Midtown Lunch

Every Tuesday I 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 Tracy- an Executive Assistant to pay the bills, but she’s an awesome painter too (and by awesome, I mean there are doughnuts and beer in her paintings.)

Name: Tracy

Age: 42

Occupation: Executive Assistant and Painter (http://www.tracymillerpaintings.com/)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Technology/investment firm at 45th and 6th

Favorite Kind of Food: Hamburgers, beer, bacon, crusty bread, banana muffins, warm chocolate cake with ice cream, lobster, fries, mussels, rabbit, pheasant, eggplant parmesan, lasagne, caseroles, stews, soups, biscuits, frosted cookies, meatloaf, shepherds pie, fish tacos,
chocolate croissants, pate, all smoked meat, toast, french jam, stroopwafels, cinnamon rolls, bahn mi, pork buns, cheese, lamburgers, clam linguine, bacon-wrapped anything, gougiere, banana cream pie,
moussaka, chocolate malts

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Yogurt, raisins, salad, fruity desserts, herbal tea

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Shrimp tacos from Pampano Taqueria (3rd Ave. btw. 49+50th), Pork with beans and rice and green sauce from Sophie’s Cuban, Chowder from Hale & Hearty, the spinach salad from Josie’s (3rd Ave. and 37th St.), Udon Noodles from the Cranberry Deli (45th btw. 6+B’way), Lamb pita from the cart on 46th and 6th, pulled pork from the Daisy May’s cart (50th btw. 6+7th), cheesburger and fries from the Burger Joint (on 56th btw. 6+7th), lunch special from Yasuda

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Every Tuesday I 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 another author and book giveaway… meet “Broke Ass Stuart” whose new book “Guide to Living Cheaply in New York City” was released last week. He doesn’t work in Midtown, but the purpose of his guide is clearly something we’re all interested in. He’s also having an open-to-the-public book release party at The Delancey on Thursday night, featuring free beer and free food from a bunch of places, including Midtown Lunch favorite Kati Roll. But more on that below… first, his picks for best lunch in Midtown.

Name: Stuart

Age: Two weeks away from being 28

Occupation: Travel Writer (www.brokeassstuart.com)

Where do you Work?: Wherever there are broke-asses I’ll be there.

Favorite Kind of Food: Ooh, that’s tough. I love food from around the world. The idea of only being able to eat one kind of food for the rest of my life sound like torture to me. For example, I love steak, pizza, and pasta, but when I was down in Argentina, I actually got sick of all those things because there was very little else to eat. In an ideal world I’d have a burrito from San Diego, Vietnamese food from SF, pastrami from Katz’s Deli, pizza from Brooklyn, and a Garbage Plate from Rochester all in the same week. Unfortunately I would probably have a heart attack that week too.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Raw onions. Fuck raw onions.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I really dig Taam-Tov (on 47th btw. 5+6th). It’s this really cool little Glatt Kosher Uzbek that serves up delicious meals. I get something new every time. I don’t know what half the shit is, so I just look at what the people around me are having, point to it and say I’ll take that. I usually works out pretty well. Hallo Berlin is pretty cool too…mmmm…sausages…

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Every Tuesday I 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 Steven A. Shaw, director of eGullet.com and the author of the brand new book Asian Dining Rules.  The book goes cuisine by cuisine giving you tips on how best to enjoy Asian food at restaurants.  It even has a chapter on how to attack the Chinese food buffet (with a lot of rules that sounded awfully familiar!)  Clearly a kindred spirit, I wanted to get his recs for eating lunch in Midtown…

Name: Steven A. Shaw

Age: I can’t believe I’m 39. It feels like just a few weeks ago I was 25 and working multiple consecutive all nighters at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Now if I pulled an all nighter I’d probably drop dead.

Occupation: Un- . . . I mean self-employed. I’m a big-firm litigator turned minor food personality. I’m the director of the eGullet Society, I write books about food (ASIAN DINING RULES and TURNING THE TABLES), I teach at the French Culinary Institute, I write a semi-regular dining feature for Crain’s New York Business. I do a lot of stuff in a never-ending scramble to avoid bankruptcy.

Where in Midtown do you Work?: When I had a real job I worked first at Worldwide Plaza (50th Street and Eighth Ave.) and then in 919 Third Avenue (at 56th Street). Now the city is my office. My wife Ellen and I work wherever we need to work. For example, she’s just finishing a book that she wrote almost entirely in the public space at Sony Plaza. We live in Carnegie Hill.

Favorite Kind of Food: Of my ten favorite foods, probably eight or so would be cured pork products: bacon, salami, prosciutto and the like. The remaining two would be stinky European cheeses, bordering on inedible and untouchable. I’m also a big fan of the grapefruit, and I’m eating as many as I can as a hedge against the day when my doctor puts me on Lipitor and I have to stop eating grapefruits.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Human flesh is something I try to avoid consuming. Other than that, I eat and enjoy pretty much everything.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: My favorite lunch in Midtown, and the one I indulge in most often, is the Burger Bar at Beacon. Midtown Lunch has covered the Burger Bar but I think the focus on a hard $10 ceiling rules out a restaurant that is objectively a great value. For $12.95 you get the Beacon Burger, which in my opinion is the best burger in New York City — and I think I’ve sampled most every contender for that title. It’s an 8 oz. grilled burger made from Niman Ranch Certified Natural Black Angus beef, served on country toast and garnished with (all on the side) grilled red onion, lettuce, tomato, house-made pickles and ketchup, and very good garlic fries. I have been going pretty much weekly for the past year. I am, in general, a big fan of Waldy Malouf’s cooking. He was doing the whole seasonal, local, Hudson Valley thing long before it was trendy. His Hudson River Valley Cookbook, published in the mid-1990s, is still the definitive work in the genre. You can only get the burgers at the 6-seat counter from noon through 2:30pm (they will seat you up until just before 2:30). I recommend going right at noon or after about 1:45 to avoid the chance of a wait. Also, to the extent this is relevant (it is to me because I have a three-year-old son), Beacon goes out of its way to accommodate kids — and kids under 4 eat free.

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Every Tuesday I 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 Dave- a system admin who sent us the photo of his sandwich from Murray’s Salami. He also doesn’t seem to mind spending some money for good meat.

Name: Dave

Age: 25

Occupation: System Administrator

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Puresend, 41st and Lexington

Favorite Kind of Food: TexMex

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Is there a such thing?

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Chimi Combo @ Calico Jacks (on 2nd Ave. btw. 42+43rd), the Cuban Sandwich @ Sophies (multiple locations), the Benjamin Burger from Benjamin Steak House (on 41st btw. Mad+Park), the T-bone Burger @ Rare (on 37th St. & Lex.), the #2 or #13 @ Milant (on 39th btw. Lex+3rd), and anything at El Rio Grande (on 38th btw. Lex+3rd)

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Old Bridge Deli (on Lex btw. 40+41st). They are one of the better generic delis that I have found in midtown and their rolly wraps are a nice change of pace. (Dave is also the one who sent us the photo of the rolly wrap fail yesterday -zach)

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? Murrays Salami. I’ve frequented the Grand Central Terminal Food Court and Market in the past, but only returned after reading of the $10 Challenge. Also the Milant Deli, good price and tasty food.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Midtown Manhatten. I have yet to find a location with greater variety of delicous food. (Preach on brother! -zach)

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Does anyone have another good tex-mex style place to recommend?

Really? This is where you lose me Dave. I don’t mind Tex Mex, but I don’t actively seek it out. I’m going to have to turn this one over to the readers. And as always, if you want to be the next Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er, or you’d like to nominate somebody in your office email me at zach@midtownlunch.com

Every Tuesday I 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 Ted- a web geek who is looking for a long lunch.

Name: Ted

Age: 32

Occupation: Web geek

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Rockefeller Center

Favorite Kind of Food: Anything pork-related or pork-adjacent. I’ll pretty much eat anything, except for…

Least Favorite Kind of Food: … Liver, kidneys, or any internal animal organs. Tripe I’ll eat tho.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th), hands down. And the yellow DOH stickers don’t scare me at all, though I get grief from my co-workers about it. (“Hi, co-workers!”) I eat there at least 3 times a week for breakfast and/or lunch. I’m also partial to El Rincon del Sabor on 47th btw. 6+7th (the morcilla is great!), Cafe Cello on 45th btw. 5+6th (mmmm, pork skin), Sapporo on 49th btw. 6+7th (miso ramen!), and the street meat cart downstairs from my building on 47th and 6th.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Subway. Can’t go wrong with $5 footlong sandwiches. Although the knife in the bread incident a couple of months ago did turn me off for a few weeks. The co-workers go for Wendy’s, Cafe Metro, and Chipotle a lot as well, pretty much because it’s quick and close by.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? Sapporo, Cafe Cello, Cafe Spice (I’m as partial to buffets as you are, Zach), Cafe Duke on 50th btw. 6+7th (that soon tubu is great but burns you from the inside.) Oh and the BF thanks you for the Mexican Cart on the East side (60th and 3rd), and using a picture of him for your post. And I just checked out the Mexican Cart myself yesterday on my way to running an errand at the Container Store. Totally delish! Reminds me of the taco stands in Jackson Heights, except the tacos are $1 instead of $2.

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Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. Since today is election day, I thought it would be perfect to profile Alan Colmes from Fox News, who I discovered back in August is a Midtown Lunch reader! I must say, whatever your personal politics, you have to admire Alan for his bravery.  Think about how tough it is for him to go to work every day… if you’re a conservative, you hate him for being liberal.  And if you’re a liberal, you hate him for being on Fox News. But more than any of that, I think his strongest show of bravery to date… is agreeing to be profiled on Midtown Lunch.

Name: Alan Colmes

Age: ???

Occupation: Talk Show Host

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Rockefeller Center

Favorite Kind of Food: Burgers and pasta; I’m also a chocoholic and drink iced coffee 12 months a year, so thank goodness for all the coffee places that have popped up. But Dunkin’ Donuts has my vote over Starbucks, which is too bitter.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Sushi, Indian, and anything too spicy. Not a big fish eater, except for shrimp and tuna salad.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: The shrimp pasta at Bella Napoli (on 49th btw. 6+7th), the double cheese at Goodburger (45th btw. 5+6th); Bocca (underneath Rock Center) has a terrific thing where you can create your own pasta or sandwiches. I also like Variety Cafe (on 48th btw. 5+6th) for their very complete salad bar… every conceivable kind of food is available there. But Dishes on 45th (btw. Mad+5th) has the most unique and tasty salad bar.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Cafe Metro, the Evergreen Diner (on 47th btw. 6+7th), and Europa

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? Loved the pictures of Goodburger before they opened; just saw that Shake Shack has a new location so now I have to try it.

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Every Tuesday I 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 Niko- a Healthy Promotion Director with a serious sweet tooth.

Name: Niko

Age: 39

Occupation: Day job: Health Promotion Director. Labor of love: Running DessertBuzz.com

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 53rd & Park

Favorite Kind of Food: I view eating real food, including lunch, as simply something that stands in the way of eating dessert. A necessary evil to prevent my body from decaying from too much sugar and butter… but since this is Midtown Lunch, I’ll play along. I really like sushi, soba noodles and most other Japanese as well as a lot of Korean food, especially Bibimbap (it’s best when they burn the rice at the bottom of a cast iron pot). In fact, the ML post about the $7 fancy Bibimbap made my month. And then its on to dessert, where my true heart lies. Its great to see how many of your readers (like myself) are willing to skip a wholesome meal for a full-on, intended-for-after-dinner, dessert. The options for doing this in midtown have really blown up even in the last few months.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: After a few years without much red meat – the thought of steak just makes me want to laugh in technicolor. Also, anything with Chinese eggplant – I had a bad experience once and since I assume many of you are a) eating lunch right now or b) about to eat lunch, I’ll just leave it that.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I love Oms/B (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd), Pret a Manger (for the cookies), and I sometimes rock the Ed’s Tofu from Whole Foods that you talked about in a feature– but Whole Foods is a marathon walk for me at lunch. The last 2 months I have hit the Dessert Truck, since it moved to right outside my work.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Dishes. Too expensive but good. Killer baked goods. But definitely will go BROKE eating at this place. You can barely get out of there under the $10 minimum.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? Your feature on Oms/B is the how I first discovered ML. I had a mad craving for a good rice ball and I think I Googled something like “Rice Ball midtown New York” and then I walked there the same day. It’s about a mile round trip. I thought I was the only jackass who walked all over this island in search of palatable food, but then I read that ML is geared for people who were willing to walk to get good value or for a specific craving. I knew I had found a blog I would go to every day. The most important thing I discovered from ML is the Vendys. I was unaware of the event prior to this year and really enjoyed attending and reviewing the dessert trucks so – thanks Zach.

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Every Tuesday I 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 Adam- an engineer who loves chaat and was willing to fill out the profile, even though he doesn’t have a blog to promote. Now that’s balls!

Name: Adam

Age: 24

Occupation: Engineer. I don’t have a blog.

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 37th & 5th

Favorite Kind of Food: I love campfire food. And breakfast for dinner. And Turkish cuisine. And a good Paraguayan asado. And DiFara’s square pizza. And Vietnamese. So hard to choose!

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I can’t do the by the pound midtown deli buffets anymore, after an unfortunate encounter with some funky sesame chicken which left me with food poisoning throwing up all afternoon. I also detest the average heated up when you order after sitting for a while slice of pizza which is all too prevalent in Midtown.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I eat falafel in Bryant Park from my homeboys at NE corner 40th and Broadway at least 2 or 3 times a week. Combining the frugality of a $4.00 lunch and the pleasure of a lunch out of the office in the park with a good book is my personal favorite. My other regulars include the JT Lunchenette (on B’way and 35th) for good and hearty spanish food or a cheap pepper steak sandwich. I used to go to Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th) for chaat, but that has been replaced by Taj Delhi chaat (on 6th Ave. btw. 37+38th) due to proximity to the office.  Sometimes Toyama (on 36th St. btw. 5+6th) for sushi, and when it’s really cold the Au Bon Pain 20 feet from the door of my building for soup in a breadbowl. I’ll go to Gaam (on 30th and 5th) for Indian when I feel like going out of midtown lunch price range by a dollar or two. And finally, the cheesesteaks at the truck at the SE corner of 40th and Broadway may not quite live up to my south Philly Tony Luke’s standards, but they do still hit the spot when I crave grease and cholesterol.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? I have turned a couple of co-workers on to Taj Delhi chaat and we’ll go to Gaam for a nice long lunch once in a while but normally I eat by my lonesome. Catered lunch & learns aren’t uncommon here which can turn us all into a pack of tuna salad sandwich crazed vultures.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? I must thank ML for my chaat obsession and for the after 2pm pizza at Naples 45 (on 45th btw. Park+Madison). Also, the former Spanish food serving Blimpie that was on 38th and 6th. I’ve been meaning to check out Biryani cart but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

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Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week, in honor of this Saturday’s Vendy Awards, I’m turning the site over to EJ- who has recently become exclusively a “cart guy”.

Name: EJ

Age: 27

Occupation: IT (and blogger at cobblehillblog.com)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 45th & Broadway

Favorite Kind of Food: I’m an equal opportunity eater. If forced to pick one category though, I’d say pork. BBQ’d pork (preferably ribs from Dreamland in Tuscaloosa, AL).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: See above. I’d be a perfect judge for Iron Chef as there is very little that I don’t enjoy eating. However, if forced to make a list, it would probably only include eggplant. This year’s CSA also has me currently sick of green beans.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Recently I’ve become almost exclusively a cart guy. I usually bounce between the Biryani Cart (on 46th & 6th) and the Trini Pak cart (on 43rd and 6th). When I’m feeling a bit broke, the $3.50 falafel guy across from Kwik Meal fills the void, however my personal falafel week showed that the best falafel in town is definitely at Bread & Olive.

When I feel the need to eat healthier, I usually head to the somewhat generic Dunhill Cafe (on 45th btw. 6+7th). They have an affordable veggie plate, as well as a good fresh carved turkey breast sandwich. On Fridays, Minar (on 46th btw. 6+7th) has a great cilantro chicken which I’ve been including in the rotation a bit more frequently. I’m also looking forward to the cold weather, which gives me an opportunity to eat more soup at Cafe Edison (on 47th btw. Bway+8th).

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? When I’m busy or lazy, I generally head down to the cafeteria in our building. It’s overpriced and mediocre, but reliable for a turkey sandwich on a rainy day.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? You definitely get credit for El Rincon Del Sabor on 47th btw. 5+6th (note to self: it’s been a while since I’ve gone for the Wednesday chicken and spaghetti), and the chaat bar/naan sandwiches at Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th).

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Every Tuesday I 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 freelance writer looking for a little UK love.

Name: Emily

Age: 25 in a month!

Occupation: Editor, freelance writer (and blogger at confessionsofasplendastealer.wordpress.com)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 41at & Lex

Favorite Kind of Food: Too much. I’ve been on a Cuban food kick lately and crave empanadas and platanos. But I also love Mexican, Thai, sushi, lots of pizza, anything with peanut butter or pumpkin, and I have a really bad sweet tooth.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I can be picky about seafood. I don’t really care for shellfish that lacks a specific texture other than slime, like raw oysters. I also don’t like monkfish and really didn’t like it after I Googled what it looks like naturally. I’m a very visual person so sometimes I don’t want to know what my food looks like before it’s ready to be eaten. Also, “a big salad” for lunch. I loathe all those Chopt and Just Salad spots. BO-RING!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Do desserts count too? I have on occasion traded out lunch for dessert, and by occasion, I mean pretty frequently. The Mexican chocolate brownie or apricot oatmeal jammy from the Treats Truck and the PB&J cupcake from The Buttercup Bake Shop (one avenue over the Midtown Lunch limit on 2nd Ave.) are my favorite ways to indulge my sweet tooth. I am also pleased to report that I have become a pro at unwrapping onigiri purchased from Café Zaiya (on 41st btw. Mad+5th). I used to love the gravlax club at the AQ Café in the Scandinavia House before it was replaced by the Smorgas Chef, and my friend Kristine and I still cry tears of joy over our memories of the lobster roll and pulled pork sandwiches from our free lunch at The Volstead!

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Old Bridge Deli on Lex btw. 40+41st (though I’m am interested in trying one of those rolly wrap, calzone-alternative things Zach found), Prete A Manger, and the Café Metro that’s in my building. I also frequent the 99 cent pizza place on 43rd btw. Lex+3rd, but I’m the only one in my office who has no shame and will run out for the really cheap finds or freebies. I will literally duck and run out of my office with exact change in my hand.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? The pizza deal at Naples 45 (on 45th & Madison) and the 99 cent pizza place, Woorijip (on 32nd btw. B’way+5th_ when I find myself near Penn Station, Café Zaiya and Chiyoda Sushi (on 41st btw. Mad+5th), and the Kwik Meal cart (on 45th & 6th). Mmm falafel.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Lately, out of nostalgia, I’ve been craving a lot of the comfort food/pub grub from when I studied in England a few years ago. High teas with scones, fish and chips loaded with vinegar, and hot Cornish pasties—flaky pastries filled and baked with some sort of meat, potato, corn, onions, etc.—millions of varieties—fast, hearty and cheap!

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