Midtown Lunch

If Yushi (47th btw. Lex+Park) is famous for one thing on Midtown Lunch, it’s that they sure like to switch things around every few months. (Remember the conveyor belt, dim sum, then the refrigerated conveyor belt?) Well, they’re at it again. They recently launched Yu Bowl (no relation to the Super Bowl, we’re assuming) which has completely replaced the conveyor belt. The Yu Bowl uses the Chipotle style ordering/serving method where the customers line up and you point to the server what you would like in your (Yu) bowl.

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Let’s face it – It’s only February, and we still have at least a month of cold weather left before we can put away the sweater, scarves and jackets. Bundling up is one way of beating the cold weather, but the contributors here at Midtown lunch like to reach for a hot bowl of soup to warm up. We’ve asked each of the contributors to share a favorite bowl of soup in Midtown, so read on to find out where we like to get our soup on.

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Yushi (on 47th btw Park+Lex) is at it again, folks. When word came out about their new baked chicken katsu, it was the right news at the right time for me. I love katsu, it’s Japanese fried goodness, but sometimes I can’t afford to eat something so heavy that only ends in a food coma. My boss has been frowning on my food comas of late. I understand that baked katsu is a little wrong, a little disrespectful to the Katsu gods, but Yushi basks on the healthier side of life and they wanted to bring it on over. And since sharing is caring, Yushi is offering buy one, get one today and tomorrow!

I take the plunge, after the jump…

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It’s been awhile since Yushi (on 47th btw. Park+Lex) introduced one of their new specials. There was the dim sum, the peking duck, the bento boxes, the banh mi, the sake ramen, and now the latest: katsu! Yushi is now serving a white meat chicken katsu with curry sauce and tonkotsu sauce (presumably on the side.) It’s $10 and baked, instead of fried, so I’m guessing that Go Go Curry is not really shaking in their boots over this one. But if you’re looking for something a bit healthier, or 38th Street is a bit too far for lunch, it looks like it’s worth checking out. Early adopters, let us know how it is.

Last week Lunch’er Christene floated the idea of a banh mi tasting in the connections section of the forums. Yesterday 7 Midtown Lunchers gathered in Grand Central to turn her dream into a reality. Here is Christene’s report…

With open minds and empty stomach, 7 Midtown lunchers gathered to rate 7 different banh mi-style sandwiches in a head-to-head competition. To ensure nuance and balance in the competition, representative banh mi’s were to include Chinatown (Paris Sandwich, Banh Mi Saigon), East Village (Nicky’s), Gramercy (Baoguette) and, of course, Midtown (Ma Peche, Yushi, and Boi To Go). We rated the sandwiches with 5 points assigned to each of 6 categories: bread, pork, vegetables, overall taste, authenticity and value. To ensure purveyors and/or price-point did not prejudice the taste ratings, we labeled sandwiches A-G and provided price on the flip side of post-its, so that tasters could self-reveal price after eating the sample and thus rate value independently.

The results are after the jump…

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Yushi (on 47th btw. Park+Lex) seems to add a new thing every month (like boozy ramen) but when Lunch’er “Jason” told me they had added banh mi, I took a second lunch break and ran there. Since you don’t know I’ll tell you now – one of my life goals is to eat every Vietnamese baguette in New York City (my favorite so far is Nicky’s in the EV, but I admit I’m only just getting started.) Sadly it was a Thursday, and I was informed banh mi day is on Wednesdays! So began the six-day countdown to the following Wednesday. Luckily the wait was worth it.

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Today I was going to tell you all about the banh mi that Yushi (on 47th btw. Park+Lex) has been serving on Thursdays, but they decided to move them to Wednesdays! No sense in teasing you with something you can’t have until next week. Still want to head to Yushi? Thursdays are still peking duck day. (And there is always the sake ramen.)

Related:
Today is Peking Duck Day at Yushi (and You May Be Surprised to Hear Where The Duck Comes From)

Speaking of Yushi, they have a special running only through the month of March. Any 3 plates from their refrigerated conveyor belt sushi and dessert line is only 9.95.  Green plates are excluded (of course!), but filling up on 3 of the $4.75 plates would still make this a pretty good deal.

Related:
Midtown Lunch’ers Report: Yushi’s New Refrigerated Conveyor Belt

Yushi (on 47th btw. Park+Lex) has become known for their near manic proclivity at adding new items to their menu. Last week they introduced their new Sake Ramen and as the official ML Happy Hour Correspondent I thought it was fitting that I try this boozy broth. After all, I’ve had a fair amount of sake in my day and if you count all the ramen I ate in college then the same can be said for the latter. However, I don’t think I’ve ever added sake to my ramen, at least not on purpose. I wasn’t sure how this combination would sit with me. I figured it might be great or it could be bad. A kin to pouring beer on your chicken noodle, but enough talk, time for soup!

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Yushi (on 47th btw. Park+Lex) has always been about the craziness (conveyor belt sushi, dim sum, the new and improved refrigerated conveyor belt, peking duck days, and bogo free greatest hits bentos.)  But this could be the best of the lot: according to Urbandaddy they’ve just started serving an off the menu bowl of ramen covered in a glass of sake (!?) We are so on this… but should it be a lunch or a Happy Hour post?  Early adopters, let us know what you think in the comments.