Midtown Lunch

Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Emily, a student who has a couple of good recommendations for Midtown South…

Name: Emily

Age: 21

Occupation: Student, studying mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania

Where in Midtown do you Work?: I interned at ThomasNet in Penn Plaza this summer, and discovered Midtown Lunch after exhausting Google Maps’ results for “FOOD NEAR 8TH AND 34TH.” Unfortunately, my 10 weeks at ThomasNet were already coming to a close by then, so I tried to hit as many highlighted lunches as possible in my few remaining weeks. I learned a lot, though!

Favorite Kind of Food: CARBS. Preferably beige ones. Noodles, potatoes, rice, bread, you name it.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Super spicy

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Mooncake Foods on 30th between 7th and 8th. Try the Buckwheat Noodle Salad with chicken or tofu, or the Seared Tuna & Arugula Salad. The prices are totally outrageous (the good kind), both for lunch and dinner. I’ve also heard magical things about the Miso-Glazed Salmon but never got to try it myself. I have a feeling it might be worth a trip over on the Bolt Bus, though!

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Sydney, a receptionist who hates “health food” but is looking for a salad recommendation…

Name: Sydney

Age: 21

Occupation: Receptionist and Blogger

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Rockefeller Center

Favorite Kind of Food: Authentic Mexican food (I grew up in Arizona)

Least Favorite Kind of Food: “Health food”, i.e. energy bars, protein shakes, etc.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Tacos de Cabeza & Tacos Hongos from Toloache (on 50th btw. B’way+8th), Spicy Tuna Roll and Amberjack sashimi from Hatsuhana (on 48th btw. Mad+5th), and Drunken Noodles from Little Thai Kitchen (on 53rd btw. 2+3rd)

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s George, a Knowledge Manager (?!) who loves spicy Indian food and Chicago.

Name: George

Age: 43

Occupation: CRM Knowledge Manager and Blogger behind George and Julia Eat Manhattan

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 6th Ave btw 46+47th

Favorite Kind of Food: Spicy Indian is always my first choice. Give me a glowing vindaloo on a bed of rice with fresh naan for dippin’ and I’m in heaven. A close second, is fancy Mexican food. I blame top chef winner Rick Bayless and his 27 ingredient mole. I also regularly enjoy Turkish, Thai and this city’s great Pizza. My sweet tooth favors ice cream, Pinkberry and cookies. I love it when the peanut butter/chocolate combination is applied to any dessert.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: With all due respect to my Colombian chums, I am fond of their coffee but not their food. I also steer clear of hard-to-identify seafood. I am generally so picky about seafood, I will often avoid it altogether. I realize I am missing out on so much and I am gradually adding underwater creatures to my diet. Knowing this, you may be surprised to learn that I am a sushi fan. Go figure.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Though not in the under $11 category (closer to $12-16), St Andrew’s (It’s Scottish!), on 46th btw 6+7th, has an amazing Maryland Crabcake Sandwich and a unique Salmon BLT (standard Scottish fare?) When I need a dose of Indian, I get it at Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th). Could be a dosa but more likely, I’m having the Indus 2 meat/1 veggie combo. This comes with bread or rice (not both). Bread and Olive (on 45th btw. 5+6th) is also up there for its fantastic Mediterranean. I make my food choices before I get there (with back-ups). You see, Bread and Olive’s presentation/lay-out/menu confuses me, they are often out of things, and they are not always patient with me. The quality of the grub is worth the humiliation and confusion. If I’m eating at my desk, the best deal in town is still Moshe’s Falafel Cart (on 45th and 6th) 4 balls, 2 bucks. It might be $2.50 now.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Shannon, a professional philanthropist who likes stuffing her face with hot dogs.

Name: Shannon

Age: 25+

Occupation: PR and Events Manager

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Philanthropic Foundation on Park Avenue

Favorite Kind of Food: Gnocchi, hot dogs, french fries and good sourdough bread. But not together.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Frisee lettuce. It should be a garnish, not a base for a salad.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Arepas with fried egg, cheese and avocado at Tick Tock Diner (35th and 8th); Gruyere and caramelized onion sandwich at ‘wichcraft (47th between Park and Lexington); the sushi lunch special from Asian Station (on 52nd btw. Lex+3rd), and of course, a cod schnitzel sandwich with sriracha sauce from the Schnitzel Truck

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Emily, a fabric designer who wishes she could trade the garment district for the Mediterranean. (Go figure!)

Name: Emily

Age: 25

Occupation: Fabric designer and dork in the kitchen

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Broadway between 38th & 39th

Favorite Kind of Food: Foods I were raised on: Southern food (rare find here in NYC, especially good fried chicken and barbeque) and Arabic food (hummus, grape leaves, lamb). Greek and Italian food, and lots of seafood. Sushi out the wazoo, Indian, Korean, Thai (I’m a noodle fiend). Tex-Mex and Latin American foods. Oh and juicy burgers and fries. And lots of sugar to balance it out. I’ll be honest, most food makes me happy; especially if it’s well-made.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Chicken breasts, anything too heavy on mayo. Sandwiches have to be pretty special for me to be interested. Prepackaged sushi and cold bentos freak me out.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Crisp (on 40th btw. B’way+6th) and it’s African sandwich, most Ktown fare (dolsot bibimbap, spicy squid noodles at Kunjip.) Not quite lunch, but Happy Hour at Dean & Deluca on 40th and 8th (half priced coffee and sugar fix). Jing’s delivery chinese food is surprisingly delicious (on 9th btw. 47+48th).

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Sarah, an actress who likes her steak to still be moo’ing and is looking for a good guac.

Name: Sarah

Age: 26

Occupation: Actress/Blogger

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Auditions are as far north as 54th and 8th or as far south as 36th and 8th-so I have covered a lot of ground of midtown west in the four years I have lived here!

Favorite Kind of Food: Kimchee, sourdough bread, fried mandoo, VERY rare steak (still mooing, please), french fries, anything spicy enough to make my lips blister, bone marrow, foie gras, guacamole, the sourdough bacon burger from Jack in the Box, chili cheese Fritos, and nutella…YES NUTELLA!

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Okra. I can’t get past the slime factor. And Jello. A dessert should not be see through, and that’s just the way I feel.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Pick-A- Pita (on 8th btw. 39+40th) for some french fry stuffed falafel sandwiches, Baja Fresh (on 41st and B’way) for the steak quesadilla and the unlimited salsa bar, Woorjip‘s kimchee soup and fried mandoo (on 32nd btw. B’way+5th), the Pad Kee Mao at Pam Real Thai (on 49th btw. 9+10th), Sloppy Fries at Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen (on 41st and 8th), and absolutely anything on the menu at Xie Xie (on 9th btw. 45+46th) as long as you get the 1,000 year old ice cream sandwich for dessert. To misquote John Mayer, it is Gustatory Napalm. For reals.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Katie, an economic consultant with a sweet tooth- who hates cilantro and isn’t sold on the Street Sweets truck just yet.

Name: Katie

Age: 23

Occupation: Economic Consultant

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 6th Ave. btw. 45+46th

Favorite Kind of Food: Dessert

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything with cilantro

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Favorite savory meal/Seamless dinner option: the Eggplant moussaka at Bread and Olive on 45th. Favorite sweet/overall meal- Waffle from Wafels and Dinges on Thursdays on 46th and 6th. Liege with nutella, spekuloos, whipped cream, sometimes dulce de leche to mix it up. Other favorite spots include: Treats Truck Fridays on 45th and 6th – I usually get a bag to “share” with friends after work but wind up enjoying it all as my personal lunch/afternoon snack. And I know there are judgers, but as a healthy option I also enjoy a salad from Cafe Europa. If you pay attention, it’s priced a lot better than most competitors. Finally, I’ve yet to try Two Bros’ Pizza on 46th btw 5th and 6th, and while I love Little Italy Pizza, Two Bros is next on the agenda- it’s hard to beat those prices!

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Chris, an Editor who loves comfort food and hates fake bacon.

Name: Chris

Age: 29

Occupation: Editor

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Park in the high 40s.

Favorite Kind of Food: The food I eat most often is cereal. But my favorite is “comfort food.” I love fried chicken and bbq even though I don’t eat either that often. I’ve entered a few chili cookoffs and have been known to put out a mean Thanksgiving spread in months other than November. As far as lunch goes, I’m very content with a good sandwich.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Hmmm…. When eating in Midtown, my biggest pet peeve is really just lack of value. If I’m not going to eat the canned soup or leftovers that I brought from home then my overpriced meal better be nap inducing. Overall, my least favorite foods are tofu and fake meat. I’m all for vegetarian options and mixing in a salad now and again, but it drives me up the slaughterhouse wall when people who have opted not to eat meat, especially if it’s for moral reasons, try to make their food look and taste like meat. “Thou shalt make no false bacon” is a food commandment of mine.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: The roast beef and mozzarella sandwich that is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Previti Pizza (on 41st btw. Lex+Park) is probably my favorite at the moment. Something that I usually only get in Midtown and absolutely love is a good Indian buffet. It’s something that I don’t usually treat myself to unless there is some sort of occasion but I’m always happy when I do.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Tinger, an “intimate apparel” designer (?!) who loves cheese.

Name: Tinger

Age: 24

Occupation: Print and Graphics Designer for a private label intimate apparel company (and blogger at Tinger Tastings)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Herald Square Area

Favorite Kind of Food: Oh geez, where do I start?? I guess in terms of salty foods, it would have to be any type of homemade dumplings, spicy noodle soup, any and all seafood/sushi, PIZZA ( white pizza with ricotta cheese, rosemary, spinach and garlic, margherita, or a well done plain slice), gorgonzola gnocchi, falafel sandwiches stuffed to capacity with veggies/condiments, anything with coconut curry…. In terms of sweet, red velvet ANYTHING (as long as it comes with a cream cheese of some sort), gelato/ice cream cones, anything stuffed with chocolate ganache…wow, I am making myself drool just typing this stuff out

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything mass produced, generic, from a chain restaurant, or of poor quality. Anything “low fat, sugar free, low carb”= depressing and unsatisfying, how can anyone LIVE like that??

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I’m a huge fan of Maoz Vegetarian (7th Ave. & 40th St.) since it’s so close to my work, Ying Du (38th btw. 7+8th) but they raised their prices from 4.50 a container to 5.00 :( , Baoguette (Lex btw. 25+26th) is always tasty, and Cafe Zaiya (41st btw. Mad+5th) for when I want something small and cute.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Patrick, a glutton who is dying to find a decent chicken fried steak in NYC.

Name: Patrick

Age: 26

Occupation: Finance Professional and Co-Founder of Appetite for Good

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Midtown West, Too close to Time Square

Favorite Kind of Food: Don’t let the picture fool you, for I am a glutton. I am a non-stop binge eater, but if I had to choose a few absolute favorites, it would be Chicken Fried Steak, Tex Mex Fajitas, and Sushi. Unfortunately, two of the three (CFS and Tex Mex Fajitas) are nowhere to be found in New York! I’ve searched near and far, TriBeCa to Morningside Heights, for a decent chicken fried steak but have fallen short. I am convinced it doesn’t exist in New York – please prove me wrong! As a born and bred Texan, there is nothing that warms my soul better than a good chicken fried steak, which is neither chicken nor steak. The thought of the crispy golden brown breading wrapped around a tenderized steak, all smothered in white thick cream gravy speckled with flecks of pepper makes my mouth water and stomach rumble. Mmm, can you just taste the goodness?

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything that is considered healthy or vegetarian. Whoever said it was painful to eat healthy is absolutely right!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: GoGo Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th) without a doubt! There is no way to beat this place! Talk about the perfect combination of quality and quantity at the right price! Unfortunately when I’m at GoGo Curry, I am slightly over the midtown lunch budget with a Grand Slam with an extra side of fried fish. After a lunch like this, the rest of the day is usually a total wash as I am mayor of Food Comaville. And yet somehow, by dinner time, I’m miraculously recovered and ready to start all over. I also love Meze Grill (8th Avenue between 55th and 56th) and its Rice Pilaf Bowl with Chicken, Batata Harra, pickled turnips (must have!), topped off with homemade Tzatziki Sauce and Spicy Hummus. Meze Grill also supports countless number of charities such as StreetWise Partners, American Cancer Society and more! Soon to be Shake Shack Midtown.

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