Midtown Lunch

Midtown Lunch has always prided itself on finding “hidden” gems in our part of the city (after all, you don’t need a blog to tell you where the nearest Cafe Metro is.)  And there are some truly hidden treasures, none more so than the spots that operate out of freight elevator hallways. The most famous one is El Sabroso, the Dominican/Peruvian 6 seater inside the freight hallway on 37th btw. 7+8th.  But there’s also Nick’s Place (on 39th btw. 7+8th), and of course Pick a Pita made a name for themselves in a hallway on 38th btw. 7+8th, before moving out into the open on 8th Avenue.

There’s something fun, and slightly subversive, about eating in a hallway beneath a building, dodging giant dollies full of lord knows what, as you navigate the bustling hallway to get to your lunch.  So, when I read in the ML forums that there was another one of these places on 37th btw. 8+9th, I wasted no time.

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My love of Chinese buffets is pretty well documented, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a non-Asian buffet from time to time. In fact, you could say my buffet chops were sharpened over many trips to the now closed Sizzler on 104th Street and Dixie Highway in Miami (circa 1988). It’s my earliest memory of crafting a strategy for attacking a buffet, and also the genesis of my buffet onion ring obsession (aka I always eat at least one onion ring from every buffet, even if it’s Asian.)

So on Tuesday, when I stumbled across Greenhouse 36 (in the Wyndham Times Square Hotel on 36th btw. 8+9th), I was naturally intrigued. Situated in a hotel, Greenhouse 36 seems like any other crappy-hotel-lunch-spot-in-a-garden, except for one thing. From now through the end of the year (it expires on December 29th, 2009), they’re offering a lunch buffet for $9.50.

How could I not?

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It’s been a duck kind of a week. Yesterday I wrote about the Thursday duck pancake special at Yushi… and then subconsciously (or consciously) I felt a sudden urge to try the duck soup from Aura Thai. I’ve seen the soups at Aura mentioned a bunch of times on Midtown Lunch (most notably by Lunch’er “Nantini”) but the place is out of bounds (9th Ave. btw. 35+36th) and there are plenty of good soups in Midtown. We don’t need to be hiking out to 9th Ave. just for soup.

Now that I’ve tried the soup, though, I think hiking out to 9th Ave. is exactly what we all need to be doing (especially now that’s it starting to get colder.)

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After visiting Chile last winter, I returned to New York City looking to feed my new-found craving for all the foods I had discovered on the trip. I needed an Empanada de pino, a heaping plate of chorrillana, completos, and churrasco sandwiches. And I wanted to wash it down with a mote con huesillos.   And while you’d think NYC has pretty much every cuisine you could ever possibly want, for some reason Chile is woefully underrepresented… especially in Manhattan, where Pomaire (on 46th btw. 8+9th) is pretty much your only option (and too expensive for my taste.)

Well, this week my prayers to the food god of all things Chilean were answered when Barros Luco opened on 52nd Street, just east of 2nd Ave.  Taking over the space that was occupied by 99 Miles to Philly, it’s pretty far out of bounds for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes… but I will walk that extra 5 minutes when avocado topped hot dogs are involved!

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I walked by Barros Lucco, the new Chilean sandwich shop opening on 52nd St. just East of 2nd Ave. (in the old 99 Miles to Philly space), and according to a guy inside they were getting their inspection today. That means they could be open as early as this weekend. Churrascos and chacareros for everyone!!!

Related:
Barros Luco is Bringing Chilean Sandwiches to Midtown East

I fell like every time I have ever brought up my quest for a real gyro here in Midtown, one out of bounds place has always come up in the comments: bZ Grill in Astoria. “bZ Grill this, bZ Grill that.” “You could make it out to BZ Grill and back in an hour” “bZ grill has the best gyros, hands down”. Well last weekend I finally made it out to Astoria for a little bZ Grill action, and I must say… if there is a petition to get these guys to open a branch in Midtown, I’d like to sign it.

You can order a gyro sandwich, and be pretty content- but I’d recommend going with a friend and ordering the mix grill… or as I liked it to call it, the “Big Mamma Jamma”.

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With October just one week away, it’s only natural to start craving a little bratwurst with German potatoes, and sauerkraut.  And for those of us in Midtown, there’s only one place to go for that… the Babiel Brothers’ famous Hallo Berlin Cart on 54th and 5th Ave.  But what if you want beer with that brat?  Or spaetzle?  Or potato pancakes?  For that, you’ll have to head a bit out of bounds to Hallo Berlin Express– the small brick and mortar version of the cart located on 9th Ave. btw. 50+51st.

It’s been open for almost a year and half now, but yesterday I had lunch there for the very first time.

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For those who love the Indian street snacks known as chaat, the heart of Midtown is quite the wonderland.  But that’s little consolation for those who work in the NE corner of Midtown, where a little chaat might require a 15-20 minute walk (at least!)  Well, problem solved!  Lunch’er Chandrika (who translated the Taj Delhi Chaat menu for us last year) has tipped us off to the amazing chaat at Chola on 57th 58th btw. 2+3rd.  It’s slightly out of bounds, but completely worth it for those chaat starved lunchers in that area of our fine territory.

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