egg noodles. Despite all the great Thai food we have in New York, khao soi (being a Chiang Mai specialty) isn’t as ubiquitous here in the states as your pad thai, pad see ew, or the standard curry dishes (red, green, massaman, etc.) According to this post in the forums Sripraphai (unsurprisingly) makes a good version at their restaurant in Queens (I haven’t tried it yet), and I had a decent (but hipster’ish) version at Thai Market on the UWS.

So when I heard last week that Talent Thai (on 34th btw. 2+3rd) specialized in Chiang Mai style dishes, like khao soi, I was pretty excited. And yesterday, I traveled that extra 25 feet outside the Midtown Lunch boundaries to check it out.

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I don’t know if this is a coincidence or not, but two days ago we were having a conversation in the ML forums about where to find good khao soi (a noodle dish that is popular in Chiang Mai, Thailand), and then yesterday I got an email about Talent Thai Kitchen- a newish Thai place on 34th btw. 2+3rd that specializes in “Northern Thai Noodle Soups… like khao soi.”  It’s technically outside the Midtown Lunch boundaries, but their lunch specials are only $7.95 and I will go an extra 1/2 an avenue to get my khao soi on. If it looks anything like the photo of khao soi after the jump, you will see a very happy Zach.

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As much as I love Asian food of all kinds, there is one thing I can’t stand.  The Asian Combo Restaurant.  You know what I’m talking about.  The Chinese food restaurant that serves sushi, or the Vietnamese food place that serves pad thai.  I’m not talking about fusion cuisine, which is an entity all itself.  I’m talking about the restaurant that decides they are going to serve something for everybody- and inevitably ends up doing it none of it well.

So when Asian Station opened on 52nd btw. Lex+3rd, I was naturally skeptical.  In fact, I had written the place off knowing that it was probably too expensive for Midtown Lunch purposes. But once Lunch’er Joe forwarded along the all under $10 menu, I knew I’d have to check it out.  My cheap Asian food loving stomach won out over my combo restaurant hating brain.  And boy am I glad it did.

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I’ll admit I completely dismissed Asian Station, the new semi-chic looking Asian restaurant that opened over a month ago next to Bombay Bistro on 52nd btw. 3rd+Lex. Aside from it being a little too cool for school, they didn’t have a menu in the window- and from the looks of it, there was no way it was going to be cheap enough for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes. I do love Asian food though, so I was excited to hear yesterday that their lunch specials are actually well under $10! That’s the good news. The bad news is, they serve Japanese, Chinese, AND Thai food.

Lunch’er Joe was kind enough to transcribe the menu for us. It’s after the jump…

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Remember the profiled lunch’er who admitted that he didn’t like Thai food, and then became the most ridiculed Profiled Midtown Lunch’er of all time? Well, for once, your ridicule actually worked to effect positive change in the world- and “Matt” is happy to report that he tried Thai food again and… (well, I don’t want to spoil it.)

After the spirited feedback from the comments section (side note to the person who accused me of living in my parents basement: you’re insulting random people on the internet and I’m the one who lives in my parents basement?), I decided to journey out and try Thai food. The choice was Pam’s Real Thai Food (on 49th btw. 9+10th), although I generally don’t eat at restaurants that cite their realness in the name, I decided to trust the comments section. I selected a number of co-workers so we could maximize our order. While the shrimp roll we started with was typical, I found the Thai Beef Jerky to be quite a treat. I don’t even like regular beef jerky – could this Thai cuisine improve on other dishes as well? As the different entrees were passed around the table, I noticed the Pad Thai coming my way. This was the big moment.

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Pongsri Thai (on 48th btw. B’way+8th) has completed the renovations to their front room, which shut down half the restaurant for the past couple months. And the big surprise is the fact that they didn’t raise their prices!  The lunch specials are still a very cheap for the neighborhood $6 to $8. If you have time to venture over to Ninth Ave. the thai restaurants are far superior over there (and for the same price you usually get an appetizer and/or salad with your lunch special.) But if you don’t have the time, Pongsri is a decent in bounds option (one that has been recommended often by commenters, bloggers, and Profiled Midtown Lunch’ers.)

The two noodle dishes I had on my most recent trip, are after the jump…   

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Oh man.  What are we going to do?  Has it really come to this?  Since Yum Thai closed last year, I have been seriously Thai deprived.  Sure, there are options available– but none are really “Midtown Lunch” worthy (i.e. there is no super cheap, order at a counter Thai food in Midtown.)  If you want Thai, you’re going to have to eat it at a sit down restaurant, or order it to go and take it back to your office.  There are plenty of options to the far west, but not much going on to the East, which is what brought me to Thai-Nam last week; a Thai/Vietnamese combo restaurant on 45th btw. Lex+3rd.

What I got (after ignoring the various red flags) after the jump… Read more »

Alright, I will admit, right off the bat that I don’t actually know if Nanking was any good to begin with. I have never been to any of the other locations of this Chinese/Thai/Mughlai hybrid, but one of my co-workers swears by the Jackson Heights one, and convinced me that based on their Chili Chicken alone, the new Midtown outpost of the restaurant, on Broadway btw. 50+51st, was at least worth checking out. Skeptical of any Asian restaurant that combines multiple countries under one roof (has anybody really ever done this successfully???), I can’t say I was gung ho about trying Nanking. In fact I could have easily argued that it clearly wasn’t a Midtown Lunch.

1. It’s a sit down restaurant, and I think a true Midtown Lunch shouldn’t have to be ordered from a waiter. I have, and will be known to make exceptions for some sit down restaurants, but usually when I do, the place either has to be an exceptional value (i.e. all you can eat buffets), or they have to be serving something that you can’t really get anywhere else in Midtown (for under $10 of course).
2. It isn’t that cheap.  At the Jackson Heights Nanking everything on the menu is under $10. Not surprisingly the new location has “Midtown’ified” their menu, with chicken entrees being around $14, and the duck, lamb and seafood entrees eclipsing the $20 mark.  They do offer a $10 lunch special, but it’s not quick, and to top it off there are plenty of other better Chinese & Thai food restaurants in Midtown (take out and sit down) that are cheaper.
3. Did I mention the part about how they serve Chinese and Thai food. *Sigh* (They dropped the Mughlai Indian food that they serve at the Jackson Heights location.)

So maybe it’s not a true Midtown Lunch, but that doesn’t mean there is no reason to eat there… Read more »

Pad Si Ew, Posted by NYCBlondieandBrownie to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Pool

While Yum Thai (44th btw. 6+7th) was certainly not the best Thai food in Midtown, it had one thing going for it- it was a true Midtown Lunch. Counter for ordering, tables and chairs for sitting, or you could take it to go. No waiters, no tipping, quick, cheap and easy. Now that it’s been shuttered for almost 6 months, and nobody is stepping in to fill the void, lunch’ers have been forced to turn to sit down Thai restaurants for their fix.

This week, NYC Food Guy (aka Lawrence, aka “Superman”) has a Drunken Noodles showdown, with the Out of Bounds: Pam Real Thai Encore (47th btw. 9+10th) losing to Topaz on 56th btw. 6+7th, while Brownie from Blondie & Brownie re-discovers her love of Pongsri Thai (48th btw. B’way+8th), the sit down Theater District favorite, right next to Aoki, and Saigon 48.

Anybody have any other suggestions? Post them in the comments below, or email me at zach@midtownlunch.com

• Midtown Drunken Noodle Showdown: Topaz vs Pam Real Thai Encore [NYC Food Guy]
• Pongsri Thai, Revisiting an Old Midtown Fav [Blondie & Brownie]