Midtown Lunch

It is with a heavy heart that I report that the endearingly eccentric Times Restaurant has finally shuttered, for what  appears to be for good. Walking by, I noticed a court order signed on 6/2/2011 commanding that the space be shutdown, with an ominous warning, “The department of buildings has determined that conditions in this premises are imminently perilous to life. Violators of this commissioner’s vacate order are subject to arrest.”

I’ll dearly miss this place, not that I’ve ever had the courage to actually eat there, but because they’ve always been a source of fun, slapstick content whenever we noticed another misguided effort to stay in business or another DOH smackdown. As we say farewell to the Times Restaurant, we’ve assembled a timeline of our favorite memories of the life and times of this restaurant after the jump.
Read more »

The downstairs Times Restaurant (8th Ave btw. 39+40) has endured near constant change over the last few years: name changes, wildly fluctuating buffet prices, DOH imposed downtime. Through all of that, Times has been some kind of Indian restaurant, much like the upstairs Kashmir Grill it used to share a name with. But now Times Restaurant is offering “traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex food.” It looks like it’s still a sit-down place, but there are a few ML friendly lunch items, like tacos and sandwiches. Perhaps more exciting is the fact that it may also be some sort of Mexican Hooters…
Read more »

Don’t know how long ago this happened…. but poor Times Restaurant!  If it’s not the DOH, it’s lawyers from the New York Times. Apparently their name change (font and all) didn’t go unnoticed by the big brass in the building across the street.  The buffet formerly known as Kashmir (on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th) received a letter asking them to change their sign, and they obliged (naturally).  The whole thing is kind of hilarious if you ask us… obviously the New York Times has their customized font trademarked, and clearly “The Times Restaurant” was infringing on that trademark.  But is anybody really confusing this run down Pakistani buffet with a restaurant that might possibly be affiliated with the paper of record?  Doubtful.  Most of us just look at the sign and laugh.  The lawyers for the New York Times? Clearly not amused. Time’s Halal Food cart, you’ve been warned.

It’s not all bad news though… it looks like the buffet has been reduced to $9.95 again. Thanks to Lunch’er Adam for the photo.

Related:
Buffet Formerly Known as Kashmir Goes Insane
Kashmir Becomes “The Buffet of Record”?

It has not been a good few days for food establishment using the “Times” moniker.  The New York Times cafeteria was closed last week after a health scare, and now the Times Restaurant (on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th) has been closed by the Department of Health.  This is nothing new for the Indian buffet formerly known as Kashmir, they were closed by the DOH just 15 months ago. There is some positive news in all this, though. It looks like they rolled the price of the buffet back to $9.95 from the $14.95 that was reported last week!

Also as a side note, I’d also like to point out that none of the owners of the surrounding restaurants were seen celebrating this closure in any way.

Related:
Kashmir Becomes the “The Buffet of Record”
Adventure Lunchers Should Flock to Kashmir Buffet

In perhaps the craziest 8th Ave. price hike of all time, the Times Restaurant (formerly known as Kashmir) has raised the price of their lunchtime buffet to $14.95!?! With the New York Times cafeteria closed yesterday for health reasons, I have no doubt the places around 8th Ave. and 40th Street will be extra crowded today.  But $9 to $15 in under a year?  That’s crazytown.  I’d recommend walking up to 47th for Spice Fusion’s $11 buffet. [Photo and News Courtesy of The NYTPicker]

Related:
Adventure Lunchers Should Flock to Kashmir Buffet
Kashmir Becomes “The Buffet of Record”?

The owners of the Kashmir Buffet (on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th) can’t seem to make up their mind.  The Pakistani/Indian buffet, which used to boast about their 30 year history on their sign, changed to The Cave (after some DOH issues), back to Kashmir, and now this… The Times Bar & Restaurant?  They still offer a $10 lunch buffet, and according to a worker in Kashmir Express (the takeout spot located at street level) the food is still the same… although he admitted that Kashmir Express and “The Times” are no longer owned by the same people.  No idea what any of this means, but I can’t imagine naming your restaurant after a newspaper is going to help business.  Unless maybe you’re an otherwise nondescript halal cart…

Related:
Adventure Lunchers Should Flock to Kashmir Buffet

I guess the “hospitality special” is now over, because the Kashmir Buffet has raised their price from $7.99 to $9.99. At $8 this weird, borderline scary, all you can eat Pakistani buffet was a strange treat. The kind of thing I would recommend everybody try just once (just to prove how much of a Midtown Lunch’ing badass you really are.) At $10, it’s much less attractive- especially with the far less scary Spice Fusion buffet just 10 blocks north (on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th). You’re still a badass if you go.

Related:
Adventure Lunchers Should Flock to Kashmir Buffet

There are two kinds of lunchers in Midtown.  Those who will travel (us), and those who won’t (the people who eat at Cafe Metro.)  And within the group of people I like to refer to as Midtown Lunch’ers (those who travel) there are two sub sets of people:  those who are just looking for good lunch at a decent price, and those who treat every lunch as some sort of adventure.  Adventure lunchers are the ones who flocked to the 38th St Restaurant and Bakery (now Ying Du) after I wrote this post. Adventure lunchers are the ones who used Street Meat Palooza as a personal checklist (stomachs be damned!)  Adventure lunchers are the ones who would choose grossing out their co-workers over their own personal well being.  And yes, some of them will even eat the Walgreens Sandwich. (Although there are a lot of people who will eat a gross cold cuts sandwich from Walgreens, but wouldn’t eat at Ying Du… and those people are lame.)

It was with that attitude that I ventured into Kashmir Buffet on Tuesday, determined to finally try what is now the cheapest all you can eat buffet in Midtown.

Read more »