Midtown Lunch

With lobster rolls all the rage these days, it shouldn’t surprise anybody to see Chinese food restaurants get it on the action. Oriental Noodle Shop (45th btw 3rd+Lex) is now offering a WHOLE lobster plus pork fried rice (not sure what the “any style” means) for just $13.95. It is still over the Midtown Lunch price limit but considering you get a whole lobster for few bucks less than the super popular lobster rolls, why not?! Admittedly I am a equal parts terrified and intrigued by this lobster deal. Has anybody tried it?

I love Japanese food, especially when the source is a hidden little restaurant in Midtown. So I was super excited when we got an email alerting us to a relatively new spot called Jukai. I was even more excited when I arrived at the address and discovered the restaurant was housed in a semi-secretive tranquil subterranean space. Many of my other favorite Japanese joints are hidden like this (Sake Bar Hagi, Yakitori Totto, etc.), so I had high hopes here.

Read more »

Ever since Mooncake Foods opened in my hood, it’s been a reliable Midotown lunch and dinner option – the food is fairly priced, filling, and while it won’t blow you away, it’s consistently tasty. As much as it may irk my ML overlord, Zach Brooks, I’ll push one of the healthier items on their menu, the tofu banh mi ($8).

Read more »

For some reason Midtown east just isn’t blessed by the abundance of street meat carts like in Midtown west. It may just be where I work but so far I have only seen NY Biryani Express, XPL and this blue Halal cart on 46th & 3rd. Does anyone know the name of this cart? I couldn’t find their name.

One day I decided to check out Jerk Pan after spotting them a week earlier on Park Ave. Though once I got to the spot, they were nowhere to be found (I wonder if they were kicked out by the cops as well?) On my walk back to 3rd Ave, I saw the blue Halal cart and decided to give them a try.

Read more »

Another season, another Korean truck launches into the streets of NYC. Last week fellow Lunch’ers Wined and Dined spotted a new Korean food truck, Bob & Jo Korean Fusion Cuisine truck. There are definitely no shortages of Korean food trucks with both Korilla and Kimchi Taco trucks roaming around, so when I heard about Bob & Jo I sort of rolled my eyes a little. (Can’t we get a Japanese curry truck?! ) Since I was in the area, I decided to check this new truck out and ended up pretty glad I did.

Check out the menu and food porn after the jump.

Read more »

Amazingly we’ve never written about the food at Main Noodle House, located on 6th Ave (between 37th & 38th St.). We have no excuse for this – clearly they’re doing something right, as they do brisk business with both the tourist and business crowd, and even earned endorsement from Salon.com and Gilt Taste’s food luminary, Francis Lam via Twitter. Such feedback is entirely justified by their cheap lunch combo specials and humongous portions.

It’s a fairly small, cramped space, and during the weekday lunch rush, you’re definitely looking at a 20-30 minute wait for a table. Customers waiting for take-out orders and for a dine-in table are mashed into a corner near the counter and front entrance, where they must dodge waitresses hurtling by, and customers entering and exiting the restaurant. But a little discomfort and a wait is more than worth the lunch deals here.
Read more »

While Terakawa Ramen is gobbling up multiple former Teriyaki Boy locations, another restaurant has moved into the old 7th Ave. location next to Pearls. It’s Swissmaker (7th ave. btw 48+49th) and it’s a very Times Square-y (aka touristy) place that advertises pretzels, sandwiches and a variety of sweets. It would be easy to mourn the loss of Teriyaki Boy, condemn this gussied-up Auntie Anne’s and move on, but we’re not ones to judge a restaurant by its exterior here at Midtown Lunch, so I went in for a closer look.
Read more »

I was pretty excited when I saw the first reports of Mexicue bringing its Mexican/Barbecue fusion to the northwest edge of Flatiron Lunch bounds. The area, south of Penn Station and around FIT has precious little good or interesting food to draw lunchers so having a solid spot like Mexicue will be huge.

According to Fork in the Road they had their soft opening last night and the first day of lunch service is today starting at 11am!  Last week, they offered a preview of the new shop to friends and family as a test of the ordering system and we snuck in to get you a look.

Read more »

While on the quest to find a spot for a good cup of coffee (I know I could just walk into one of the many delis in the area for a cup of $1 coffee but once in awhile you want something better), I discovered Manhattan Espresso Cafe on 49th btw. Lex+3rd. After digging a little further, I realized that besides having coffee, pastries and donuts they have sandwiches as well. I decided to check this place out and see whats up.

Read more »

Arepas are something I look forward to eating when I head downtown or when I find myself in Brooklyn or Queens. But I never think about eating them in Midtown. I suppose the reason is that the Venezuelan/Colombian specialities are not easily available in this neck of the woods. That is until Shachi’s Arepas To-Go opened a few weeks ago. The NY Times just reported the opening this week, but the guy working the counter told me they’ve been there for more than a month already. How did we miss this? I guess it was slightly confusing because it seems this is the sister restaurant to one that recently closed in Williamsburg. And the website and Yelp reviews make it sound like this is a sit-down restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen that’s been around for years. Hm.

Read more »