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.

As posted last month (and printed here in the store), Cambodian Sandwich shop Num Pang started serving the Batali Pang last month, a special sandwich designed by Molto Mario himself. Served only until March 15th, the proceeds from the sandwich sales go to a Cambodian children’s charity and the Food Bank. With less than ten days left before the sandwich is gone forever, I stopped in to check it out.

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On Fridays during Lent I’m always on the lookout for a good meatless lunch. While I love me a good fried fish sandwich, sometimes I’m in the mood for something a little lighter but still filling. So when I saw that O-de-ppang! at Food Gallery 32 was now offering a Sashimi Bibimbap for $9.95, I had to check it out.

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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.

At first glance, the allure of Maoz Vegetarian is the top notch salad bar with which you can construct a pretty substantial falafel sandwich. Although I wouldn’t count their falafel as best in Midtown (in my opinion, that accolade belongs to Taim, even though it came in second in the 2011 reader’s poll), the endless toppings are a big (and messy!) draw. But, the reason I go to Maoz? The Belgian fries.

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When’s the last time THE New York Times restaurant review also qualified as a Midtown Lunch? Apparently, Pete Wells has discovered Shake Shack and awarded it one star in today’s dining section. I can’t decide of it’s badass or just bizarre to review it … now. While Mr. Wells was “never let down by the hot dogs,” he was brutal when it came to their fries, calling them “pretty awful,” among other things. But for the main event, the burgers, he found the doneness unpredictable. “Shake Shack wasn’t even consistently inconsistent,” he wrote when two patties in the same sandwich were cooked differently. We are certainly fans of Shake Shack on this blog, but it’s hard to defend the place when Mr. Wells isn’t exactly wrong. Sure, I’ve had inconsistently cooked food from Shake Shack, but when you get a really good Shack burger … it’s just SO GOOD.

But even stranger might have been the companion blog piece comparing seven other NYC burgers to the Shack, including several from Midtown. He bestowed favorable words to both the signature burger from Steak N’ Shake and Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen‘s burger while mentioning that Bill’s Bar & Burger was greasy. True. But the fact that Mr. Wells didn’t even address Five Guys or Burger Joint at all is pretty inexcusable.  What do you guys think?

Last month, we announced that Cafe Today was moving in next to Chipotle on 52nd between Lex and 3rd Ave. I erroneously thought it was a Portland chain (thanks, commenters, for your diligence), but it turns out it’s actually a huge generic-ish deli serving, well, basically everything under the sun. We’ve got (deep breath): a hot sandwich station, a cold sandwich station, a salad bar, panini counter, soups, hot buffet, cold buffet, custom teriyaki bowls, stir fry, udon noodle soup, sushi, bibimbap, dessert, and probably much more. It was extremely crowded for its grand opening, but can a place with this many options do everything well?

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This week, I got sucked in by Hale & Hearty’s advertising. They started serving Thai chicken soup, and in theory it sounded pretty good. They described it as “hot, spicy, smooth and sweet – it’s a just like a vacation on the beaches of Thailand.” I love Thai food … I love chicken soup … maybe, just maybe Hale & Hearty could pull off this combination?!  (I’m sure most of you know where this is going.)

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Good news for all lunchers looking for authentic Neapolitan pizza in Midtown – Don Antonio is open for business (on 50th btw. 8+9th Ave.)  The new pie shop boasts some serious culinary chops, as its owned by Roberto Caporuscio, the pizzaiolo in charge of Kesté, as well as Roberto’s long-time mentor, Antonio Starita of Naples’ Pizzeria Starita. While most of the pies are well above the $10 range, almost all of the restaurant’s calzones and paninis are at the $9-10 range. Serious Eats has a drool-worthy preview of the place, and we can’t wait to check the place out ourselves for lunch. And if anyone has tried Don Antonio’s, please let us know what you think in the comments.

Don Antonio, 309 W 50th Street (btw. 8+9th). 646-719-1043

Last week we announced the debut of Cer Te’s February sandwich special, The Gobsmacker. With a name like that (freedictionary’s definition of “gobsmacked” is “utterly astounded”), the bar is set high. Cer Te has had a pretty good track record with its Sandwiches of the Month thus far, so how did this one stack up?

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