PROFILE: Midtown Lunch’er “DDR”

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a Midtown Lunch’er for their recommendations of places to eat Lunch in Midtown. Meet “DDR”, a Lawyer who hates salads (agreed!) and anything his wife likes (DO NOT AGREE!  What are you crazy, saying something like that?  Not very smart…)

Name: DDR

Age:
28

Occupation:
Attorney

Where in Midtown do you Work?:
46th & 5th Ave.

Favorite Kind of Food:
Middle Eastern, BBQ, Indian

Least Favorite Kind of Food:
Salad, any food that my wife likes, and the $9 turkey sandwich (aka “the Midtown Special”)

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown:
Olympic Pita (38th b/w 5th & 6th). It’s not logical for a kosher place to have the best shwarma in Manhattan… but there it is. Order it in a laffa and have them to throw some french fries and fried eggplant in there. It’s the best $10 you’ll spend for awhile, if you can finish it. Beats the pants off of Bread & Olive and Kosher Deluxe.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Manhattan Cafe, Cosi. Just typing those 3 words makes me wince.

Place you discovered thanks to MidtownLunch: The Kati Roll Company (46 btw. 6+7th), Hing Won (48th btw. 5+6th). By the way, if the LA Weekly’s restaurant critic can win a Pulitzer for criticism, why can’t Midtown Lunch?  (Agreed!  Winning a Pulitzer is obviously the reason why I started Midtown Lunch.  -zach)

Dream job location, purely for lunch purposes?: 1 Central Park West (Jean Georges); Cornelia St. near Po, because their lunch menu (duck sloppy joe!) makes me salivate, but I am never in that area at lunch time; or if I could do my job from a booth at Katz’s Deli — that might be heaven.

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers?:  Has anyone ever eaten at any of the Brazilian places on “Little Brazil” and if so, are they worth visiting?

 

I was very excited when I heard that the famous Olympic Pita in Brooklyn would be opening a Midtown location.  But there’s only one problem.  It’s impossible to spend less than $10 for any of the delicious meats they serve (or is there some lunch special I’m missing???).  The laffa is baked fresh on site, in this sweet ass brick oven- and looks amazing (picture after the jump) 

 

 

But sandwiches on a laffa all start at $10.50, and most are $10.95.  You can get one on Pita for $9.95, but even that is kind of pricey.  The cheapest thing you can get is the Falafel sandwich $5.50/6.50, but even that is expensive for Falafel.  I’ve always considered this place a good and cheap dinner, or a fancy co-worker lunch option more than a “Midtown Lunch”.  I’ll probably cave eventually, but for now it’s a little out of my price range.  I don’t doubt that the food is amazing, I’m just wondering- with all the great Middle Eastern options in Midtown, is it really worth the price as a lunch? As always comments are welcome…

If you have a Little Brazil (46th St.) recommendation for DDR, post it as a comment below.  And, as always, if you have any Midtown Lunch news or you’d like to be next weeks Profiled Midtown Lunch’er, just email me at zach@midtownlunch.com.

8 Comments

  • ddr- you must check out emporium brazil. one of our favorite places in the whole city. the beef stew with butternut squash & chicken stroganoff are my favorites. plus all the rice & beans you can handle. a bit on the pricey side (at least for dinner when i’ve been there) with entrees $15-25. but very generous portions and totally worth it. my coworker recently told me about another place, the argentine pavilion but i haven’t made it there yet. enjoy!

  • 46th has a wealth of “sit down around 20$” meals

    Argentine Pavilion’s mixed grill is very nice

    Either Emporium Brasil or Via Brasil has a glass case in the front full of little Brazilian pastries that could make the 10$ cut easily, and both have lots of good around 20$ meals.

    Tequilizado has Columbian food, and their Plato Tipico (or whatever they call it) is a belly full of goodness.

  • Please do not promote Po. Its better off left as a secret to those in the know

  • Anonymous:
    I just sent an e-mail to every person on the island of Manhattan attaching Po’s lunch menu. Check you later, man!

  • I work right near Little Brazil and none of those places are so good for lunch unless you’re looking to sit for table service. Ipanema is my favorite for after work as they have great food and the best Caipirinhas, hands down.

  • Do they make them with good cachaca or are they americanized?

  • The best meal on little brazil is to be had at the Kati Roll Company – the chicken tikka wrap is brilliant.

  • Dee – I love Kati Roll as much as the next pseudonymous Midtown Luncher of the Week, but Kati Roll up and left Lil’ Brazil. Do you really have to rub it in?

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