Midtown Lunch

Last month, Flatiron Lunch reporter Sarah tried a new family-run Lebanese truck called Toum. As I read her review, I couldn’t wait for the truck to start making stops in Midtown, because the menu reflected many familiar foods from my childhood. Yep, as I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in Japan, but what you don’t know is that while there I enjoyed not only Japanese food, but also my grandmother’s amazing middle eastern recipes. The truth is always stranger than fiction. Anyway, Toum’s menu, plus the fact that the truck is family-run, gave me high hopes for authentic recipes in some way reminiscent of those days making Syrian food in Japan.
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Last week Mark Bittman took on white table cloth restaurants in the New York Times, an article that wouldn’t normally catch our attention. Except for the fact that he spent the entire second half off the article extolling a Japanese hole in the wall in Midtown that he loves so much he refused to tell anybody what it was called. Thankfully he leaves enough clues that we should be able to figure it out…

My place right now is a Japanese hole in the wall. (I’m keeping it that way by not naming it. Sorry.) There’s no celebrity chef, no publicity, no hipness other than that exuded by the young servers. It couldn’t be less trendy and to prove it, I’ll tell you that: a) it’s in Midtown, and b) it’s populated almost exclusively by expat and visiting Japanese. I suspect it’s in a Japanese guidebook to New York.

How did I find it? It’s across the street from the back door of what was once my building. It’s ugly: the tables are Formica, with standard cafe chairs; the napkins are paper; and the cash register, which is at the back of the kitchen, is wrapped in plastic to keep the grease off the keys.

More, after the jump…

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There are some foods I wish I didn’t know existed. But knowledge can’t be reversed and I can’t stuff Ben & Jerry’s chocolate chip cookies back inside their puffy cloud covered Pandora’s Box. Resistance is futile. This is a battle I’m destined to lose so instead I’m going to share the burden of these habit-forming chocolate chip cookies. Read more »

Is 2012 the year of the Japanese Food Truck? Between Domo Taco, Okadaman and now Hibachi Heaven, we have been blessed with a plethora of good new Japanese food options that extend far beyond bentos and sushi. When I first heard about Hibachi Heaven back in June, I was excited, because flat-top cooking is very food truck friendly. Then, when I read Andrea’s first look from when they first opened, I was a little underwhelmed. Finally, I found the truck in Midtown the other day and decided to try for myself.
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Perhaps clueing in on the successes of the Coolhaus Truck and ‘wichcraft ice cream sandwich kiosk, a new establishment called Smush (40th St. btw. 5th + 6th) is opening soon among the land of gourmet delis near Bryant Park. Fittingly, it calls itself The NY Deli of Desserts, and plans to sell speciality ice cream sandwiches with namesakes borrowed from savory sandwiches. According to their website, they’ll be selling sandwiches such as the “Chocolate Covered Struben”, the “Chocolate Patty Melt”, the “French Chip” and the “Sloppy Mo'”. They also have an option for customers to build their own sandwiches. If you would like to learn more, or if you’re interested in reading about the riveting story of Smush the Penguin from Icey Mount Smushmore, their website is very informative. Obviously the ML team will keep you updated on Smush as we learn more.

Upon returning from lunch one afternoon, close to the trinity-turned-tetrad of Japanese places on 41st Btw. Mad. + 5th (Cafe Zaiya, Yagura, Mai Cuisine, and Sunrise Mart), I happened upon a sidewalk halal cart called Every Day Fresh Halal Food that appeared to be new. Could it be so? I did a bit of research and I couldn’t surface a thing. I went by to try them out a few days later, and found out they had indeed only been at this location for a short while… and something about their food seemed oddly familiar.

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I can’t quite figure out why more people aren’t buzzing about Bella Napoli and their pizza. It was Brownie’s pick (she’s into their vodka slice) for the 2011 readers’ poll, even though the ML community favored Previti and Pizza by Cer Te. But Bella Napoli’s pizza has been consistently good for years now, and even though it’s on West 49th — a street with a lot of really good lunch options — it’s definitely worth ducking into. More specifically, look past all the pies covered with fancy toppings and go straight to the simple grandma slice.
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Since their regular lunch sets have always been out of the ML price range, I’d only been to Iroha for dinner, mostly for sushi. However, back in April, Iroha launched take out bentos at lunchtime. While reasonably priced bentos that don’t compromise quality are found in abundance on 41st street between Madison & Fifth, they can be a little harder to come by in northern Times Square.

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A few weeks ago, Blondie reported that the New York Public Library exhibit NYC Lunch hour would bring food trucks to 40th and 5th, and that Schnitzel & Things would be serving up their grub on Tuesdays. It looks like the schedule has changed. A few weeks ago on a Tuesday, I noticed a long line outside of Milk Truck, a grilled cheese truck that has received much attention downtown, but rarely makes its way up to Midtown. Lo and behold, they were there again last week, so I decided to try it while I had the chance.

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Good news for Midtown West lunchers in search of reasonably authentic Mexican (well, more authentic than Blockheads at least). Late last year, we noticed that Leon Bakery, which served some pretty good tamales was in the midst of renovating. And a recent tweet by our buddy, Bionic Bites, confirms that the renovations has brought an expanded menu, including tacos, tortas, and sopes.

Following a similar formula as Tehuitzingo, Leon Bakery has a small grocery section up front dedicated to latin dry goods and a smaller selection of wet goods. Mexican pastries sit in covered cubby holes, and slices of cake wilt in a refrigerated display case. In the back, there’s full line-up hot food items available for take-out and delivery. And while the menu (link to photo) has questionably authentic items, swaying slightly towards Tex-Mex influences, there are still plenty of appealing dishes, all within the ML price range. Certainly something worth an exploratory visit.

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