Midtown Lunch

I can’t believe it has been almost 3 years since the first post went up on Midtown Lunch. The first lunch I wrote about was on June 7th, 2006, and Hing Won was the place. I’d like to say I started the site to help my fellow office workers find good lunch in this food wasteland we call Midtown… but truth be told, I only started Midtown Lunch because I wanted to have an excuse to eat gross, fattening food for lunch (and take pictures of that food.)  Now, three years later, what started as a fat man’s idea of the perfect hobby has grown into an amazing community of New York City office workers, sharing in the common misery we call lunchtime.

Without your tips, emails, suggestions, and comments the site would not be what it is today. So, with that in mind, I’m pretty excited to announce the launch of the Midtown Lunch Forums. Ideally this will be a place to make communicating with your fellow lunchers easier; an open place for you guys to ask questions and share recommendations, not just about eating lunch in Midtown, but also lunching outside of Midtown. There’s also a section for connections (if you want to find people to have lunch with) and a miscellaneous area for anything else you guys may want to talk about.  The only downside of the forums is that you will now have to register to comment.  It only takes 15 seconds, and all we need is your email address (which won’t be used for anything other than to verify that a real person is signing up for the account.) This measure is being done for two simple reasons: To ensure that the forum is kept spam free, and to guard against people posting under other people’s names.

You’ll also notice that the site has a completely new design.  Part of that new design is a brand new map, which is not only more accurate, and comprehensive than before, but also allows you greater control over the type of lunch you are looking for near the spot where you are going to be.  There’s also a new page that allows you to look for lunch alphabetically by restaurant name, and another page that allows you to search an alphabetical list of restaurants by food type.

As with any new site, there are bound to be bugs- so if you find any don’t hesitate to let me know in the forums, or by emailing me at zach@midtownlunch.com

Thanks for all your support-  and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think!  (You guys always do…)

TONY’s Feed Blog brings word that Baoguette, the amazing out of bounds banh mi shop on Lex btw. 24+25th, will not only be taking over the old Bamn Automat space on St. Marks, but also plan on opening a 3rd location in the West Village in April. Baoguette… since you are clearly expanding, may I humbly suggest that you consider opening your fourth location in Midtown proper.  It’s the right thing to do, as a reward to all the Midtown Lunchers who have gone out of their way to visit the Murray Hill location!  Can I suggest 48th btw. 5+6th?  If David Chang doesn’t want this space, maybe it could work for you.

A New York Post reporter spent an entire day trying to bargain down the price of everything he purchased… and it actually worked at a few places.  At Starbucks they gave him 25% off his coffee, and at Cosi the manager agreed to cut 10% off the price of his sandwich and pizza. Saying “Give me a break… I’m not a tourist” usually gets you a reduction in price at most hot dog stands, but that’s the extent of my bargaining experience during lunch.  Has anybody else tried this before? Post your results in the comments.

From GCP‘s Weekly Newsletter: “Columbia Pictures Industries will be filming scenes in this area for an upcoming feature film entitled Salt [Starring Angelina Jolie and Liev Schreiber]. Crews will be working in the area… through Thursday, March 19. In order to facilitate filming and staging of equipment, the following streets will be reserved for parking beginning today: Park btw 46+54th St., 48th Street btw Park+Mad, 49th btw Lex+Mad, 50th btw Lex+Mad, 51st Street btw. Lex+Mad, 52nd btw. Lex+Mad, 53rd btw. Park+Mad.” Creepy stalkers… engage!

Photo courtesy of Just Jared

If you follow the street food scene outside of NYC you have undoubtedly heard about Kogi, the Korean BBQ taco truck in Los Angeles. (That’s right… Korean BBQ, in taco form.)  I tried (unsuccessfully) to check it out last Monday when I was in L.A. (they were closed because of rain.) I was pretty bummed. Well, great news today in the WSJ’s article about the truck: “Chef Roy Choi says he hopes Kogi will be in New York by 2010.” We already have a bulgogi cart in Midtown (on 49th btw. 6+7th), but it’s just average… and this truck looks like they’re taking deliciousness to a whole ‘nother level.

Photo courtesy of kogibbq.com

Terrible news from Midtown’s only branch of Popeye’s (on 40th btw. 7+8th): “The location… was shut down due to a tax/rent levy issue. The notice on the door had yesterday’s date. First MG in many years without Popeye’s red beans & rice.” That is very upsetting. Nobody answered a call to the location… we’ll keep an eye out, and let you know as soon as it reopens. (Thanks to nolafunknyc for the tip, they are always appreciated.)

On Tuesday, Midtown Lunchers got a sneak peak of the Biryani Cart’s brand new “Sandwich Land” cart.  Parked just to the East of the original Biryni Cart (on the SW corner of 46th and 6th), the new cart features a whole line up of burgers, subs, and pita sandwiches- plus a few standard chicken and lamb over rice options. Because of the bad weather, the sandwich cart won’t be out the rest of the week… but will make its grand “re-opening” return on Monday. (And yes, they do have an entry for the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.)

A full look at the new cart’s menu, plus new specials available today at the original Biryani Cart, are both after the jump…

Read more »

So it looks like that food court on 8th Ave. btw. 44+4th is not gone for good.  A new sign has gone up, and it looks like Church’s Fried Chicken made the cut, along with the Subway & Nathan’s.  Not sure what Mama’s Food is (was that there before?) and maybe there will be pizza and a juice bar of some kind?  Or were those old signs left over from before the previous incarnation? Not sure. Whatever… Church’s Fried Chicken fans should be happy.  Still not open yet, but we’ll keep an eye out… 

Related:
8th Avenue is the Fried Chicken Corridor of New York City

If you have to work today, I’m sorry.  That really sucks… what sucks even more is a lot of your favorite lunch places may be closed, so call ahead before heading out.  On the positive side, the places that are open should be pretty empty- and maybe your boss is out… so it’s a good day to catch up on one of the sandwiches from the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.  FreeFoods NYC is closed, as is the Jamaican Dutchy, and Sophie’s Cuban isn’t answering their phones at either location.  But Certe (on 55th btw. 5+6th) is open (thanksgiving dip!), and so is Lazzara’s (on 38th btw. 7+8th).  Plus we’re hearing rumors that sandwiches have been added at Naples 45 and Cucina & Co (both on 45th btw. Park + Madison), and both are open today.  Good luck!  (And if you do go out to lunch today, report back on any other openings or closings in the comments for those who are stuck working.)