PROFILE: Midtown Lunch’er “Matt”
Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week, it’s Matt a guy who has *shocker* never tried Thai food? I don’t even know what to make of that…
Name: Matt
Age: 27
Occupation: Television
Where in Midtown do you Work?: NBC
Favorite Kind of Food: I love Pizza, Italian, and Burgers but I try to eat healthy so I go to a lot of health food places now.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Thai. I’ve never actually had any. When I was in camp, one of the directors got food poisoning a few days before his wedding after eating Thai food. I remember telling everyone “who eats Thai food before their wedding? Isn’t that risky?” To this day I haven’t had it.
Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I love Jianetto’s pizza truck (on 47th btw. Park+Mad), I love the fancy sandwiches at Dishes, I like Chopt’s salads, Café Duke (on 51st btw. 6+7th) has good whole wheat pizza’s but they fill me up too much.
“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Variety Café (on 48th btw. 5+6th). They really have everything. The salad is a good deal with lots of toppings, they have whole wheat pasta, and they even have a wok in the back
Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? A lot. I’ve been to Madeline the crepe lady (on 49th btw. 7+8th) which I enjoyed even though she told me “I was killing her” when I didn’t tell her till later it was a to go order. The famous halal cart (on 53rd & 6th) I enjoy at night. I’m going to try Cafe Edison (on 47th btw. B’way+8th) in the future.
If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Italy. I went there in college and the food is just off the charts unbelievable.
Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? In these cold months, I have found my favorite smoothie cart (49th and 6th) has disappeared and my back up (I think 51st and 6th) has disappeared as well. Anyone know of any smoothie carts? I prefer them to places like Jamba juice cause they just use fruit and ice which I love.
As hard as it may be for some of you to stick to the question posed… let’s try today. Got an answer for Matt? Put it in the 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
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:30 am, February 3rd, 2009 under PROFILE: Midtown Lunch'er.
89 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
89 Comments
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@ Dan L – you sound like the dwarf in “In Bruges” (sorry for the obscure reference)
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Uh…I just went to Topaz yesterday and enjoyed every moment of my pork drunken noodle lunch… until I found a staple in my noodle, that is. So in addition to my staple, they didn’t pass health inspection. Awesome!! Wish I had read Zach’s comment before heading out there.
Matt – I’d also recommend Won Dee Siam. How are things at 30 rock?
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@ Dan L: It’s on like Donkey Kong!
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@Zach: You rule. I totally stole the idea from the dwarf in “In Bruges.”
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@ Miss Menu: That smoothie truck’s great.
@ Matt: Doc Chuck has his Ph.D, Player Hater Degree.
@ Everyone else: Matt’s not the most adventurous eater, but such is the authenticity of ML. Would you rather a scripted reality where all midtown workers are aspiring food critics? I like how Zach switches it up.
@ NBC employees: NBC’s still the bomb. It’s the only network I can still watch (unless one counts the CW.) I particularly love Kathie Lee and Hoda. -
@Indisputable First Lady of Fruit
>>Would you rather a scripted reality where all midtown workers are aspiring food critics?That would be the equivalent of going to a Star Wars fansite and refusing to watch the first 3 original films b/c they’re too ‘old’ or something.
You would get flamed until next millennium.
Same when you go to a foodie site. It does provide diversity, but what do you think is going to happen? -
@ HungryAnon What should one find on a foodie sight? This is an interesting question. Shall we turn to Wikipedia?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodie on Gourmets vs. Foodies:“Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news.[1] Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food.”
Zach, in this case, is the foodie. As such, he endeavors to explore the totality of the midtown lunching experience. ML provides the perfect cross section of the experience of eating lunch in midtown- the workers, the delis, the hidden finds, the carts, the openings, the closings, “the best and the ordinary.” I like ML precisely because it is not *just* about the food, but also about the experience of lunching in midtown, an experience of which Matt (and other flamed lunch’ers whom I’ve previously defended) is an indisputable part.
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Also, when’s the next ML Happy Hour?
There’s a war coming on Midtown Lunch… It will pit the tastebud-lacking, GMD-loving, salad-eating WASPs who “don’t like ethnic food” against the flavor-loving, GMD-hating, offal-eating cheapskates who actually like to try new things. All will be forced to choose sides. I’ve already decided that Goats will be my mortal enemy after reading him declare his hatred of Indian food (among other atrocities).