Midtown Lunch

Last week, we were tipped off by Lunch’er Jennie that Bann, the pricey Korean restaurant on 50th St. btw. 8th+9th (in Worldwide Plaza) opened a casual takeout counter called “Bann Next Door” at the same address. (Bann just blocked off a corner of their existing space and packed in four tables.) One look at the menu and we knew we had to go back. $6.95 soy BBQ pork spare ribs or honey chili glazed Korean fried chicken? With empty stomachs and high expectations, we ordered one of every main item on the menu.

See the Korean feast – takeout style – after the jump.

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Ah El Mar: that great big blue that brings us such delicacies as the spicy tuna roll, salmon sashimi and shrimp tempura. Can there be a better piscatorial lunch then a plate of the finest of the sea? Freshly hooked, gutted, sliced and then served raw begging to take a little dunk into a shallow pool of salty soy sauce and nasal watering wasabi. I think not!

ML has always had an ideal vision of what an affordable sushi lunch should cost: 3 rolls for under $10. Any sushi lover out there knows that’s a tough one. Getting 2 rolls tends to be doable in most cheap Japanese eateries, especially if you include those refrigerated cases at delis and markets. However, ML is not about imitation crab and massed produced bento boxes. 2 rolls are for suckahs! Eaters like us need the magic number 3 to satisfy our gastronomic needs. For a while Aoki filled that craving, but their fishy trinity has increased to $11 and they are dead to us hardcore lunchers. Enter Hiroshi (on 3rd Ave btw. 38+39th) and things start to look up for us sushi loving lunchers on the eastside.

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In what may ultimately prove to be one of the tastiest shark-jumping moments in the high-end street food trend, fancy Italian restaurant Mia Dona (on 58th St btw. 2+3rd) has entered the fray. As reported last week, “Donatella’s Meatball Wagon” opened for business on Friday, and will be serving lunch Monday through Friday from a shiny red cart in front of the restaurant from Noon to 2pm.

Fad or not, meatballs are God’s food and I had to have it, even if it meant delving into the snootiest corner of midtown to get them. Details and photos after the jump.

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Remember how we told you that Metro Marche in Port Authority was going to become a Heartland Brewery? Well, it’s finally open! I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t there a Heartland Brewery in Times Square… just two blocks away?” Yes, there is. But that one is for people who like drinking middling beer and eating overpriced pub food with tourists. This location is for those who like suburbanites, homeless people, and exhaust fumes! Get an inside look at the new space, and their menu here.

Last week Lunch’er Christene floated the idea of a banh mi tasting in the connections section of the forums. Yesterday 7 Midtown Lunchers gathered in Grand Central to turn her dream into a reality. Here is Christene’s report…

With open minds and empty stomach, 7 Midtown lunchers gathered to rate 7 different banh mi-style sandwiches in a head-to-head competition. To ensure nuance and balance in the competition, representative banh mi’s were to include Chinatown (Paris Sandwich, Banh Mi Saigon), East Village (Nicky’s), Gramercy (Baoguette) and, of course, Midtown (Ma Peche, Yushi, and Boi To Go). We rated the sandwiches with 5 points assigned to each of 6 categories: bread, pork, vegetables, overall taste, authenticity and value. To ensure purveyors and/or price-point did not prejudice the taste ratings, we labeled sandwiches A-G and provided price on the flip side of post-its, so that tasters could self-reveal price after eating the sample and thus rate value independently.

The results are after the jump…

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Sorry for the schmear-my lens had a run-in with BBQ sauce

Two very important things happened to Midtown yesterday. 1) We got the Double Down (and Mamacita immediately improved it), and 2) we got steak sandwiches! While I loves me some fried chicken, biscuits, cheese, and bacon, I love steak more. I especially like when it’s a somewhat affordable lunch. Tri Tip Grill is probably the most important thing to happen to Rockefeller Center since the ice rink, and maybe NBC calling it home, and the tree; so it’s the 4th most important thing. But it’s number one in most delicious and juicy!

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There’s nothing more miserable than standing in line at the post office, unless it’s standing in line at the post office on Tax Day. For those of you haven’t e-filed and find yourselves in the unfortunate position of heading to the city’s main post office to mail in your returns, might I suggest a side trip to the slightly out of bounds NY Pizza Suprema for a fortifying slice?

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Before we dared to stuff two fried chicken fillets between biscuits and before we knew of Franken pie, there was a time when I got excited over good deals from places I walk by everyday. The other week, I passed East Japanese (on W 55th btw 8th+Bway) which had a banner advertising its awesome $5 Hiru-Bento AKA an “un-ignorable and unforgettable restaurant quality to-go lunch with restaurant price!” I’m a sucker for hype (Momo. What? Where!), but love cheap and satisfying grub even more. (Unintentionally funny translations are just a bonus.) So, of course, I had to find out what’s inside the box…

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It takes a special kind of iron stomach to be able to appreciate the gut busting powers of a Chinese steam table take-out lunch. Many people are into Ying Du (on 38th btw. 7+8th), but I think they’ve not been the same since they changed their name from 38th St restaurant and bakery and then had to stop cutting roast meats to order (and apparently portions are getting smaller as well.) Even though they do pile on the food, and the price is ridiculous, I still try to find the next hidden treasure of steam table goodness. So when my former roommate told me about Fuji Restaurant and Bakery, I got intrigued about the possibility of another good option for cheap and filling Chinese food.

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After a giving up fried foods for Lent, I had a post-Easter hankering for falafel, so I headed over to 46th street to hit up Moshe’s Falafel just back from their Passover hiatus. While waiting to place my order discovered that they’ve raised their prices across the board.
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