46th Street between Broadway and 9th Ave. will be extra annoying today starting at 5pm, when tourists and hardcore food festival addicts will congregate for the Taste of Times Square.  I have conflicting emotions every year for this event.  Food festival = good.  Food festival where Applebees is one of the participants = not as good.  Last year, there were a few gems hidden among the over priced and touristy duds, and while this year promises much of the same, it could merit a quick walk through after work.

Partipating places that we love: Spice Fusion, Utsav, & Toloache.  Partipating places that may not suck: Chop Suey and the Bourbon St. Bar & Grill.  Plus I was pretty happy with my choices last year from Virgil’s, St. Andrews & Le Rivage, who will all be returning as well.  I’m assuming they’ll be doing the whole “buy tickets from a booth and then exchange those tickets for food” nonsense, which normally would require doing a full walk through before committing to a certain number of tickets.  Unfortunately, my threshold for pushing over tourists on Restaurant Row is pretty low, so I’ll probably just end up buying $10 worth of tickets and taking my chances. Also, if you live or work in the Times Square area, you may be eligible for free food tickets (although some hoop jumping through is required.)  For more info, visit their website. 

If you decide to go, I’ll see you there!  (I’ll be the fat guy scowling at everyone in the Applebees line.)

Related: Digging for Nuggets of Goodness at the Taste of Times Square

Unfortunately, the closest and best known Dean & Deluca is smack dab in the middle of Rock Center (in clear view of the Christmas Tree).  Ah… the wonderful tree.  You find me someone who works in Midtown, that doesn’t hate that tree… and I’ll prove to you that that person doesn’t work in Midtown.  It’s almost like the tree has this magnetic force that only pulls at ”I Love NY” sweatshirts, and really bad fanny packs.  Lucky for me, I found a hidden Dean & Deluca, for those of you who work on the West Side of Midtown, far enough away from the tree to get your Sullivan St. bakery pizza fix in December.

Pics of the pizza, the hidden location and +/- after the jump…

I shouldn’t really call the pizza from Sullivan St. Bakery pizza… it’s more like a small rectangle of flat bread (covered in delicious toppings.)  There’s mushroom, zucchini, plain and my personal favorite- and the one worth traveling for, the potato.  The rest of the slices are just ok (especially for the price)… but the potato one is clearly the stand out of the bunch.  Great Sullivan St. Bakery flat bread, covered in these thin, oily slices of fried potato.  Delicious! 

You can head to Rock Center, or check out the “secret” location on 46th St. btw. 7th & 8th in the Paramount Hotel.  Unfortunately, it arrives at these Dean & Deluca locations before lunch, and sits there all day- so it’s not as fresh as it would be if you got it direct from the bakery.  They offer to heat it up, but they only have a microwave, which destroys the slice.  I do not, I repeat, do NOT recommend putting it in the microwave.  I’d rather eat it cold… or take it back to work and heat it up in a toaster oven (if you work has one of those).  If you’ve got not toaster, and the slice you get is too stale to eat cold- and you must nuke it, do it for as little time as possible.  (You would think Dean & Deluca would be able to invest in a toaster oven!)  

It’s also not cheap… $3.75 a slice in Rock Center, $3.95 in the Paramount Hotel.  And the slices aren’t that big.  Come to think of it, maybe it is worth it to walk to 10th Avenue!  (Not much cheaper, but at least it’s fresh!)

THE +  (What people who like this place would say…)

• Umm… It’s delicious Sullivan St. Bakery Pizza.  In Midtown.
• I don’t mind paying a little extra for food, when the ingredients are top notch, and it’s something you can’t get everywhere.  (This ain’t your average slice!)

THE -  (What someone who doesn’t like this place would say…)

• I’d rather pay $2.00 and have a slice of regular New York cheese pizza (translation:  “I don’t need no fancy pizza!”
• It’s expensive  ($3.75 to $3.95 for a small slice)
• It’s not fresh, and they only have a microwave to warm it up

Dean & Deluca, Multiple Locations in Midtown

• 9 Rockefeller Center (49th St. and btw. 5th & 6th, Above Ground), 212-664-1363
• 235 W. 46th St. (btw. 7th & 8th), 212-869-6890