Midtown Lunch

If you’re looking for something to do tonight, Mamacita filled you in on all the St. Paddy’s Day sweets and drinks specials but what celebrating St Paddy’s day at lunch? On a recent Rock Center concourse jaunt, I noticed that Pret a Manger is now stocking new Corned Beef and Pickle Sandwiches made from Niman Ranch Corned Beef. Could be a good choice if you are looking for your corned beef fix without the pub crowds, though the price tag seems a bit steep at $6.89. If you’re willing to brave the hoards of drunken revelers, Blarney Stone on 3rd Ave has a lovely looking corned beef sandwich that Zach calls his “favorite St. Paddy’s Day lunch.”

Pret a Manger (various locations)
Blarney Stone , 710 3rd Ave (btw 44+45th St)

Where was I at 2pm today?  At Pret of course (along with god knows how many other Midtown Lunchers), trying the chocolate chunk cookie that Serious Eats: New York dubbed best in Midtown yesterday. Soooo good.  Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, good mix of chips and chunks.  (You may say the secret ingredient is the warming case.)  I went to the Pret on 7th Ave. and 36th and while I walked north, enjoying my cookie, I passed by a girl coming out of the Pret on 39th and 7th holding her cookie. (Coincidence?  Possibly… but whatever.  It’s more fun to think everybody is rushing out to eat cookies because of NYC food blogs.)

There are almost 20 Pret a Manger locations in Midtown, so you should have no trouble scoring one in our neck of the woods (if you haven’t already.)  With only two locations Downtown, our lunch friends to the south might have some problems.  This was twittered by @ahemler at 1:15pm today: “Pret on Maiden lane sold out of choc chunk cookies. You guys are savages.” Doh!

Related:
Pret Wins Best Midtown(ish) Cookie

One of my favorite NYC blogs, Lunch w/ Front Studio, left their normal Soho beat for a meeting in Midtown earlier in the week.  They ended up picking up lunch from Pret on 42nd btw. 5+6th and called it a “rousing success”!  I don’t mind Pret, and the two sandwiches they bought sounded tasty enough, but ladies… next time you have a meeting near Bryant Park, can I recommend Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. 5+Mad) for your lunchtime needs? I know it was raining, and Zaiya is full block and half and avenue away from where you were- but it is well worth the extra walk… I’m just saying.

It looks like the new Pret a Manger (on 3rd Ave. btw. 44+45th) is scheduled to open on Monday, which means they should be doing one of their free sandwich lunch giveaways on Friday.  I say “should” because there is no official confirmation, but I’m hearing rumors from Pret employees that Friday is the day.  If you work in the area, it may be worth walking by in the morning to see if they’re giving out the free sandwich fliers they kind of require you to have- although in the past we’ve heard of people walking up during the promotion and still getting the free lunch. Usually they hand out the fliers between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m., and the free lunches are given away between 12:15 and 1:30 p.m. (with extras being given out around 1:30 p.m.) If anybody gets official confirmation (i.e. somebody standing outside the store handing out coupons/fliers) comment below or email zach@midtownlunch.com

Eater is reporting that another Pret is opening on 3rd Ave. btw. 44+45th, right next to where the new Boi Sandwich is going to be opening.  This should mean another one of those free sandwich giveaways. If you work near there, keep us up to date on the progress! (They usually hand out fliers the day before the grand opening…)

Another Pret is opening up on 3rd Ave btw. 47+48th and they’re doing another one of those free sandwich days. It’s a little tricky though, so you may want to pay attention… On Friday morning from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. they’ll be giving out flyers for a free Pret goodie bag, which can be redeemed after 12:15 p.m.  At previous openings the goodie bag contained half a sandwich, a bag of popcorn, a brownie, and a coupon for a free cup of coffee. Not too shabby. If they haven’t given out all the goodie bags by around 1:30, they may start to give out more flyers at the door- so if you don’t manage to score a flyer on Friday morning, you can still try to snag your free food sans flyer.  Their main goal is letting people know the store is open, so people have been successful at getting free food without a flyer in the past, but there are no guarantees.   Good luck freeloaders!