Midtown Lunch

I’ll admit I was skeptical when I first walked into Social Eatz. I’m not sure if that hesitation stemmed from the idiosyncratic theme of regularly replacing “S”s with “Z”s, the bubbly cartoon logo, or the fact that the owners of Circle – a nightclub near and dear to this contributor’s heart, but certainly not known for their food – are the majority investors of the restaurant. On the other hand, backing from the Chace restaurant group (OBao, Spot Dessert Bar, Ember Room) and Top Chef All Star, Angelo Sosa, in the kitchen certainly gives Social Eatz a note of credibility, not to mention star power.

Like Sosa’s previous project, Xie Xie, the menu is heavily driven by Asian inspired sandwiches and is rounded out with soups, salads, and appetizers. And while approximately half of the menu is under the ML accepted price threshold, Social Eatz presents a unique opportunity to eat a Midtown lunch at a “Celebrity Chef” restaurant – and indeed it is possible to eat very well for under $10.

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Texas Chain Gang Chili at the Manhattan Chili Co. in Grand Central. Photo by FitR

• The 10 Best and Cheapest Eats in Grand Central [Fork in the Road]
• The zucchini fries at Bon Chon are Yvo approved [Feisty Foodie]
• Totto Ramen had an inari special recently [Ramen & Friends]
• The singapore mei fun at Joe’s Shanghai is great [Fork This]
• Grub Street is trying to find out what’s going on with Daisy May’s [GS]
• Mark Kuban’s Naked Pizza is coming to 3rd Ave. [Eater]
• A video look at the Air France freebies truck [Feast NY]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so 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.  Mamacita is out of town so this week our man Ultraclay is taking over drinking duties…

Over the last week, the weather has gone from 70 degree sunshine to snow and sleet. The ridiculous swings in weather have driven Mamacita a little wonky (she’s curled up in a corner begging for winter to end already) so, this week, I’ll be subbing for her.

We all cope with weather in different ways and I’ve decided that I’m just going to act like the weather doesn’t suck and tell you about drinking outdoors at Me Bar on the roof of the La Quinta hotel in Koreatown. Because the best way to get through this is to plan for the inevitable arrival of warmth (however far off it may seem.)

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A few weeks ago Zagat reported that Coolhaus, the famous L.A. ice cream sandwich truck (that Zach will personally vouch for), would be coming to New York City in April. Well it looks like the first of two trucks have officially arrived in New York, they’ve started a twitter account (@coolhausny), and they’re saying that April 15th is the official opening day. We’re ready!

Becoming a mobile vendor is not quite as easy as ehow would have you believe. So in anticipation of Softee Season 2011 we’ve asked Chrissy (aka Miss Softee) to show us the process of what it takes to become an ice cream vendor in Midtown. So far you’ve met the first few hires here and here, we’ve seen what it takes to get your paperwork in order to become a licensed mobile vendor, and we’ve seen where the trucks live. This week the crew begins to ready the trucks to hit the streets. Take it away Miss Softee!

Soo… just a quick recap on what’s already happened in the process to becoming a licensed mobile food vendor (MFV). These candidates have gone through the application and interviews, reference checks, they’ve  registered to take the MFV food safety class, applied for their tax paperwork, took the actual MFV class, and finally the day has come that they have all the paperwork necessary to head down to the Department of Health and Consumer Affairs down by Wall Street and apply to be mobile food vendors!!  Every time a potential RollingCone hire calls me to say that their paperwork is in and they’re ready to apply, I swear, you can hear the 5 year old kid in their voice because they’re that much closer to becoming an ice cream vendor. (And the whole process is a huge pain the ass!) This is a true labor of love, kids.

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While veal, pork and the Schnitz Burger might get all the play here at Midtown Lunch, this is another schnitz. A Lenten Friday friendly schnitz. A cod schnitz.  The cod schnitzel was one of the very first things I ordered from Schnitzel & Things when they first hit the streets in July of 2009. Available at the truck and S & T’s brick and morter as both a sandwich ($8 on the truck/$8.50 at the store) and a platter with two sides ($10 on the truck/$9.95 at the store). The cod is tender and not overly fishy and the breading gives it a wonderful crunch. While the sandwich will run you more than a filet o’ fish or a fried fish sandwich from Kim’s Aunt, it’s a high quality fish and price-wise it is on par with the Oyster Bar’s fish sandwich options. If you don’t mind paying a little more for your fried fish lunch, this is a good one to try.

The truck is on 52nd and Lex today, or you can head over to their new storefront.

Every Friday our man UltraClay goes south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

Afghan food is one of the many underrepresented cuisines of Midtown and Flatiron or around the rest of New York as far as I’ve seen. There are two pretty well known places on 9th Ave. in the 50s (Afghan Kebab House and Ariana Afghan) but that’s a bit of a hike for those of us who work in the southern reaches of Midtown. So, when someone told me about Bamiyan, on 3rd and 26th street, it went straight onto my to do list.

Earlier this week, a friend and I met up for lunch to check it out.

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