Choice Eats Gives Midtown the Cold Shoulder Once Again

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It’s a familiar story at this point: Another year, another Choice Eats that sadly neglects the restaurants of midtown. This was my first year attending and I was honestly surprised at how few Midtown offerings there were. In past years, Margon flew the flag for the underrepresented, but this year, the only restaurant to fall within Midtown Lunch boundaries was Toloache, with just out of bounds Xie Xie and Mantou Chinese Sandwiches rounding out the Midtown selections.

It was disappointing from a Midtown Lunch’ing standpoint, but there was plenty of other deliciousness to stuff my face with. After the jump, some of my favorites.

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If the point of participating in an event like this for the restaurant is to pique interest in potential new customers, I have to declare this a success all around. Xie Xie’s braised pork with tart shallots certainly has my interest. Once I figure out a good excuse to head to 9th Avenue during my lunch break, I’ll be up there to give them a try.

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Choice Eats also reminded me which places I need to go back to after a long absence. One bite of Fette Sau’s smoked pork belly left me wondering why it’s been out of my life for so long. Thrown in for good measure, a smoked ham better than any you’ll find on the Easter table next month.

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Sara Jenkins’ Porchetta sparked an obsession in me that still makes me salivate when smelling fennel and rosemary together. That juicy, herb-scented pork is one of my favorite foods in the world.

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that table after table of readily available beer made a good reward after standing outside in the damp weather for an hour waiting to get in.

For more coverage of Choice Eats, check out Robert Sietsema’s live blogging and Blondie and Brownie’s report (which will probably be up later today or tomorrow).

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