Midtown Lunch

The Blarney Stone’s Burger & Fries

This email was sent to the old ML Inbox before the bad news about Five Guys, but it’s still a good question (especially if you’re craving a burger today, and were thinking about hitting up Five Guys).

“I haven’t had a burger since the summer (eating healthier; not salads or crap like that, just chicken instead of beef). I got a ridiculous craving yesterday, but it was miserable outside. I’m trying to decide which great burger I am going to unleash myself on. I’ve narrowed it down to Blarney Stone, City Burger (the black label is so intriguing) and Five Guys. I know you list Five Guys as your Midtown pick, but I just want to be sure that it’s a better option considering I’m both a steak (Black Label burger) and onion ring fanatic. I’ve been to AHT, but they give too many options. Any advice? Sincerely, dougiec”

This is a tough one Doug. My favorite is Five Guys, but I admit it’s a specific kind of burger for a specific kind of burger craving. None of this is new territory… but let’s weigh your options after the jump. After all, you can never have too much burger talk.

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Eater is reporting that “Heartland Brewery’s barbecue joint Spanky’s (on 43rd btw. B’way+7th) will close its doors tomorrow after a private farewell party. They’ll replace it in March with HB Burger.” If Heartland Brewery is any indication, H(eartland)B(rewery) Burger will definitely not be a Midtown Lunch (and I’m not just saying that because I still haven’t gotten over the onion ring debacle during my one and only visit to Heartland Brewery.) Not sure if the failure of a big, touristy BBQ joint in Times Square is good news or bad news for Famous Dave’s BBQ, opening soon on 47th btw. 6+7th.

Alright… so the time has come.  I know it seems coincidental that this would happen so close to the Walgreens sandwich dare, but this idea was actually inspired more by the amazing entries for the Murray’s Salami Sandwich Challenge. The sandwich ideas you came up with were ten times better than most of the boring sandwich offerings in Midtown. And that’s when it dawned on me.  We CAN do better!  That’s right.  In these economically trying times, lunchers are demanding more for their money, and I think it is time for the restaurants of Midtown to step up to the plate with something inspiring.  The days of coasting on turkey and swiss is over!  So here is what I’m proposing:

A challenge… to every single restaurant in Midtown to come up with a new sandwich.  A bold sandwich. A sandwich that pushes the boundaries of what human beings were meant to ingest.  And you shall call it the “Midtown Lunch Special”.  Add this special sandwich to your menu (temporarily or permanently) and we will post about it on Midtown Lunch.  That’s it. You get free publicity, and more business… we get better sandwiches. Easy enough, right?

Ideas, how you the Midtown Lunch’er can help make this dream a reality, and all your other questions are answered after the jump…

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Clearly I wasn’t going to win the free lunch for a month from FreeFoods contest with the essay I wrote (although surpringly they included one of my quotes in a list of their “submissions,” even though I never technically entered it), so I probably won’t be eating at the super expensive upscale organic deli owned by Matthew Kenney anytime soon. (Many have commented that it tastes good, but I just can’t bring myself to spend the money.) But I know there are a lot of vegetarians, and organic food enthusiasts (it’s not all vegetarian stuff) who can afford it, and lucky for those people Kathy YL Chan (from A Passion For Food) was willing to take a hit for the team, and eat her way through the FFNYC menu. Here is her report… (those who get offended by overpriced healthy food, avert your eyes now.)

Full disclaimer: I am a pork lover, I am a foie gras lover, and prefer my bread toasted with melted lard smothered over the top. I eat dessert till no end, and then chase it with a beer or two. But every now and then, it’s rather interesting and fun to delve into the vegan world. Hence, my report on FreeFoodsNYC (which is not entirely vegan, or vegetarian for that matter.)

The new FreeFoods NYC is exactly what we don’t need in this economy: very fancy-smanshy, very-expensive organic, vegan, and raw food version of a standard Midtown deli. Regardless, it’s pretty tasty and I’ll confess to a growing addiction.

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Being a man of my word, I headed over to the new Walgreens in Times Square to try one of their *ahem* sandwiches.  Now, let me just say this: on the walk over there, a lot of thoughts went through my mind.  “How do I get out of this?” “I don’t really have to do this, do I?” “There are good excuses I could make”  But I finally settled on this… I was going to do it.  Why not?  Sure, daring me to eat a sandwich at Walgreens is kind of against the spirit of my initial deal to eat anything in Midtown I was dared to eat… but that’s ok.  My stomach has been through worse… it could handle a crappy, pre-packaged deli sandwich from a pharmacy. Right?

That of course was before I knew what I was up against…

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Last week I swung by the latest addition to the Kwik Meal empire, Kwik Delight on 3rd Ave. and 45th Street.  I was interested in sampling their brand new chicken shawarma, which isn’t offered at either of the other two Kwik Meal carts (how could I not, right?)  In a Iot ways, I feel like chicken shawarma is chicken shawarma (much like gyro is gyro, if leave it on the spit long enough), but the white sauce and hot sauce are what Kwik Meal is known for, and they clearly make the difference.

As for their famous lamb, a few commenters remarked that it was chewy… but for those who are unfamiliar with the Kwik Meal carts, it kind of goes with the territory. 

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Lunch’er Danny, author of the blog Food in Mouth and frequent Midtown Lunch contributor, hit up Kebab Grill the other day- a Latin/Indian/Pakistani combo deli on 36 btw. B’way+7th. According to him, the naan is a little crispy, the kebabs have a “nice spicy kick”, and the goat stew (at the Latin food counter) is an acquired taste.  “You could tell the stew was cooked low and slow because the bones were all hollow. No marrow action. This meant all the goatiness was cooked into the stew. One small problem. It was way too goaty for me.” (And coincidentally enough, according to commenter DubbinBklyn there is a TV in the back– where you can watch the Inauguration.)

I walked by Oms/b (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd), the small Japanese rice ball specialist, the other day and noticed this sign. I have partaken in their delicious omusubi on many occasions, but never noticed that they had Udon (oden, yes, but not Udon). I’m guessing this isn’t new (because it’s on their printed menus), and I really like how you can get a special combo with Udon and 2 rice balls. Has anybody tried it?

Their sushi, on the other hand is definitely new (or, at least, no more than a few months old), and I’m sure it’s perfectly fine… but why would you opt for sushi, when you can have oh-so-delicious rice balls!

Photo courtesy of nycblondieandbrownie

Macaron fans, prepare to get really excited… Blondie and Brownie are reporting that macarons from Itzy Bitzy patisserie are now available at Tafu, the Japanese tea house and bakery on 51st btw. Lex+3rd. Previously these macarons, which Serious Eats called the best macarons outside of Paris, were only available through mail order, or at the Brooklyn Flea. This is great news for those of you on the East side who don’t want to trek to Bouchon Bakery (Columbus Circle) or the Macaron Cafe (36th btw. B’way+7th) for your french cookie fix.

Tafu, 569 Lexington Ave. (entrance on 51st btw. Lex+3rd),   212-980-1310

I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…) Midtown Lunch operates under the assumption that most salads are a joke, so it’s hard for me to feel too bad when you get burned. That being said, these photos are kind of pathetic:

“Me and my co-workers are avid Midtownlunchers and we feel the need to vent about “Flavors”, the new spot in the Fox building on 6th between 47th and 48th. My co-worker just returned with a salad that is complete joke. The salad included 4 ingredients and cost $8, but that’s not the point. Check out the pics attached, they gave no lettuce whatsoever, its basically a half salad for $8!!! Being that we work in mid-town and are all New Yorkers, we understand what to expect when we go to lunch around here when it comes to prices, but to get half a salad and still charge full price is robbery, no wonder Flavors and Café Metro are run by the same joke company. We don’t need our names attached to anything but we wanted to vent. Thanks man and keep it up!!! PS- and the bread is stale.”

I am shocked… Flavors is owned by Cafe Metro? Hopefully this is lesson learned for everyone.

Got your own grievance you’d like to air? Feel free to email it zach@midtownlunch.com