Midtown Lunch

I love 2  Bros Pizza. Their $1 slices of pizza represent the marriage of value and quality that I believe is at the heart of all the best Midtown Lunches. Back in July we noticed that the newest 2 Bros. (on 46th btw. 5+6th) was going to be launching similarly budget-conscious burgers. Cheap burgers are a more dubious proposition than cheap pizza, but I had to find out if the 2 Bros. crew could pull off the same magic they have with their pizza.
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I was recently in Hawaii for a week-long vacation. As I write this, my cheeks are flushed with sunburn, my legs are sore from tromping through tropical forests, my arms ache from surfing, and my belly is full of delicious indigenous Hawaiian food. With the plethora of active sports and hobbies that Hawaii natives have at their disposal, it’s no surprise that the local cuisine centers around hearty, calorie intense food. And for a caloric gut bomb of truly epic proportions, it doesn’t get any finer than a plate lunch, or more specifically a plate of loco moco ($6.75 at the Rainbow Drive In – Honolulu, HI), the #1 food item that Midtown needs from Hawaii.

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Sorry, but this looks way better than turkey. Photo by Wined and Dined

• The name may have changed, but Mono+Mono‘s chicken is still amazing [Wined & Dined]
• The oyster soondubu at BCD Tofu House is great [Bionic Bites]
• Au Bon Pain is now serving cupcakes [NRN via Grub Street]
• The only thing under $10 at the newly open Bowlmor Lanes (in the NYT Bldg) is the shoe rental [Grub Street]

Have you ever wanted to try a fried turkey, but didn’t want to risk the burnination and ensuing humiliation, law suits, and possible further disgrace on Youtube? Look no further than Schnitzel & Things, which is giving turkey the schnitzel treatment this week in honor of National Turkey Day. The turkey schnitzel ($10 for the platter) is pounded flat, panko’d and expertly fried to a golden crisp. Add a dab of sriracha mayo, and I don’t think even those socialist pilgrims would be able to resist.

The Schnitzel & Things truck turkey special ends today, so go and gobble one down to practice for the real deal tomorrow. They’re located at Park Ave between 26th & 27th St today, but be sure to double check twitter or the ML twitter tracker before heading out.

By the time you read this, our man UltraClay will probably be on a plane heading to Asia or at least getting felt up by a TSA agent. Before he left, he followed up on some of the Flatiron Lunch spots that opened up in a flurry at the end of the summer. Let’s see how they are doing now that the dust has settled, the lines have subsided and (hopefully) all the kinks have been worked out. (Today might as well be friday, right?)

When we last saw Hill Country Chicken, the line was out the door and Jeffrey Steingarten was storming away because he couldn’t find someone to slide him some freebies. Now that the buzz has died down a bit, I decided it was time to check out some of the menu items I missed. What I found was that the delicious, if pricey fried chicken may be obscuring the best southern-style chicken sandwich this side of Chick-Fil-A.

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I’m slowly being turned into a Momofuku convert, and it feels like Stockholm Syndrome. Symptoms include randomly stopping by to get cake truffles, stuffing my face with pastrami croissants, and daily checking of the Milk Bar Twitter feed (@Momomilkbar). During one of my checks on Monday I spied a tweet about special “Thanksgiving croissants,” available this week only-dangerous words to a lady who loves limited editions. I made sure to get one at the Midtown Milk Bar (on 56th btw 5th+6th).

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What is it about holidays and soft openings!?  Yesterday Grub Street posted about a brand new fast food concept opening on 52nd btw. Lex+3rd called Sensebowl. It’s being billed as a “Chipotle Meets Momofuku” and when I stopped by today they were already open!  Technically their grand opening is Monday, but there was already good size line and plenty of customers enjoying their soft opening.  I would have stayed if I didn’t have other lunch plans but I did have time to snap some menu photos.

Check them out after the jump, and early adopters let us know what you think in the comments.

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