As mentioned in the forums last week, Tri Tip Grill (in the Rockefeller Center Concourse) has recently opened for breakfast, including an egg sandwich featuring their trademark beef. This is great news for people who believe it’s never inappropriate to enjoy some medium-rare red meat. People like me.

The egg sandwich is a staple of New York City living. Tri Tip’s version isn’t quite a revelation, but it’s also not something you’re going to find anywhere else. For $5 even (after tax) I got an English muffin sandwich with egg, melted cheddar, caramelized onions and a nice little pile of tri tip beef, along with a side of tater tots. The cheddar and onions are sort of uneventful afterthoughts to the the stars of the show, egg and beef. There was nothing wrong with them, but I don’t think they affected my overall enjoyment too much.

The beef was great. It’s thinly sliced thin and tender enough to bite through with no trouble. This was my first Tri Tip experience and I thought the meat was juicy and flavored with just enough fat. The fried egg was slightly runny, just the way I like it on a sandwich. I’m sure they can cook the egg however you want it if you ask though.

The tater tots were a nice addition. They’re very crisp and made for a great way to sop up yolk that escaped the sandwich. You can substitute bacon for your meat or get your sandwich on a whole wheat roll. Tri Tip also has a french toast meal ($4.59) for breakfast. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t come topped with beef though, so you know, what’s the point?

The sandwiches are made to order so it takes a few minutes. Luckily, with breakfast being so new, the place was entirely empty the morning I was there. If it catches on though, things could get a little hectic. At $5, I thought the whole thing was a pretty good value. I certainly wasn’t hungry until lunchtime. People who work near Rock Center have a new, very tempting breakfast option.

Tri Tip Grill, Rockefeller Center Concourse, North Side, restaurant phone 212-664-1003, delivery phone 212-664-1030

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!

Though I’ve always been a little sketched out by the Rock Center concourse (it’s attached to the subway and we all know, or don’t know, what lives down there), I was willing to met up with Brownie yesterday to check out the scene at Tri Tip. My expectations weren’t too high, it’s sirloin and with almost the entire menu around $10, I felt there had to be something up. Fortunately, I was wrong. I had my eye on the burgers, but I went with the Little Buck: 4 oz. of meat with au jus sauce and carmelized onions placed in a hero.

I had the first half of my sandwich with just juice and it was great enough for me, but the juice did make the bun get soggy fast. The second half was covered with their house barbeque sauce, a sweet Texan style one, and it made a pretty awesome sandwich better (and led me to get BBQ sauce on my camera lens.) I highly recommend topping your sandwich with sauce. The meat itself is fantastic for this price, cooked to medium (that’s not medium rare in any sense of the word), covering it with good spices and the marinade definitely made the difference. Tad’s this is not. The Little Buck was enough for me, I wasn’t hungry again until well into the evening, but for those of you with bigger appetites, you should get the Big Buck (Hunter! sorry, had to.) I noticed they also do a Philly on there, if any of you Philly cheesesteak experts out there want to weigh in on that.

As for Brownie, she fell on the sword for the vegeMctarians among us, with a portobello sandwich. Not that it was healthy, it is covered with melted provolone. She found it highly enjoyable, with a distinct meaty taste to it. “Perfect for vegetarians who miss meat, bad for vegetarians who hate the taste of meat.” The menu says that they marinate the mushrooms prior, I just hope they keep the marinades separate. As for ambiance, the interior is distinctly different from the other food places in the Concourse-wood beams and bar seating can easily lead you to believe that you’re somewhere half-decent, not surrounded by tourists.

The +

• Satisfying steak sandwiches, in Midtown, for under $10. This is nearly unheard of.
• It doesn’t matter what you get, it tastes like delicious marinated meat.
• You can get a side of chicken tenders with Ranch dressing because we’re fat like that.

The -

• I’m vegetarian and hate the taste of meat.
• With additional toppings, sides, and drinks, it comes to a little over $10
• Um, you’re eating in Rockefeller Center between a fat tourist and a mutant rat.

Tri Tip Grill, Rockefeller Center Concourse, North Side, no phone

Well, with a recession comes the recession specials… and A.J. Maxwell’s (on 49th btw. 5+6th) has created a take-out-only lunch special for those of us who’d like to enjoy a steak sandwich made with quality steak (or mini burgers, or a chicken sandwich) for just $10.  You get your choice of any one of the three, plus a soup or salad, for $10.

A.J. Maxwell’s is one of those wannabe old school steakhouses that probably wouldn’t exist if the tourist or expense account had never been invented.  I don’t know if their steaks are good, or worth the money, but I’m guessing they’re not bad.  And they must be better than Tad’s or the Steak Truck.  So, I called the number and ordered my $10 lunch specials (I didn’t want to choose… so I just got all three!)

It may look huge in the photo, but the sandwiches are only slightly bigger than a half sandwich, and although the chicken sandwich was fine… we didn’t come here for no chicken!

You get 2 mini burgers for your ten bucks, plus your choice of cheese, and these were definitely tasty.  Good quality meat, nicely cooked medium rare, and really flavorful.  It’s what you would expect a steak house’s burger to taste like.  Far superior to Pop Burger, but also more expensive.  If only they came with french fries!  Can’t decide if this was worth $10 though…

The steak… now here’s what you’re looking for (ok so the photo does not look super appetizing, but trust me. It was good.)  Not a huge sandwich, but a good amount of steak. Perfectly cooked, medium rare.  The bread is a good french roll, cut in half, and perfectly tasty.  But in the end, all that really matters is the steak… and esaentially you’re getting 1/2 of a quality steak with bread and soup (or salad) for $10.  Not bad at all.

Sadly both soups we tried (the pea soup and the cauliflower soup) were watery and just not that great.  The salad was perfectly fine (if you’re into that thing) but the thing that might put the special over the top is the “bread basket”.

Along with our three lunch specials, they gave us a bag of bread and breadsticks… with a massive plastic container full of tasty salted butter.  Niiiiice.  Sure, it’s free when you eat there… but it’s a nice touch to see them include it in the lunch special.  Especially nice if the two mini burgers or the (half) steak sandwich doesn’t end up filling you up (which for some of our bigger eaters, might be a problem.)

All in all, it’s a pretty good lunch… although not as great a “deal” as it sounds.  If you order mini burgers off the bar menu, you get 4 (instead of 2) plus fries and onions rings (preferable to bad soup), all for $20.  So technically, you could order that to go for two people and split it for the same price as two lunch specials.  Sure, you have to share the fries and onion rings, but I didn’t really eat my soup anyway- so it’s win win.   Next time I might try to talk them into giving me fries with the special instead of soup.  (Why didn’t I think of that before damnit!)

THE +

• Quality red meat, in Midtown, for lunch, for $10
• Pefectly cooked mini burgers, and steak for the steak sandwich
• The give you bread, breadsticks and butter!

THE -

• The two soups we tried were pretty bad… and without eating the soup it may not be filling enough for lunch (unless you eat all the breadsticks)
• The sandwiches were more like half sandwiches
• No french fries!  That would put this special over the top…
• Not sure if the burgers are worth the money… they were really good, but there are a lot of good burgers for under $10 in Midtown
• It’s take out only

A.J. Maxwell’s, 57 W. 48th St. (btw. 5+6th), 212-262-6200

Photo courtesy of Josh Bousel

The out of bounds block of 53rd street btw. 2nd and 3rd Avenue is quickly becoming a mini-restaurant row for east side Midtown Lunch’ers.  A while back I wrote about Spoons (which was replaced by Good Health Burger) and Uncle Marky’s Organics (which is still there.)  There is also LTK (Little Thai Kitchen) and , where you can get under $10 Thai and Indian lunch specials, as well as the recently opened second branch of the East Village’s Brick Lane Curry House. 

But I think the cheapest option on the block is the Hawaiian Island Grill, a take out only place that is also home to the overpriced ”Gordon Chen’s Kitchen.” Both are owned by the same company that owns the Hakata Grill, and while I didn’t necessarily have high hopes, a tipster suggested I check it out. Seeing how it was supposed to be Hawaiian food, and I’ve never been to Hawaii, I enlisted my friend Kathy YL Chan (from the blog A Passion for Food & Serious Eats: New York) to accompany me.

Between the two of us, we ordered most of the lunch specials… and our thoughts (plus food porn) are after the jump. Mine, from the perspective of a fat guy- her, from the perspective of a Hawaiian.

Hawaiian Rib Eye Steak

Fat Guy: I’m a big fan of a steak lunch for under $10, regardless of the quality (see: Steak Truck & Tad’s) so you’ll hear no complaints from me about this.  It may not be an actual rib eye (it certainly isn’t the thick marbeled rib eye you’d get from a real steak house, or even the grocery store) but it is pretty tasty, and filling… and it’s a steak!  (For $6.25!)

Hawaiian Girl: The fancy addition of balsamic reduction and “soy demi glace” take away from the rustic local elements, but I caught a bit of rather satisfying Hawaiian salt chunks over the steak. Also liked the crushed peppercorns – nice touch.

Peruvian Rotisserie Huli Huli Chicken

Fat Guy: Not terrible, but not amazing.  White meat was a little dry (to be expected) but the flavor was good. Not as good as Tio Pio West though… $6.50 gets you a quarter chicken with rice and macaroni salad.

Hawaiian Girl: The Huli-Huli chicken I’m used to eating is warm, succulent and moist whereas this was overcooked, dry with none that fatty crisp skin touched by shoyu and brown sugar. Not recommended.

Beef Stew

Fat Guy: A pretty boring, watery version of beef stew, and at $6.95 you’re better off with some of the other (cheaper) things on the menu.

Hawaiian Girl: Pretty sad, I expected something thick and hearty to pour over steaming rice. But this was a watery, slightly over-salted stew, with more carrots than beef. Local foods tend to lean on the sweeter side and this wasn’t sweet enough. Our great love for sweets in the islands often spills over to the savory dishes.

Grilled Rio Pork Chops

Fat Guy: How can a pork chop for $6.95 be bad?  A tad bit dry (though that’s to be expected at a place like this) but the Asian flavor was awesome.  I was totally down with this…

Hawaiian Girl: I noticed that Zach enjoyed this one quite a bit! True to local style of cooking, the pork chops were on the sweeter side, and grilled in a shoyu based sauce. They were cooked just so (not overdone like the chicken), and paired well with the charred tomato salsa. Grilled pork chops aren’t a Hawaiian staple by any means, but for $6.75 with rice, mac salad, and the extra condiments, how could you go wrong?

Grilled White Fish Tacos

Fat Guy: I like my fish tacos fried (see: Baja Style) but there was something intriguing about this deconstructed version. The fish was flavorful, and moist, and because of the way it was served, you could make your own (which was kind of fun.)  And the fact that they give you free sour cream, salsa, *and* guac (take note Chipotle!) was completely appreciated. 

Hawaiian Girl: Not Hawaiian, but this was perhaps my second favorite dish. The fish is marinated in this spicy and slightly tangy sauce, which I found pretty addictive. Sticking with the theme of generous portions, it comes with three flour tortillas, a side of salsa and guacamole. Not bad, eh?

Mochiko Chicken Wings

Fat Guy: I don’t know what mochiko is, or what it is supposed to be like, but these were not good- and I say that as a guy who doesn’t often meet a fried chicken wing he doesn’t like.  The batter was a little too grainy for me, but worse than that, they were totally unseasoned (a criminal offense when it comes to fried chicken.)

Hawaiian Girl: So, mochiko chicken is a staple in local plate lunches in Hawaii.  It’s fried chicken made from a batter involving mochiko flour, cornstarch, sugar, eggs, and shoyu (mainlanders often refer to it as “soy sauce”). The mochiko chicken in Hawai’i usually has a heavier batter, more coating, and is fried very crisp, but these were bland (did they forget and salt/pepper or seasonings?) Mochiko chicken wings are less common than mochiko chicken made with the chopped boneless thighs (just a note).

Hamburger Steak Honolulu Style

Fat Guy: So now we’re talking.  I don’t know how authentic this is, but if you take a hamurger, top it with gravy and fried onions and charge me under $7, I’m going to be a pretty happy guy.  Sure, it sat at the bottom of my stomach like a brick for the rest of the day- but when have I ever held that against a lunch?

Hawaiian Girl: This was my favorite out of all the plate lunches, mainly due to the very, very generous inclusion of caramelized onions, which rank high on my list of foods to love. If you only get one dish at Hawaiian Island Grill, make it this one, which is the most “local” of all the plate lunch options.

As you may or may not have noticed, all the lunches come with rice and macaroni salad- and while it doesn’t tend to be my favorite thing of all time, Kathy had this to say about the indispensible Hawaiian side dish:

The one thing I miss most in NYC is being able to find a decent macaroni salad. Macaroni salad is a daily staple, (yes, it’s not the healthiest thing, but when done right, I find it hard to resist). This version was light on the mayonnaise, with a generous sprinkling of paprika – something completely new to me. Another notable factor is that the macaroni was consistently cooked more al dente than the versions I grew up eating. I also found the sides of sliced oranges, pickled carrots and chutney to be a nice bonus. These definitely DO NOT come with typical plate lunches in Hawai’i. Nonetheless, they were pretty awesome and a nice, totally unnecessary, but welcome addition.

Final thoughts:

Hawaiian Girl: Overall? Far from the styles of authentic Hawaiian plate lunches, but it’s rather decent food at a REALLY GOOD price. Don’t go in thinking that your plate of Huli-Huli Chicken is going to be the real deal. Instead, Hawaiian Island Grill is good for what is it: large portions of above average midtown food at an excellent price. This to-go spot leaves the vast majority of local Hawaiian food untouched (think lau lau, misoyaki butterfish, poi, and butter mochi.) But I suppose until someone with local roots and upbringing opens up a Spam Musubi truck in midtown, L&L is the closest you’ll get to local plate lunches.

Fat Guy: Yeah… what she said.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• The “plate lunch specials” are all a ton of food, and the ones that are $6 to 7 are a real steal
• The hamburger steak Honolulu style is just awesome (if you like gravy and grilled onions)
• “I Love Macaroni Salad” (because every dish comes with it)
• I love make-your-own fish tacos!

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• Definitely not authentic Hawaiian food
• The mochiko chicken wings are downright bad
• A lot of the meats are slightly on the dry side
• That doesn’t look like any rib eye I’ve ever seen
• I hate macaroni salad

Hawaiian Island Grill, 231 E. 53rd St (btw. 2+3rd), 212-201-7603