Who thought it would be a good idea to add Vietnamese food to a Thai restaurant that already serves sushi.  Seriously?  As much as I like pho (and bubble tea), I don’t think that this is going to be the thing to take New York Thai Grill and Sushi (on 54th btw. 5+6th) over the top. Has anybody discovered a dish they do well?  I can’t imagine there is anything that could get me to try a place that does Thai, sushi, and Vietnamese soups.  What’s that you say?  They offer a $23 all you can eat thai food and sushi dinner… uh, well I suppose I could be persuaded to check it out for dinner.  You know… for research purposes. Anybody been?

New York Thai Grill and Sushi, 37 W 54th St (btw 5+6th Ave), 212-581-8808

Related:
Asian Station Might Be the First Multi Ethnic Restaurant to Ever Be Good

I don’t know why I decided to eat at China Moon the other day. This Thai/Chinese combo (on 47th btw. Mad+5th) has been around forever, and while I’ve been tempted to try it on a number of occasions I’ve never quite pulled the trigger.  Anytime a restaurant serves up more than one kind of Asian cuisine it’s always a big red flag, but Asian Station turned out to be pretty good, and China Moon just went through some renovations, so I was feeling kind of lucky.

China Moon has only been mentioned in the comments once, by Lunch’er “dombrooks” back in February of last year (that’s 2008 for those of you keeping score at home.)  He only recommended one dish, the triple chili chicken.  That sounded pretty good, and I was all set to order it, but there was one problem.  They didn’t offer it as one of their lunch specials- and I wasn’t about to spend $13 on a single dish at China Moon. Instead we ended up with these three dishes:

General Tso’s Chicken ($7.50 for the lunch special) is always a good standby, and happens to be one of my favorite American Chinese food dishes of all time.  Sadly, this version was just ok.  The first couple bites were tasty enough, but by the end I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to order it again.  Can’t put my finger on the why, but you’ll have to take my word for it. Interestingly enough, there were tons of chilies on the plate, but not really much heat on the chicken.

Not sure why “Three Shredded Meat Banquet Lo Mein” caught my eye, but we ended up with a plate of that as well ($7.95). Despite the menu billing it as a “less greasy” version of lo mein, it turned out to be one of the greasiest versions I’ve ever had. The noodles were kind of mushy (although in its defense, they were described as “softer” on the menu), and the meat was not great. Once again, the first few bites were fine- but I don’t think anybody would want to eat a full plate of this stuff.

Finally we had to try one dish from the Thai menu. Pad thai is usually an industry standard, but we opted for the pad see ew instead. Surprisingly it was the best of the three. Thai food at a Chinese restaurant usually tastes like Chinese food, and this dish was no exception. But this version of pad see ew has an interesting heat to it that made slightly more enjoyable than the other two dishes. Super greasy, and after a few bites I kind of got sick of it (what is it with this place!) but all and all I guess it could have been worse.

So here’s where you guys come in. I hate writing a place off after trying only 3 dishes, especially when it has customers (and China Moon was kind of packed when we left.) But I’m not going to try the whole menu myself (I don’t have the time, or the desire.) So if there is a good lunch special to be had at this place I want to try it. Anybody had a dish that’s worthwhile? Who are all these people eating at China Moon and what do they order?

China Moon, 7 East 47th Street (btw. Mad+5th), 212-207-4787

Related:
You Decide: Good Portions on Lex
You Decide: Is Picnic on 57th More Than Just a Generic Midtown Deli?

Got this email from Lunch’er Nicholas last week:

A while back you made a very brief mention of just a out of bounds “Picnic on 57th” (57th just east of Lexington). Well it opened on Monday and I tried it out today. The place looked like a generic Deli walking in but i was hungry and running out of time on my lunch hour so i settled on their “Boneless Wild Berry BBQ Rib Hero” (that’s how it was written on their chalk board…no description otherwise….yes it was a gamble). Well… imagine my face as the sandwich guy (who had clearly never made the sandwich before) began assembling the baguette with (mostly) boneless BBQ riblets (shortrib i think), then roasted corn, grilled onions and finally french fries. He even had to incredulously ask the other sandwich guy if it really meant french fries! It was $8.50 before tax. I’ve attached a cell-phone photo for you…

I admit its not the best quality photo. Overall I probably wouldn’t recommend the sandwich unless you like your BBQ on the sweet side. I also would have liked everything to be warmer (which may be something they will work out over time but they’d probably heat it up for you if you asked).

There are a few things on the menu I think you might find interesting for your northeasterly readers…. Bahn Mi (“Pork, Pate, pickled carrots, daikon, cucumber, jalapeno and cilantro on a warm baguette…7.50″) and … on their Grill Menu… the Reuben Dog (“Hebrew national Frank, Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Melted Gruyere & Spicy Mustard … $4.50 fries not included)

I’ll give them a try again in a week or so to see if any of the kinks have been worked out (if only to try that Reuben Dog). I appreciate that they are trying to do something different in an area where so much is the same old same old.

Unable to resist banh mi in any form, I headed over at the end of last week to check the place out and discovered what looked to me like a completely generic Midtown deli.

I asked the guy behind the counter what’s in the banh mi.  He said pork, and pointed to some pickled carrots in the assembly station.  I asked what about pate?  He looked at me like I was crazy and said “no”.  I walked out.

Could be opening jitters, and that BBQ thing with french fries looks interesting.  But to me it seemed like just another crappy deli.  What do you guys think?  Anybody been to Picnic on 57th yet that has anything good to report?

Picnic on 57th btw. Lex+3rd

Our Downtown Lunchers have been eagerly searching for a Rosario’s replacement ever since the popular Italian deli closed last year.  But when Lunch’er “Goats” suggested in the comments that there was a Rosario’s-like option in Midtown, I had to check it out.

“My heart still cries when I think of Rosarios and how it was taken so quickly from me (after only 3 visits)…That was the first establishment I found via Midtown Lunch (and It was a downtown establishment!) .I was there the last day and was as close to tears as I get when a beloved food establishment shuts its doors. I have found 2 replacements in the last year as well, Milano Deli on 34th between Madison and 5th (HUGE Italian sandwiches for 7.75:get the Milano special and you will almost think you are back at rosarios) and Defontes of Brooklyn on 21st and 3rd.”

Defonte’s is well know, but sadly too far out of bounds for me… so I excitedly headed over to Milano last week to check the place out.

The place looks like every single other generic deli in Midtown, and despite the long board filled with classic Italian sandwich options, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this did not seem like Rosario’s at all.

The parade of fresh roasted meats in the back did look pretty good though… uncut roast beef, brisket, roasted turkey (although it was right next to standard deli turkey), corned beef and pastrami, plus chicken and eggplant cutlet were all on display (just like most generic delis, but maybe this was better?)

I’ll admit that in the face of all that meat, I forgot Goats’ original recommendation to order the “Milano Special” (ham, salami/ham cappicola, mortadella, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, roasted peppers, Italian dressing on fresh baked semolina bread.) Maybe that was my big mistake.

Instead I went with a brisket sandwich on roll. They cut the brisket with the grain (terrible), and offered me lettuce and tomato with it (no!) No grilled onions or gravy, so I was forced to just get it plain with mustard. It looked so good up on the counter… but failed miserably on taste. Very upsetting.

It’s tough to ignore the overall feeling of generic deli-ness, or to ignore how horribly they butchered my brisket sandwich. But maybe I did order wrong. The Milano Special does sound good… anybody else been to this place? I’m curious to hear what you guys think. Generic Midtown Deli? Or hidden Italian sandwich gem? You decide.

Milano Gourmet Italian Caterers, 14 E. 34th St. (btw. Mad+5th) 212-532-1177

Got an email from Blockheads Burritos the other day, which has one location in the Midtown Lunch boundaries (3rd Ave. btw. 33+34th) and two locations just outside of the ML boundaries (one on 50th btw. 8+9th, and one on 2nd Ave. btw. 50+51st).

“I am the Administrative Assistant over at Blockheads Burritos and I’m very interested in getting our locations on your map. How can we go about this? Can you send me some literature or a link? Maybe even a call? Thank you in advance!”

I’ll tell you how you get on the map… serve good lunch food, for cheap- and if the Midtown Lunch readers deem you worthy, then you get added to the canon of official Midtown Lunches.  I admit Blockheads is not completely off the radar…  it’s been mentioned by a few commenters and Profiled Midtown Lunch’ers (most notably Kristy) and I have considered crossing 8th Ave. on many occasions to try one of their burritos.  But part of the former L.A. resident in me feels a little bit of skepticism towards this after-work-party-spot.  They do have a $9 lunch combo (which includes chips, salsa, and a soda) which is intriguing. 

Anybody been?  Thoughts?  I’ll leave this one up to you guys…

Well, clearly I was wrong.  After 20+ comments nobody had anything positive to say about Good Portions- and my “You Decide” experiment was a total failure.  My intention was to take one of the recommendations, try the dish, and report back to everyone.  But with nothing to recommend, there was nothing for me to try.  So much for that.  But then something unexpected happened.  Last Tuesday, as part of Jennifer Lee’s profile, I asked lunchers to comment with their favorite Chinese food dishes in Midtown- and this was posted by “Cait”:

Tie between the roast pork lo mein and pork buns at Chinese Noodle House (down the street from Manchenko-tei) and Scallop Wonderland w/brown rice at GoodPortions on Lex between 39th and 40th. The sweetness and crunchiness of the scallions goes perfectly with the soft scallops and the chewy brown rice, and the sauce is to die for.

Now wait a second.  That’s not a “this dish is pretty good”, that’s a “This is my favorite Chinese food dish in Midtown” comment.  So yesterday, I trekked over to Good Portions to eat scallops, for only $7, at a take out place loathed by most of the Midtown Lunch’ing community.  Another example of me sacrificing my body for the good of this site, after the jump…

I remember hating scallops when I was a kid.  I think it had something to do with that “scallopy” taste that all scallops had.  It wasn’t until recently, after trying good scallops at fancy NYC restaurants that I realized that “scallopy” taste is not the taste of scallops, it’s the taste of cheap scallops.  Good scallops don’t taste like that.  At $6.95, can you guess which taste these scallops had? 

That being said, they were still edible (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t finish them) and the sauce is perfect for anybody who has ever thought “Gee, I love that orange sweet and sour sauce you get at Americanized Chinese restaurants.  I just wish there was a version that was a little more watery.”  It wasn’t terrible, but I don’t think I would ever list it as “one of the best Chinese food dishes in Midtown”.  Probably not even in the top 50%.  Sorry commenter.  Although in fairness to you, I didn’t order the brown rice.