Midtown Lunch

The new House of Pita opened yesterday on 46th btw. 5+6th.  The window on 48th btw. 5+6th will remain open with the same menu they’ve always had, but the new location will have an expanded menu, and places to sit.  They are only at about 60% right now, serving the same falafel you can get at the 48th St. window, an expanded bourakas menu, plus their new personal pizzas- but come Monday (6/18) they will be at 100%, with a full service salad bar, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed juices, sandwiches and more. 

The new House of Pita opened yesterday on 46th btw. 5+6th.  The window on 48th btw. 5+6th will remain open with the same menu they’ve always had, but the new location will have an expanded menu, and places to sit.  They are only at about 60% right now, serving the same falafel you can get at the 48th St. window, an expanded bourakas menu, plus their new personal pizzas- but come Monday (6/18) they will be at 100%, with a full service salad bar, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed juices, sandwiches and more. 

The new salad & fruit bar, PLUS the apple cinnamon bourakus- after the jump… Read more »

Another big window sign went up this weekend…

House of Pita, the Kosher Falafel and Bourakas window on 48th btw. 5+6th is opening a new, larger location in the space formerly occupied by Yoshinoya on 46th btw. 5+6th.  Based on the language of the sign (“Another Location”), one could assume that the original 48th St. location will remain open (although grammar is not the strong suit of many Midtown signs).  They will also be adding Panini and Wraps to the menu, and will offer delivery.

No word on when it will be open, but as soon as I know, you’ll know.  Thanks to smgard for the tip.  If you have any news or tips, email me at zach@midtownlunch.com  

People, I need your help.  And you know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.  Last Friday I received my favorite kind of email… a tip from a Midtown Lunch’er named Johanna:

“Noticed a new-looking Korean food cart on the south side of 49th west of 6th this morning on my way to work — thought you might want to know.  They seem to offer traditional food (bulgogi) along with more regular-sounding sandwiches……odd.” 

Sounded amazing.  And four of my favorite words… “Korean”, “cart”, “bulgogi” and “odd”.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited for lunch that day.  When 1pm rolled around, I went outside, and the cart was nowhere to be found!  I was sure that Johanna had gotten the street wrong, so I walked up to 50th and down to 48th looking for the cart… but it was useless.  Same crappy soup carts and halal trucks that always line 49th. 

When I got back to work, I emailed Tipster Johanna and confirmed the exact location of the cart (which was definitely not there at lunch time).  I was very disheartened, and wondered why a reader would play such a dirty trick on me.  It’s not right to lie about Korean food from a cart, and get me all worked up into a frenzy.  But, later on that night my wife confirmed Johanna’s story.  She too had seen the cart setting up that morning!  And the story gets worse.  My wife said it had a sign saying “Bulgogi Sandwich $1″ and it even had pictures of these little pork bun looking things.  Now I was in total shock.  Not only did this magical disappearing cart have bulgogi, but it had it in sandwich form.  Ridiculous.  I have to find this cart.

Monday was a holiday, so Tuesday I went out to 49th St. (knowing the cart wouldn’t be there) and asked one of the halal guys if they had seen the cart.  He confirmed the existence of the cart and said that it had set up on Friday only to leave a few hours later when there was no business.  If you have seen this cart- or know of it’s whereabouts, please contact me immediately by posting a comment to this piece or emailing me at zach@midtownlunch.com  I don’t think I have to stress how important this is to me.  Odd Korean Cart shows up selling $1 “Bulgogi Sandwiches” (whatever the hell that is) in front of my office building only to disappear two hours later.  It’s like the Kaiser Soze of lunch carts.  This cart must be found.

Also, don’t confuse this missing cart with Kim’s Aunt Kitchen cart on 46th, which just started serving Bul Go Gi (but not in sandwich form).  Pictures of that cart (and the bulgogi I settled for on Friday, after I couldn’t find the new korean cart) after the jump…

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With nothing in mind to eat last week, I was wandering down 46h St. (btw. 5th & 6th) when I stumbled upon another one of those Kosher versions of the ubiquitous midtown deli.  Sandwiches, Salad bar, etc… but a quick look at the menu in the window, and I discovered they had Chinese food!  Now, I was brought up Jewish (a reform Jew, so we didn’t keep Kosher at all)- which means I love Chinese food (the goto meal on Sunday nights and Christmas).  But what’s Chinese food without pork (and shrimp for that matter)???  I love pork.  A lot.  As a matter of fact, with all the pork I’ve eaten in my lifetime, I was sort of surprised that an alarm didn’t go off when I walked into Kosher Deluxe.

I bypassed the salad bar and shwarma station on the right, and headed straight to the back, where they serve a variety of sandwiches, dinner type dishes and of course- the Chinese food.  The menu had most typical Americanized Chinese dishes (all served with chicken or beef)- like Lo Mein, General Chow’s, Beef or Chicken and Broccoli, Moo Goo Gai Pan, and my personal favorite- Pastrami Fried Rice, in case you had forgotten where you were.  The big problem was the price.  Almost every Chinese food item was over $12!!!! (And you didn’t even get shrimp!)  I did a quick u-turn, figuring that it wasn’t worth the money- but something caught my eye on the way out.  On the menu above the Shwarma station I saw it…. ”Shnitzel in Pita”.  Helllllllo???

Now, I’m a big fan of wiener schnitzel (german fried veal cutlets), so how could Shnitzel be bad???  I spotted some delicious looking fried stuff below the Shwarma, next to the falafel that I was betting was the Shnitzel.  I ordered it- and was not disappointed… (It is actually a misconception that wiener schnitzel is some sort of sausage- despite “wiener” being part of the name.  In German wiener actually means veal.  Serves me right for just assuming crap.  Wiener actually means Viennese… and a traditional cutlet from Vienna is usually Veal.)

The pics, +/- and the Midtown deal of the century… after the jump.

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I must have walked by this place a million times in the past month and a half since it opened (it’s on the same street as Rangole & Cafe Cello) but I’ve never eaten there.  Take one look, and it’s not hard to figure out why… Look at the sign.  Bright yellow, with some weird semi-chicken looking thing for a logo.  Nothing appealing at all and certainly nothing about it that says, “Hey, there’s good food in here”.  PLUS, there’s my fear of gigantic chickens- especially ones who hand out cooked pieces of themselves for free.  Very strange.

Then of course there’s the fact that it shares a space with City Cafe.  I don’t know what that is, or what their affiliation is with the other million places in Midtown with “City” or “Cafe” in their title, but if you do decide to check this place out you’ll be able to tell which part is the “City Cafe” by the generic salad bar and paninis behind the glass counter.  Go directly past that counter, the Ranch 1 part is in the back… 

In a weird role reversal, the guy who sits next to me at work actually knew about Ranch 1 (this is the same guy who thought a chicken sandwich from Cosi, was a falafel)… but seemed fairly unimpressed.  It seems to me, that many who have eaten at Ranch 1 in the past think it’s fine but don’t necessarily consider it worthy of mention.  Well, lucky for me, my wife and her co-workers were not discouraged by the sign (or the big chicken).  They went, and highly recommended it to me- and I’m here to say- give it another shot!  Or, if you’ve never been, try it for the first time.  Never having been to any of the other locations (it’s a chain that started 16 years ago next to the Late Show w/ David Letterman theater), I can only vouch for the newest location, opened last month on 46th street btw. 5th & 6th.

What I ate, the pictures and the +/- after the jump…

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 ******UPDATE:   THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED******

Who says you can’t eat Indian food when it’s 97 degrees and disgusting out?  It’s 92 degrees at Indira Ghandi National Airport in India today.  Where do you think they’re eating?  At a deli/salad bar? (Do they have Metro in India?)  If they can eat Indian food in that kind of heat, so can I- and isn’t there something about spicy food helping you cool down by making you sweat?  I’m not even going to look that one up… just going to assume it’s true.

If there is one thing there’s plenty of in Midtown- it’s Indian Restaurants.  Cheap, expensive, eat in or take out…  And, most of the nice, expensive Indian Restaurants choose to do buffets at lunch ranging in price (usually $10.95 and up).  I’ve gotten a lot of emails asking me to write about some of the Indian Buffets in Midtown- so I’ve decided to start with the cheapest one I know of- Rangole.

Let me start of by saying, it’s not the best Indian food in Midtown, and it’s not even the best buffet… but there’s one thing you can’t argue about- if you like Buffets (and I do) this one is cheap, and for the price it’s totally worth it.

What they serve, some more pictures, and the +/- after the jump… Read more »

There are very few things I enjoy eating more then pork.  Any kind of pork really, but my favorite is definetely the roasted kind where the skin gets super crispy.  It usually comes from the shoulder, and you can get it at Cuban restaurants, or Christmas parties in Miami (my hometown).  But I have had delicious roast pork in other places too (if you’re ever in Bali I can recommend a great place for roast suckling pig).

On Friday, with Margon closed (great Cuban food on 46th between 6th & 7th) I headed to Cafe Cello- a similar type of place recommended to me by numerous people… The sign out front was not exactly reassuring. It had clearly been dumbed down to attract a less then adventurous New York food crowd, who would be more likely to go into a place if it sees the words ”cafe”, “deli” and “American”.

But, once inside, my fears disappeared.  The food looked really fresh and delicious (in contrast to Margon, which for all it’s positives, can sometimes not look so great depending on the day.)  All the food is in trays under glass, so ordering is as easy as looking, deciding and pointing.  The day I was there, it wasn’t too crowded- but I’ve heard you want to get there early, because once they run out of something, they don’t make more.  And by something, I mean the maduros (fried ripe plantains) which apparently are the first things to go!

Anyway, once I laid eyes on the roast pork (with the crispiest most perfect skin), ordering was pretty easy.  Along with a nice size portion of pork (pulled with tongs off what appeared to be a shoulder), they give you your choice of white rice w/ black bean soup, or yellow rice with pinto beans already mixed in, and maduros (there was still some left at 1pm)- all for $7.  PLUS, they threw in a piece of the skin on top.  Delicious!!!  And the skin was perfect.  If you love roast pork, then Cafe Cello is your new favorite place.

The rest of the menu, and a +/- you’ll definetely want to read, after the jump… Read more »