Midtown Lunch

Oceana, the fancy seafood restaurant on 49th btw. 6+7th, is definitely not a Midtown Lunch… but this is way too funny not to post.  On Sunday, Chubby Chinese Girl (the Midtown Lunch’er who came up with Cer Te’s Feburary Sandwich of the Month) had a restaurant week lunch at Oceana and was escorted through a practically empty main dining room to a back room that was filled with all Asian diners (6 tables in all.)  Obviously (or not?) Oceana isn’t racist, according to this their Executive Pastry Chef is Asian and even CCG admitted that she enjoyed the service and the food.  But the photo is kind of damning.  (Hilariously damning.)  There must be a perfectly good explanation for all of this, right Oceana?

Read more »

Lunch’er “Chris” is on fire! Yesterday he gave us a rundown of all the decent options at Taste of Summer in Rock Center (today is the last day, btw.) Today he files this pretty amazing report on Ramen Totto, which is now open for lunch. I think it might be time to make this guy official. Please welcome the newest contributor to the fold… Chris H.

Few would consider ramen to be good hot weather food. Even fewer would consider a restaurant located on 52nd btw. 8+9th to be within midtown lunch bounds. However, with Totto Ramen’s recent announcement that they would start serving lunch I felt compelled to schlep (schvitzing all the way) to the outer regions of Midtown to check out Ryuichi “Bobby” Munekata’s latest offering. Was the journey worth it? We noodle over the answer after the jump…

Read more »

Got this email from Lunch’er Robert this morning about the Joyride Fro Yo Truck (first reported about by Grub Street last month) “Spotted a new truck in midtown – Joyride.  52nd and 6th.  They say it’s their second day of ops.  Fro-yo and coffee.  You can get the fro-yo caffeinated (aka “buzzed”).  I’m trying the caffeinated offering now.  Pinkberry-esque.  Coffee = Stumptown!  V tasty.  Had a double espresso at Zibetto right before so might be altogether too much buzz for me.  Now back at the office and the hands are a little shaky.  Not many people sampling.  I have a feeling they’ll eventually flee this corner (a la Schnitzel Truck) so people should try it out before they move on.”  You can follow them on Twitter here.

I don’t know what made me stop in at newly opened restaurant The Shop (5th Avenue at 41st Street) in the swanky boutique hotel, Andaz. It was sure to not be a Midtown Lunch: there aren’t any bargains and obviously its regular clientele are tourists. But, I did check out the lunch menu out of idle curiosity and was shocked to see something I’ve wanted in Midtown for years: Pastrami by Katz’s.

Yes, really. According to someone on staff, the theme of the restaurant is locally produced food and drink. They want to give their guests a bit of a culinary tour of New York, so they stock local pickles and NY State beer and the menu is full of organic this and farm raised that. And when it came to our famed Jewish Delis, they decided to just go get the best in town. I can’t argue with that.

I’m always skeptical when new hands get into old favorites, but being able to get my hands on that luscious pastrami mere blocks from my office would be amazing.

See what I found after the jump.
Read more »

Do you wonder what the ML contributors do when they’re not eating lunch in Midtown? (They’re actually pretty easy to stalk!)

Pizza on the left, Pie on the right.

Danny from Food in Mouth was on St. Marks checking out Totale Pizza and Xi’an Famous Foods (both look amazing), Ultraclay enjoyed the smoked meat from Mile End, Amy went to Meatopia on Governor’s Island, and Blondie and Brownie lived up to their sweet tooth inspired name this week, trying the pie ala mode at Four & Twenty Blackbirds in Brooklyn, and the new cupcake flavors at Robicelli’s

In yesterday’s hot weather I was craving some soft serve and decided to walk over to the Momofuku Milk Bar inside Ma Peche (on 55th btw. 5+6th) to see if they had changed up their flavors since they opened. They hadn’t, but I did notice a few newish developments. Cake slices are still out but now they are selling cake truffles. And midtown Milk Bar office catering is definitely in.
Read more »