Midtown Lunch

With all the turf war controversy surrounding Mister Softee trucks, we’ve always imagined Softee President Jim Conway as some kind of soft serve puppet master, holed up in his Jersey lair ruling the summer streets of NYC with a iron fist.  Nope.  Saw him on Fox Business channel last week, and he looks like… well… the owner of a large (and extremely professional) ice cream company.  Miss Softee makes an appearance in the background, and Conway goes into some interesting business facts about Mister Softee- including the fact that the hours are long, and many of their franchises are owned by immigrants from South America, Eastern Europe and West Africa.

Check out the video after the jump…

Read more »

The best thing about restaurants in New York is that the turnover is high. Such a system lends itself to constant rebirths and many opportunities for us to try new restaurants. What is funny though is that sometimes you get restaurants that just change their name and all of a sudden the food is completely different? I present you restaurant 1 and restaurant 2 on Yelp. Different name. Different ratings. Exact same address and phone number. But at $8 for appetizer and entree as part of the lunch special, this really required some more investigation.

When I asked Zach about this place, he (surprisingly) got a bit excited.  Apparently Siam Inn was one of the first Thai restaurants he ate at when he moved to NYC, about 5 years ago, when they were on 8th Ave. btw. 51+52nd.  About 3 years ago they closed down and opened around the corner as Blue Chili, but the vibe went from homey to neon and glossy. The menu for the new spot says Siam Inn and the website for Blue Chili says it’s Siam Inn @ Bluechili. It’s confusing as hell really. But lets just get to the food because $8 lunch specials are what attracted me to this place in the beginning.

Read more »

I’ve been meaning to stop in for after work drinks at Sake Bar Kirakuya ever since I saw the shimmering curtain sign in the window months ago. By the end of the workday, though, my instinct is usually to get as far from the office as possible and I just keep forgetting to try it.

So, I was excited to find a good excuse to check it out during the day now that they are open for lunch. The other day a friend and I stopped in to see what these new Japanese options are all about.

Read more »

Last week we (half-heartedly) defended Oceana against charges of racism, writing off Chubby Chinese Girl’s lunchtime photo of their all-Asian back room as a hilariously funny coincidence caught in a photo.  But after reading the letter Oceana sent to Eater on Friday afternoon, I think we might be reconsidering our stance.  Rather than just laughing off the whole incident as a coincidence, they actually tried to make it seem like the photo was a misrepresentation of the scene.  Hilarious. Dude… just admit it.  The back room was filled with Asians last Sunday for lunch (6 out of 6 tables to be exact). Who cares about the “other 82 tables”.  Those tables aren’t in the back room!  Also, how stupid do you have to be to send a letter about this to Eater.  Most of their readers probably didn’t even notice their initial mention of the story… but you better believe they saw your letter.  Well played sir.  Well played.  (Oh, and thanks for calling me a journalist!  That was the funniest part of the letter…)

Don’t be fooled by the beautiful food porn! Photo by Kathy YL Chan

• I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree about Gryo II [A Passion For Food]
• You can get an open face sandwich at Aquavit for just $11!? [SENY]
• Yvo is a big fan of the burger from Beacon’s Side Door… [Feisty Foodie]
• … and turned down free food, for like, the first time ever! [Feisty Foodie]
• Michael Cluizel will start serving Van Leeuwen ice cream soon [Feast]
• The NYT confirms that Mister Softee makes less money when it’s super hot [City Room via GS]

f 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.

Morton’s, the upscale steakhouse based in Chicago with outposts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, is by no means a Midtown Lunch. The burgers start at $23 and a Double Porterhouse Steak for two is a whopping $108. I would never consider this a happy hour destination but when I saw they had a $6 bar menu I reconsidered. Could it be that an expensive steakhouse might have a ML worthy happy hour deal? It’s not unheard of. Beacon has an amazing burger, fries and double drink special, Del Friscos used to have a hidden steak deal at the bar (until they caught on and raised the price), even City Lobster’s $1 oysters and a beer special is a welcome surprise in the usual corporate expense account joints. Fancy filling feast or a wallet draining disappointment? I put the call out to the contributors, who would man up?!

Read more »