Midtown Lunch

The rumors about the clothing store Strawberry on 49th St. btw. 6+7th closing have turned out to be true, as evidenced by their gigantic closing sale signs.  They will be moving to a new location on Broadway and 54th at the end of August, clearing the way for a “high end” “high profile” seafood restaurant, according to some of the talk going around the building.  This information was made all the more interesting by this, which was printed in the NY Sun today:

Oceana (on 54th St. btw Park+Mad), is moving closer to the heart of Midtown after its lease expires in July of next year. The new space, whose location has not yet been disclosed, will be larger, with 200 seats and room for private dining.

Interesting… that sounds about right. If Oceana does take over the space, then this really has nothing to do with Midtown Lunch, but there is still the business of the former Duane Reade space which is empty on the opposite side of the building. Mini-Sizzler anybody?

The newest member of the Treats Truck family made her debut in Midtown today when Kim Ima brought “Dot” out for a little test run on 38th & 5th Ave.  I love treats, but my inner cynic really wants to hate this whole naming of the trucks thing.  That being said, there is something strangely adorable about this new truck.  Old, rundown, chipped paint, smaller than the normal Treats Truck, and no fancy glass display case, there is a clear Herbie-the-Love-Bug-vibe coming from this vehicle.  It doesn’t hurt that it’s filled with cookies and brownies either.  Today was just a test run, and Kim is probably a ways off from having both trucks up and running at the same time- but “Dot” may enable her to park in Midotwn spots that Sugar can’t fit into… so there may be some immediate benefits.

A closer look, after the jump…  Read more »

Got word from a tipster that last Thursday a taco truck was parked on
the SW corner of 40th St. And 5th Ave. Showed up today and not
surprisingly, it’s nowhere to be found. In its place is a coffee and
breakfast truck that confirmed the existence of a mysterious taco truck
that popped up for one day. “I thought our truck was big, but this
thing was the biggest truck I’ve ever seen.” According to the tipster
it “looked like they had steak, chicken, al pastor, cecina, etc.” Plus
there was a counter to stand and eat your tacos at.

Are you kidding me? People we are at defcon 5. Nothing is important
until this giant taco truck is found. Sightings to report? Do it in
the comments, or email zach@midtownlunch.com

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. Today it’s Janine, a vegetarian/consultant/food blogger who strangely enough has been closely tracking the opening of Five Napkin Burger on 9th Ave. in Hell’s Kitchen.  I guess they serve veggie burgers?  Plus, she has a question at the end I’m sure you are all going to enjoy answering…

Name: Janine

Age: 22

Occupation: Consultant and food blogger (http://lifewithfoodanddrink.blogspot.com)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Times Square

Favorite Kind of Food: Cake in general, although chocolate cake with white frosting is my favorite. I also like cupcakes, the more convenient yet significantly less frosted cousin of the cake.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Well, I’m a vegetarian, so I guess I’m obliged to say meat, but that’s not really my “least favorite…” I’m not the biggest fan of eggs eaten straight up, although in other dishes I’m fine with them. Also, I really hate parsnips.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Now that I’ve discovered a Pain Quotidien near Bryant Park, that’s got to be my favorite lunch place in Midtown (although I haven’t been to that particular location yet.) I also like Free Foods NYC (45th btw. 5+6th), Starwich (38th btw. 5+6th), and Zest (B’way btw. 40+41st)… but I bring my lunch to work a lot also.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Europa, Mangia (catering), Duke’s (41st & B’way). And the Kati Roll place (39th btw. 5+6th), for some reason.

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? The Macaron Cafe! One of my friends loves macarons, so I was happy to find an alternative to Maison au Chocolat (36th btw. B’way+7th).

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Boston, Massachusetts, because it has my favorite lunch places in the world: B.Good. The Boston office of my employer is actually two doors down from one of B.Good’s four locations, and yet perversely I chose to work in NYC… if I could have the B.Good New American salad with orange soy dressing and real fries every day of my life, I would be a very happy person.

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? What is the best “pick-up” place in Midtown (restaurant, bar, club…)? I’m talking eligible, datable singles here (and preferably men.) Midtown Lunch readers, help a single girl out!

Oh boy… this is me slowly getting out of the way of this one.  Er… comments?

And as always, if you want to be the next Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er, or you’d like to nominate somebody in your office, email me at zach@midtownlunch.com

I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…)  These are both a week or two old, so apologies to both places if they’ve managed to miraculously fix their issues since these emails were sent.  I’m guessing they haven’t.

Please warn fellow Midtown Lunchers [about John’s Shanghai on 46th btw. 6+7th).] Here’s the review I posted on MenuPages: “I’ve ordered here many many times before and have never been so disappointed. Sure, restaurants have their off days, but today’s food was a complete insult. I had 6 orders in total, none came close to mediocre. General Tso’s chicken was just a pile of red chicken, no broccoli on the side or anything. Chicken and Brocolli was sweet. Double Sauteed Pork was sweet rather than spicy, and pork slices were too thick. Thought that was bad, here’s the icing on the cake. Soy Sauce Chicken over rice, they had the nerve to give us re-cooked chicken. I’m Chinese, I know! It looks like leftover soy sauce chicken reheated in the steamer. The skin on the chicken had shrunken a bit and the color from the soy sauce had come off already. Why would you dare serve something like that to a customer?!!?!?!??!?!!! I will NEVER order from them again!” Thanks, Lily.

Wow… I don’t even know what to say to that.  Luckily, John’s Shanghai has never really been considered a Midtown Lunch, so I don’t even really need to waste any time trying to interpret that rant.  The email I got about Ambrosia was a little more upsetting.  Why the generic deli (that became a ML favorite by adding Korean food) might have me re-thinking my “Best Bi Bim Bap in Midtown” claim- after the jump…   Read more »

Big news out of the Midtown pizza front: Lazzara’s, the relatively old school sit down pizza place on 38th btw. 7+8th is getting a second location on 9th Ave. btw. 43+44th. Opened 23 years ago, the original Lazzara’s has been mentioned a few times on this site in the comments, usually when the discussion of best chicken parm is raised. Unlike the original, which is opened Monday through Friday and only until 9 p.m., the new location will be opened 24 hours, and according to Tony Lazzara will be standing room only, delivery and take out.  Slightly out of bounds for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes, the 9th Ave. location will hopefully lighten the lunchtime load on the original, which has some pretty long wait times between Noon and 2pm.  They expect the new place to be up and running in the next 2-3 months.

With so many cheap, order-at-a-counter-and-take-it-to-a-table pizza and chicken parm places in Midtown, Lazzara’s isn’t really a prototypical Midtown Lunch. But with food this fresh and good, and a fairly busy take out business, it’s tough to ignore. Check out what they’ve got, after the jump… Read more »

You can get sorbet and ice cream at Maison du Chocolat in Rock Center…
Photo by Kathyylchan.

• … and the best one is the Chocolate Sorbet [Serious Eats: New York]
• There is an erector set skyscraper in Rock Center (heh.  It says erect.) [Urbanite]
• Need a late father’s day idea?  Get a bottle of Blue Label engraved at Grand Central [Blondie and Brownie]
• If you get to have your job “review” at a fancy restaurant, go to DB Bistro [Life With Food and Drink] 
• Photos from the opening of the new Joe and the Art of Coffee inside Grand Central Terminal [Wandering Eater Flickr]