Midtown Lunch

These two sites have nothing to do with finding lunch in Midtown, but my sense is you will like them anyway.  If a french fry covered corn dog or a corn dog topped pizza sounds good to you, you have to check out the amazingly awesome “This is Why You’re Fat”.  (I have my own personal version of that website, and it is the site you are on right now.)  I was thinking of submitting a photo of my own… any suggestions? Also, for the person who loves adding bacon to everything: http://bacolicio.us/ will add a strip of bacon to your favorite websites. (How could that be bad?)  [TiWYF via Eater; Bacolicio via Lunch’er Liz]

So yesterday I was walking down 48th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue and had a flash of brilliance.  I had just passed the original location of House of Pita, a little take out window that used to serve falafel sandwiches and bourekas to big crowds every day at lunch. Surprisingly it has been vacant since November of 2007, leaving a prime piece of Midtown Lunch’ing real estate completely unused.  I’ve walked by the dark window many times and thought “isn’t there anybody who would want to use this space to serve hard working Midtown’ers something delicious for lunch?”  Well, yesterday the perfect idea came to me:

Bring… back… the… Ssam!  Notoriously, Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village (which recently was awarded 3 stars from the New York Times) actually started off as a fast food Korean burrito place (think Momofuku meets Chipotle), which sold take out burritos, and their now famous pork buns.  I thought it was brilliant (and super delicious) but there wasn’t enough lunch business in the East Village to support the venture… so the current incarnation of Ssam Bar (which we now know and love) was born.

I think it’s time to bring the ssam back, but in a neighborhood that could totally support it! Here me out on this…

Read more »

If you are reading this at work, I have one question for you. Why does your boss hate black people?

I’m usually pretty good about ignoring the bad PR emails, but this one was so off base, I had to post it:

“Rhino Entertainment Presents Totally Fit, Spice Girl Mel B’s First-Ever Workout Video on February 3rd! The three-DVD set features fitness workouts and nutrition tips and is available now exclusively on www.Totallyfit.com and at retail nationwide on February 3rd! I have DVDs for review and giveaway and other assets (cover art, photos, and press release) below. Let me know if you are interested in featuring Totally Fit on Midtown Lunch.”

Really? Seriously? Have you even read this website? I don’t do exercise… or nutrition tips- and if I can help it, neither will the readers of this site!

Of course, here I am posting about it- which is exactly what they want you to do… but I’m too smart for them! As loyal readers of this site, I’m going to ask you to pretend that you never saw this, and make a point of *not* purchasing Mel B’s first-ever workout video.

What’s that? You weren’t planning on it anyway. Oh… well that’s good.

I know I preach about always getting out of the office for lunch, but how could I ignore this link Lunch’er Adam forwarded to me. If you can make a sandwich from meat purchased at Murray’s Salami, and sushi at your desk from ingredients purchased at Yagura, why not make a chocolate cake in a coffee mug using your company’s microwave?!?

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, we always end the year with a gigantic photo of every lunch consumed in Midtown that year.  Whether or not I should be proud or ashamed is something I’ll leave to you… but I’m pretty sure my wife and mother are concerned for my health, and this spectacle will only validate their fears.

So here it is… a photo of every Midtown Lunch in 2008

Read more »

Courtesy of Savage Chickens

Be careful getting home from work today…

Praise the Lard, and have a Merry Christmas.

Love, Your Good Friends at Midtown Lunch

Got a bit of terrible news in the comments the other day about La Strada, the former pizza place turned Latin food joint on 56th btw. Park+Lex. “DID THIS PLACE CLOSE? The other day it was totally shut!” Phone number is “temporarily disconnected.” That can’t be good… luckily for those who work in the upper reaches of Midtown East (which is already pretty desolate) there is the Tina’s Restaurant on 56th btw. 5+6th for the their rice and beans fix.

If your man won yesterday, and you want to bask in the glow of your
enormous victory, taking your lunch to Rock Center is the thing to do
today. If you’re feeling depressed and defeated, you’ll probably want to
avoid the enormous physical manifestation of your defeat.

Today is the only day of the year where it is acceptable to use your
lunch hour for something other than stuffing your face.