Midtown Lunch

“Uh… excuse me. Do you know if Sam Sifton eats here?”

If you read any other food blog in the universe besides this one, than by now you know that the New York Times is replacing their food critic, Frank Bruni, with Sam Sifton. Unlike Bruni, who probably didn’t spend a ton of time in the New York Times building (on 8th Ave. btw. 40+41st), Sifton is the culture editor for the paper and one would assume is there every day.  Which leads me to wonder… where does Sam Sifton each lunch every day?

While everybody else is probably wondering what kind of food critic he’ll make- I’m more curious about whether or not anybody has noticed this guy eating at Popeye’s or Ying Du. What about Pick-a-Pita, or even the (hilariously named) Time’s Halal Food cart on the corner of 40th and 8th?

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Terrible news from Lunch’er “MychaelS” on Friday: Crains is reporting that Franchise Kings of Midtown (which owns the Popeye’s on 40th btw. 7+8th) is filing for Bankruptcy protection.  The owner “aims to pay off her debts and sell the franchise and lease for the store.” The location  is still open for now, but it’s not entirely clear if it will remain open in the future. (Hopefully somebody will come in and save it!) Also unclear is whether the bankruptcy is directly related to the location itself, which was always packed during lunch, or just a failure of the parent company.  Of course this isn’t the first time Midtown has lost a Popeyes. There used to be one on 34th Street, and one on 46th Street.  Both are now closed. The block itself, which is located right next to the New York Times Building appears to be jinxed.  The Sophie’s Cuban located directly next door, closed last year despite always being full during lunch.

Related:
8th Avenue is the Fried Chicken Corridor of NYC
The New Popeye’s
Sophie’s Cuban Takes Another Step Backwards

via Twitter today:

C’mon boys… this is the Dining Editor of the New York Times we’re talking about. Don’t you think he knows what chicken and rice cart he’s talking about?

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Lunch’er Jasmine snapped a photo (above left) of new signage that just went up on the New York Times Building for Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen, a new restaurant concept from the former* owners of Hale & Hearty. According to their website they’ll be serving burgers, salads, fries, sandwiches, fish tacos, mac and cheese, sloppy joe’s, milkshakes, beer and wine. I like sloppy joe’s! I like fish tacos! The website says the place will be opening on 41st and 8th Ave. in December… and that’s about it. No prices, so we’ll have to wait and see if this one falls under the official Midtown Lunch’ing domain.

* This was not included in the original post.  The Schnipper Brothers were the founders and former owners of Hale and Hearty, and this is their latest venture.  (They sold their interest of Hale & Hearty over 2 years ago.)