Archive for 'Scandinavian'

You Can Get Midtown Lunch at the Church of Sweden

Church of Sweden midtown
The Norwegian Seaman’s Church’s annual fair isn’t the only Scandinavian Christmas action happening in midtown this week. The Church of Sweden on 48th street kicks off their holiday bazaar today, too. Read more »

The Norwegian Christmas Fair Begins Today

Who doesn’t like a good old fashioned Scandinavian kickoff to the holiday season? The Norwegian Seaman’s Church (on 52nd btw. 1 + 2nd) annual Christmas fair begins today and runs through Saturday 11/19, noon to 6pm each day. According to their website:

Visit our Christmas Fair to buy Norwegian handcrafts, nisser, knitwear, jewelry, Norwegian fashion items, decorations, ornaments, table cloths and much, much more!

Large selection of Norwegian food.
Cafeteria w/Smorgasbord.
Raffle tickets for several beautiful items.

If you’ve been, let us know in the comments!

The Norwegian Seaman’s Church, 317 E. 52nd St (btw. 1+2nd), (212) 319-0370

AQ Cafe Has Been Replaced by Smorgas Chef

smorgaschef

It’s looking like the new AQ Kafe on Broadway btw. 58th and Central Park won’t be a second location of Marcus Samuelsson’s casual Scandinavian eatery… it will be the only location.  The original AQ Cafe in the Scandinavia House on Park btw. 37+38th is gone, replaced with the more expensive Smorgas Chef.  If the menu from their three other New York City locations (one is in Midtown East on 49th and 2nd Ave.) is any indication, this is not an improvement for Midtown Lunch’ers.  Well, at least we have the new AQ Kafe coming soon… but that is probably little consolation for the swedish meatball lovers in Midtown south.  Thanks to Lunch’er Wayne for passing along the photo.

Will AQ Kafe Spell the End for FIKA Swedish Espresso Bar?

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Zagat Buzz has more intel on the second outpost of AQ Cafe, on Broadway between 58th St. and Columbus Circle. “The sign outside spells the restaurant’s name as “Kafé” (rather than original’s “cafe”), and the otherwise similar menu presents one glaring omission: the popular Nordic Cuban sandwich.” The glaring omission we noticed on the menu? The prices. Does not bode well, considering the original AQ Cafe on Park Ave. btw. 37+38th is already teetering on the edge of being outside the Midtown Lunch price range.

We’re also wondering what this will mean for FIKA Swedish Espresso bar, our current Scandinavian fave in the northern reaches of Midtown. It doesn’t get mentioned too often on the site, and is a little pricey, but they deserve credit for serving swedish meatballs in sandwich form (an item also on the AQ Kafe menu.) Walked by today and they were pretty packed, but it will be interesting to see how they fare once the M. Samuelsson train rolls north.

AQ Cafe is Best Deal for Chef Obsessed Midtowners

There once was a time when it was very difficult for chefs to make big money.  And while being a professional chef is still a tough racket, the opportunities for cashing out are much wider.  Following the leads of Todd English and Bobby Flay, more names are lining up to open up gigantor restaurants in Vegas, which with a built in clientele basically just serve to print money.  On the other end of the spectrum some chefs are going downscale, opening up chains of faster, cheaper food- perfect for lunch.

The most famous in Midtown is ‘wichcraft, Tom Colicchio’s upscale sandwich shop which opened its first location in Bryant Park a few years ago- and now has 4 stores in Midtown (with a 5th coming soon to Herald Square).  David Burke also has Burke in a Box in Bloomingdales, which is best described as “cheaper”, but not exactly cheap.  And of course there is Matt Kenney’s FreeFoods NYC.  (The latter pair, both too pricey to be considered Midtown Lunch’es.)  But by far, the best deal in Midtown for chef obsessed eaters is AQ Cafe, a downscale cafe in the Scandinavian House from Aquavit’s Marcus Samuelsson.  And the best part is, it falls in the Midtown Lunch price range.

What they’ve got and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

Lunch at the Norwegian Church Fair… Who’s with me?


Photo taken from “Norse New York” Published in the April 2007 Issue of Saveur

Eating in Translation has got the scoop on what looks like the place to be in Midtown Lunch’ing today!  It’s a little out of bounds (52nd btw. 1+2nd), but when you’re talking Norwegian food, made and served by Scandinavian church ladies… I’m there.

The Norwegian Seamen’s Church is having their annual Christmas Fair this weekend, and it starts today at Noon- which means if you work on the East side of Midtown, and were hoping to find a Christmas Fair with Norwegian food to spend your lunch hour at today, your wish has come true.  The official website makes claims of a “Cafeteria w/Smorgasbord” (and who doesn’t love a smorgasbord???)  Not exactly sure what food they’re going to have, but I’m guessing pickled herring will be making an appearance.

If this fair is any good (which, how could it not be?), I may have to check out their famous $17 all you can eat Norwegian buffet, offered every Wednesday at the Church from September through May. 

There are actually three Scandinavian Church fairs this weekend, and if you can’t make it to the Seaman’s Church today, Eating in Translation is doing a Scandinavian Church Fair Crawl tomorrow starting at Noon.

Norwegian Seaman’s Church, 317 East 52nd St, (btw. 1+2nd Ave.)