Midtown Lunch

In case you missed it, on Friday I was grilled over at A Hamburger Today– giving them my thoughts on the almighty hamburger. Here were my picks for best and worst burgers in Midtown:

“Tough to say. Fast food, thin burger: Five Guys (on 55th btw. 5+6th). Fast food, thicker burger: Burger Joint (on 56th btw. 6+7th). Burger from a Cart: Carnegie John’s (on 56th & 7th). As for the more expensive, sit down burgers, I haven’t had very many. But HB Burger (on 43rd btw. B’way+6th) and Beacon (on 56th btw. 5+6th) are both really good. And the worst burger I’ve ever had in Midtown was at this place called Arome Cafe on 32nd between Broadway and 7th Avenue. Somebody twittered @midtownlunch that their burger was “$5.50 and bangin'”. Against my better judgment (Arome Cafe is one of those terrible generic delis that Midtown is famous for, and Midtown Lunch does its best to fight against) I tried the terrible terrible burger. Bad meat (not unlike what I got in my Jr. High Cafeteria), bad flavor, poorly cooked. Couldn’t even finish it. Damn you, Twitter!”

Check out the worst burger I’ve ever had, after the jump…

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Fans of Aroma Espresso Bar‘s UWS and Soho locations will be excited to hear that they have a third spot planned for Midtown (on 42nd Street btw. 2+3rd.) In addition to coffee they serve a menu of made to order sandwiches, soups, salads, and pastries.  You know how I feel about these generic soup, salad and sandwich places- but I’m a sucker for grilled haloumi.  And they’re serving it in one of their signature sandwiches.

Just got word that the Smorgaschef on 49th St. & 2nd Ave. has closed. It’s out of bounds and not really a Midtown Lunch (everything is over $10), but if you must partake there is another location on Park Ave. & 38th Street (where the old AQ Cafe used to be.) For my Swedish food fix I prefer the new location of AQ Kafe (on Broadway btw 57+58th), or FIKA Swedish Espresso Bar (on 58th btw. 5+6th), both with lunch options under $10.

Smorgaschef’s goodbye sign is after the jump…

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Apparently my kid doesn’t believe in having a go-to lunch

• Curry Hill is out of bounds, but this $10 all you can eat kebab deal sounds pretty sweet [Grub Street]
• Cucina & Co. in Rock Center now has whoopie pies [Blondie and Brownie]
• Downtown Lunch fave closed for operating without a permit [Grub Street]
• Speaking of Downtown, Yvo revisits the Fried Chicken Cart she first wrote about on ML [Feisty Foodie]
• I get “Grilled” by A Hamburger Today [AHT]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

A piece of advice: If you plan on a happy hour excursion to Bar Nine do so when the weather is nice. We did and found a very pleasant open storefront cradled by second hand couches that was perfect for al fresco boozing or perhaps while reading a book and enjoying a bite to eat, much like you’d expect at a café.

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It seems like every day a new street vendor pops up, many of them leaving behind careers in other industries to do so (Cupcake Stop I’m looking in your general direction.) And with this new wave of interest Midtown Lunch has gotten its fair share of emails and comments from aspiring entrepreneurs asking for advice… but I’m sure it pales in comparison to the number of phone calls that the Street Vendor Project gets! (The Vendy Awards might be their biggest attention grabber, but helping vendors is their actual reason for being.)

Well the SVP has responded to the current demand for info by offering a new class for people who might be looking to leave their job for a career as a street vendor. According to the listing it will conduct the class four times a year and discuss topics such as:

1) How to get a license, permit, cart, and spot.
2) Laws, rules, and regulations you need to know.
3) How to deal with police, store owners, and other vendors.

The first class is being offered Sunday, August 16th from 6-8pm. It costs $150, and is limited to 12 people. Get more information, or sign up here on nyccharities.org