Last night was the annual gala Grand Gourmet at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station. I was fortunate to attend (as was our lucky winner Luncher meyekull) and I stuffed myself silly getting samples at almost all 39 of the food vendors. Most of the tastings were from fancier restaurants that are quite a bit out of ML’s price range. However, surprisingly enough my favorite happened to be a true Midtown Lunch.

Dee Daa (on 44th btw. Lex+3rd) was serving the least fancy dish of the night – it didn’t have any lobster, truffle oil, or foie gras in it – but the flavors in the Holy Basil Rice Chicken were distinct and bold. I’ve never been to this Thai fast food spot, but will surely be visiting for lunch very soon. If this is any indication, they’ve certainly improved since Blondie first checked them out last year.

The other highlights for me were the briny, refreshing bivalves at Grand Central Oyster Bar, which had a huge line despite their recent DOH score. I also loved the burrata and artichoke from Salute!; the beautifully composed spring bean salad with prosciutto and a quail egg from Lexington Brass; an addictive avocado jhal moori from Tulsi; and some seriously decadent ravioli from Bice.

There were endless cocktails from Campbell Apartment, wine from Wagner Vineyards, and an exclusive saison beer from Beer Table Pantry. Not to mention desserts from Magnolia, Ciao Bella, and my new obsession, Li-Lac Chocolates (I even smuggled some to take home with me). Boy, were those chocolate hazelnut truffles good!

All in all, it was a great event – it felt like a really expensive wedding minus all the dancing and speeches – one I recommend splurging for next year, if that’s an option for you. I left completely satiated and got a peek into the world of fine dining around Grand Central. And now back to our regularly scheduled $10 lunch…

Next time you’re heading over to the Grand Central Food Concourse for some Flex Donuts or to check out the new Tri Tip, you should make a plan to eat your lunch there. A few months ago, they unveiled the EAT exhibit by photographer Jim Dow; it’s in both middle seating areas and scheduled to run through June. The exhibit highlights some of the photos from his book, American Studies and includes some beautiful shots of–one of our favorite things–food carts. Be sure to check out one of my favorites, a shot of the El Oriental cart in Buenos Aires.

While checking out the new Apple store in Grand Central a few days back, I decided to get lunch at the food court downstairs. I’ve managed to mostly avoid the Grand Central Terminal Food Court, seeing as it’s mostly overpriced, mediocre foods catering to tourists and people on their way out of NYC but needing to grab a quick bite. But now that Tri Tip Grill is opening today (I can finally get a Toasty!) and Shake Shack is on the way, Grand Central might turn into a pretty exciting lunch spot. Of course lines at those two places are likely going to be pretty epic… so I figured it might be good to have a contingency plan.

After walking around for a bit, I settled on Chirping Chicken. The chicken on the rotisserie looked promising and I do love eating chicken. For $6.89 I got a quarter chicken and it came with a side plus pita bread- though when I got back to my office and opened the box I was shocked to see what I got for lunch.

BOOM! This is what I saw when I opened the box. It looked very very sad. I didn’t have high hopes for this place but was certainly not expecting this. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe the box was too big (?) The chicken was actually pretty tasty (could’ve used some sort of sauce) and the meat was tender and juicy. The skin was surprisingly flavorful and crispy which to me is the most important part of the chicken.

As for the one side, I got lemon potatoes. Well, if you love super sour foods, this is for you. I couldn’t finish the potatoes because they were just way too sour. I guess I was picturing roasted potatoes with lemon zest or but nope. These must have been soaked or or boiled in lemon juice. They were unbearably sour and I threw half of them away.

If I ever go back to Chirping Chicken, I probably will stick with their regular sounding sides… but here’s hoping Tri Tip Grill keeps the lines moving quick enough that I won’t have to!

Chirping Chicken, 15 Vanderbilt Ave (Grand Central Terminal Market) (212) 517-9888

After my first trip to the second incarnation of Flex Donuts Pop-Up at Zócalo in Grand Central Terminal, I heard of another flavor being offered that was not. to. be. missed. Maple Bourbon Bacon. Not a true holey doughnut, Chef Zac Young is serving this up in cruller form. Of course I got one along with one of another flavor, caramel apple, for research purposes. I’m going to flat out say that this was the best bacon product I’ve tasted all year.

What makes it the best of the year is how crunchy the bacon on top is. It’s nice and fresh, and broken in big enough chunks to add a real texture contrast along with flavor. Using maple of course complements the bacon, leaving it with a richer, deeper sweetness than regular doughnuts. If you’re a fan of bacon and doughnuts, you should take the time this week to seek this out. My caramel apple did suffer from acute stickiness. Placing it in the bag ends up taking a good amount of the caramel away, unless you want to lick the inside of the bag. I wouldn’t judge. Like most apple doughnuts, this is a subtly flavored dense cake doughnut. Good in its own right, but not the most choice follow-up to the bacon cruller.

Zócalo is inside the Grand Central Terminal Food Court.

There are a number of new fillings and flavors this time around. Besides the pecan pie and salted caramel, there is also Pumpkin Cranberry with white chocolate shavings, Apple Cinnamon, Red Velvet, 3X Chocolate, and a Bacon, Maple, Bourbon that I did not see when I was there. All of the doughnuts cost more than last time, with the filled ones at $2, and the fancified doughnuts at $3-$3.50. Quite the pretty penny when they’re not even made to order.

Of the two I got, Pecan Pie actually won me over much to my surprise. The Salted Caramel was incredibly sticky as a doughnut coated in caramel should be, but it was also extremely heavy. Gut-busting to be precise. I couldn’t figure out why, maybe the mixture of the caramel topping and cake doughnut? Anyways, I was only able to put away two bites. The Pecan Pie was truly tasty–generous topping of nuts, spicy and flavorful cake doughnut with nice hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. I thought this is one of the best Pecan Pie doughnuts I’ve ever had regardless of the slight heaviness from being a cake doughnut. I’ll definitely be stopping by again before they close up shop at the end of the year, and this has only whetted my appetite to stop by Flex Mussels for the made-to-order doughnuts!

Zócalo is inside the Grand Central Terminal Food Court

This past Monday, Beer Table Pantry (an outpost of the popular Beer Table bar in Park Slope) finally opened in Grand Central. If you’re a fan of Beer Table (like I am) and have been happy with their well curated list of local and imported beers then you will not be disappointed. Check out what you can expect to see and buy after the jump.

The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into the shop are the beautiful bottles of beer (they range from $3 to $40) sitting on the shelves. You can also grab a growler and fill it up with any of their 6 draft beers before heading home (or for an important office meeting).

Besides selling beer, Beer Table Pantry also offer products from local vendors, like beef jerky from Slant Shack Jerky, jam from Anarchy in a Jar, pickles from Rick’s Picks and baked goods from SCRATCHBread.

Since there is no room for a kitchen area, they aren’t selling any lunch items (just yet) but you can easily grab a few things and turn it into a nice lunch (I’m thinking some SCRATCHBread and pickles would go very nicely with the ultimate sandwich from Murray’s Salami.

Beer Table Pantry, Grand Central Terminal (in the Graybar Passage)

Thanks to Mr. Wilson for sending in this tip about Zocalo in Grand Central: “Shut down by the health department yesterday for at least 2 days due to ‘refrigeration issues’. Will be hosting a customer appreciation night this coming monday. A sign posted yesterday invited everyone to ‘come by monday for a margarita on the house’.” Nice! Now that’s how you handle a Department of Health closure properly.

My brother just got back from a vacation to jolly old England. Out of all his trip photos, I’ll admit that I was most captivated by a photo of a chicken tikka sandwich from Subway in London. Say what? Why don’t our Subways serve chicken tikka sandwiches?!! And more importantly, where can I get a chicken tikka sandwich in midtown?

Sometimes when you want a sandwich you need to take things into your own hands, so this week I hit up Minar for an order of their chicken tikka masala and then (with the Murray’s Salami challenge in mind) strolled over to Corrado Bread in Grand Central Market to pick up a couple sandwich rolls and meet Blondie for lunch.  (If Minar is too far away from Grand Central for you, there is always Grill 44, Joy Curry and Tandoor, Maharaja, or even the Indian spot in the Grand Central food court downstairs.)

Next it was time to assemble the sandwiches. The rolls from Corrado are pretty dense so for sandwich constructing purposes, we hollowed them out slightly. Set aside the bready innards–don’t worry, they won’t go to waste, you can use them for soaking up the extra sauce.

Then layer on the chicken tikka pieces and spoon the sauce over both sandwiches. Top with raita and voila: chicken tikka sandwich! Delicious!

A couple of tips: one order of chicken tikka ($7) will make two sizable sandwiches. Since I was going to be making sandwiches, I asked the ladies at Minar to give me extra raita in place naan or rice and they did so without any extra charge. Definitely go for the $1.50 sandwich rolls at Corrado, the $2 rolls are a bit too big and unwieldy.

If you like your chicken tikka with a little bit of heat, you’ll enjoy this sandwich. I would definitely make it again. Perhaps it would make a worthy contender for a future Certe Midtown Lunch Sandwich Contest…

Minar, 138 W. 46th St. (btw. 6+7th), 212-398-4600
Corrado Bread and Pastry, Grand Central Terminal Market (entrance on Lexington and 43rd).

Related:
Famous Halal Guys and Healthy Vegetarian Cart Mashup?
Creating the Ultimate Sandwich at Murray’s Salami