Midtown Lunch

Thanks to fellow Lunch’er pshinnyc for giving us heads up about J&V Pizzeria inside the same basement food court as Urban Lobster Shack on 805 3rd Ave. Their website said the original J&V is in Bensonhurst and has been making pizza since 1950. Reviews on Yelp seem to be mostly positive (if Yelp reviewers give good reviews, it must be good right?) I had high hopes that there might be more good pizza close to my work than just Previti Pizza.

Read more »

Crain’s announced earlier in the week that Roberto Caporuscio, co-owner of Kesté (one of my favorite pizzerias in the city) and Antonio Starita his mentor and owner of the oldest pizzeria in Naples, will open up a Neapolitan pizzeria called Don Antonio in the fall. It will be on 50th Street just west of 8th Avenue and will serve wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas, those crispy, pillowy delights. Only two of the pies at Kesté are under $10, so I imagine this restaurant might also be a little out of our price range. But here’s hoping they offer some lunch specials. [via Eater]

A few weeks back, Eddie’s Pizza Truck and Cart began carrying some dessert…  chocolate chip cookies supposedly being baked fresh on the truck. The day I stopped by the cart, they were not freshly baked, but wrapped in plastic but that being said, the cookie wasn’t a complete let-down. The massive, chewy cookie tasted fresher than most packaged cookies and there wasn’t any chemical preservative aftertaste. My only big gripe was how few chocolate chips were involved. I love the cookie itself, but chocolate chips are what should make a chocolate chip cookie. But considering how big the cookie is for only $2, I suppose I can overlook the lesser amount of chips for an otherwise nice dessert.

The truck can be found on 46th at 6th today. As always, check their Twitter (@EddiesPizzaNY) or the ML Twitter Tracker before heading out.

The Desi Food Trucks have been a pretty big part of Midtown Lunch since Clay first visited them over a year ago. So, it was a big loss when they were forced out of their spot on 50th (btw 6+7th) by the cops. Ever resilient, the Desi folks may have found a way around the food truck breakdown – they parked their brand new Kati-Kart on 50th btw. 6+7th. Get a look at the menu and some kati rolls after the jump.
Read more »

Last summer, Quality Steaks transformed their charcuterie bar into a Willy Wonka-esque ice cream cake bar. Well, they’ve done it again and this year they’ve expanded the menu to include five different ice cream cakes, including one (the Monster Mash) from last year. The new options include a Strawberry Shortcake (with yuzu-yogurt icing), a Toasted Banana S’more, and a Chocolate Covered Grasshopper.

I sampled the Spicy Mexican Coffee ice cream cake with espresso ice cream, a spicy chocolate brownie cake, and an amazing cinnamon-tamarind icing. It was garnished with chocolate covered espresso beans and a mini churro. I was blown away by the intense flavors and it was too easy to get in touch with my birthday party crashing 12 year-old self. I came close to bingeing on the entire menu.

But, alas, these cakes are $8 each which is a good deal for the quality and size, but a little out of the price range for a Midtown lunch, especially considering this is dessert! However, these are dare I say it, a great alternative to a liquor-laced Happy Hour and you can wash it all down with one of their gourmet lemonades. They’ll be available at least through the end of August.

Quality Meats, 57 W 58th Street (btw. 5th and 6th Avenue), (212) 371-7777

Way back in October 2008, Zach called the soft shell crabs at Café Duke (on 51st btw. 6+7th) “the greatest thing I’ve ever seen at a by the pound buffet.” The problem was that not only were the crabs a seasonal item, availability varied from day to day. I fully admit to periodically checking the Café Duke on 41st just in case, and I haven’t seen the crabs yet this year (and the season is coming to a close!).  So you can imagine my surprise when during standard recon on unassuming new generic deli EZ Café (8th ave. btw 38+39th), replacing the similarly generic Rainbow Gourmet Deli, I spotted the white whale of Midtown Lunch’ing.
Read more »

When I passed by Harry’s Italian in the concourse at 30 Rock on Monday, I took a few other photos of the new shop. Get a closer look, including a menu shot, after the jump.

Read more »

This again? Last year when the DOH announced they would be giving letter grades to restaurants, there was also talk about doing the same for food carts. A few articles appeared this week in places like the NY Daily News and the NY Post saying that Mayor Bloomberg is pushing for the grading system, but the DOH says it is unlikely to institute it any time soon. They claim they don’t have enough inspectors (only 20 devoted to food carts) and it is difficult to do re-inspections since carts and trucks are not always in the same spot. It looks like we’re in the clear for now, but could this do more harm than good for the carts? I have no doubt the majority of them are just as clean (if not more so) than most restaurants in the city, but as we’ve recently witnessed at places like Cer Te, the DOH grading system doesn’t only include food safety and health concerns. On the other hand, this could help legitimize the cleanliness of food carts once and for all to the people who are hesitant to eat there in the first place.

Thanks to Mister Never for sending along this photo/tip… Artisanal, the cheese shop/bistro on the outskirts of the Midtown Lunching boundaries (32nd btw. Mad+Park) has just launched an cart in front of their restaurant serving hand made ice cream. A single scoop is $3 and they’ve got a chocolate featuring Mast Brother’s, and a sweet corn custard ice cream with blueberries that was described by the tipster as “AMAAAAAZING”.

Check out the full menu after the jump.

Read more »

Eagle-eyed lunchers may have noticed that the newish halal cart on 32nd Street (btw. B’way and 5th) has kati rolls on its menu. I happened to spot the sign after work one day a few weeks ago, but my excitement turned to disappointment when the vendor shook his head and said he didn’t have any.  Figuring they were out because it was the end of the day, I stopped by again the next afternoon and got the same answer.

When I asked if he ever planned to have the advertised kati rolls, he shook his head again.  (Clearly the guy enjoys shaking his head.)  Kati rolls isn’t something I ever really expected to be able to get in Koreatown, but now that I’ve been teased I totally want one closer than The Kati Roll Company (on 39th btw. 5+6).  Has anybody managed to score a kati roll from this guy?  Let us know in the comments…