Midtown Lunch

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, meet Rebecca- an executive receptionist who loves chili fries, and needs help tracking down a Mongolian BBQ place.

Name: Rebecca

Age: 30

Occupation: Executive Receptionist

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Private equity firm in midtown; 56th and 5th avenue

Favorite Kind of Food: Indian, Thai, French fries, BBQ, Cheese, Steak, Cheesesteaks! Don’t forget Chili Cheese fries…so gross, so GOOD…. ANYTHING with bacon.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Italian and Sushi (i know, i know!) These are good foods in my book, but if I had to prioritize, they would be my LEAST favorite.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I love the Asia Grill (on 65th & 2nd) for their marinated beef cubes and Bun Xao with beef, Tina’s Cuban (on 56th btw. 5+6th) for their pork and plantains sandwich, the Tofu BLT from Uncle Marky’s Organics (on 53rd btw. 2+3rd) and I’m not nuts for tofu, Pita Grill’s Fish tacos (on 2nd Ave. btw. 50+51st), Kati Rolls, Scallion pancakes from Joe’s Shanghai (on 56th btw. 5+6th), Bibimbap from Korean Pro (on 56th btw. 5+6th), the Mexican and Jalapeno hummus from Crisp (on 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th), the Woody Allen from the Carnegie Deli (on 7th Ave. and 55th), big noodle bowls from Lili’s 57 (on 57th & 7th).

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Printon 56 (on 56th btw. 5+6th), Mangia, Cafe Classico, and Hale and Hearty. I don’t mind Printon too much but Mangia’s prices keep going up and their portion sizes keep going down! Hale and Hearty takes an hour to deliver and they are literally across the street…what’s up with that?

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? The Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge changed my life! It gives me something to look forward to while I’m staring at my computer all day. You have no idea how many hours have been wasted staring at the menus on Seamlessweb with NO clue what I feel like eating. I had never tried FreeFoods and now I love the Duck pastrami. Now, Tina’s/Sophie’s and the amazing Mexican from Crisp. (plus Cammarerri’s proscuitto roll from the cart as soon as I get there)

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Barcelona…the combo of many different types of tapas, the wine and siestas, along with the fact I’ve never been there, make it the obvious choice.

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Why is there no Mongolian BBQ here? I’m from Vancouver and they are EVERYWHERE. Also, I fell in love with an El Salvadorean place in Brooklyn called Bahia and I NEED a closer locale to eat PAPUSAS!!!! (And don’t tell me Red Hook.)

Yeah, I think you are SOL on the pupusa front… but there is tons of mongolian bbq in Midtown! None of the places are all you can eat (you have to pay by the pound) but they do exist. I wrote about the one at Food World (on 46th btw. Mad+5th) awhile back, but that may be a bit too far for you. Anybody else have any Mongolian BBQ recommendations for Rebecca?

And as always if you want to be next weeks’ Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nomninate), email me at zach@midtownlunch.com.