Midtown Lunch

As soon as I clicked on the Grub Street link about the newly opened Cafe China and spotted the wonton floating in spicy goodness, I knew I had to check the place out. Located on East 37th street (btw. Mad+5th) just a few blocks from Szechuan Gourmet and Lan Sheng, my go-to midtown Sichuan spot, Cafe China is entering a distinguished field, but in my book there’s always room in my heart for more good Chinese food. Read more »

If there was a guide to opening a generic deli in midtown, it would prescribe DIY salads, mediocre pizzas, predictable sandwiches, wan udon noodle soups, unnerving sushi, perhaps a by-the-lb buffet. The name should riff on variations of café, kitchen, market, fresh this and global that. It might also advise serving Korean food that’s practically decent, like Café Duke (on 51st btw. 6+7th), or a middling bowl of bibimbap, like the version found at Global Kitchen.
Read more »

Since we first posted about Barbanzo (58th and 3rd), we’ve been tracking the opening with interest. Aside from Omar’s Kitchen and Bakery, there aren’t too many brick and mortar shops to get a civilized plate of falafel and hummus in upper Midtown East, a gap which Barbanzo could have potentially filled.
Read more »

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.

Every Friday our man UltraClay goes south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch. He’s still out of the country this week, so Donny has stepped in to take over.

A while back fellow lunch’er Goats had mentioned a halal truck on Mad btw. 27+28th. But my craving for street meat comes and goes. Sometimes it’s the farthest thing in my mind while sometimes I’ll happily eat it every freakin day. And it just so happened that while I was walking down on Madison Ave, I found the halal truck that Goats talked about and the smell of curry drew me in. It smelled delicious and struck my halal food craving.

Read more »

I’ve had Shih Lee on my radar for a while now but can never seem to make it over to their pretty far out of bounds location on 45th btw 1+2nd.   But finally the other day I had to run some errands around 2nd Ave and decided to use it as an excuse to finally hit up this fast food Chinese steam table place. We know that their noodle soups are pretty damn good but I was more curious about their lunch combos.

Read more »

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.

Read more »

Late last year, Uncle Mario’s Brick Oven Pizza (9th ave btw. 49+50th) opened to little fanfare and Yelp reviews ranging from overly enthusiastic to apathetic all the way to contemptuous. What else would you expect from a slightly gussied up version of a generic pizzeria like Abitino’s, the local chain owned by the same people? None of this made me eager to try it, but when I walked by and spied a macaroni and cheese pie, I felt compelled to investigate Uncle Mario’s world for myself. Here we go!

Read more »

When Quality Meats (58th btw 5+6th) offered up ice cream sundaes last summer, I never did get the chance to try out the fantastic looking creations. So when Brian reported that they’d come back for another month, you bet I made my way over. In the past week, I’ve managed to stop by twice, trying two different sundaes. Now I know what you’re thinking.  This has already been covered!  Why are you writing about this again?  Well… if you have any sort of decadent sweet tooth, you NEED to get over there before time runs out next Wednesday. These things are that good.

Read more »

When I heard that the old Bai Cha space was being re-purposed as a Latin food spot, called ‘OUT’ I was both excited and hopeful. To be frank, Bai Cha was plain out awful, and as much as the food scene in Hells Kitchen has improved over the past few years, the area still needs a serious culinary kick in the ass. A few weeks ago I paid a visit to Bai Cha’s replacement (I confirmed that OUT’s owner is different than Bai Cha’s as well), and found that unfortunately, it seems that any restaurant space occupying 710 9th Ave may be doomed to mediocrity.
Read more »