Midtown Lunch

Marco? The Salume and Nuchas kiosks are not in their regular spots today due to Thanksgiving goings-on in Times Square. In fact, there’s a massive tent spanning the width of the pedestrian area where Salume usually resides for a Frigidaire event starring chefs Anne Burrell and Jeffrey Zakarian. And, Nuchas was moved out of their spot due to parade prep. You can find both kiosks safe and sound just a few blocks north in the pedestrian area between 47th and 48th, and they will return to their regular locations after the Thanksgiving festivities are over.

On Monday, I walked by Taz, a generic-looking deli on 45th street, and noticed signs for Vietnamese food. Well, hello! Sure enough, in the back there were offerings of bun, congee and more. Unfortunately for me, I had already acquired my Thanksgiving-inspired lunch, but I was excited for a return trip.

When I returned yesterday workers at the establishment seemed bewildered, because Monday was the first day for the freshly made Vietnamese fare, and yesterday the guy just didn’t show up! I guess only one dude knows the recipes? Obviously, I’ll be checking back next week, but did anyone get a chance to try it out on Monday? To be continued …

Taz, 19 W. 45th St. (btw 5th & 6th Ave.)

It’s not all that uncommon that I run out the door without something to eat in the morning so I was pretty excited to see that Potbelly in Rock Center is now serving breakfast. And even more excited to see that they had steel cut oats. I’m a big steel cut oatmeal fan and I usually splurge for the oatmeal at Jamba Juice, so I had to see how Potbelly stacked up.

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The salad of my dreams at Coppelia. Photo by Blondie

Blondie finds a salad topped with a fried egg and chicharrones at Coppelia, Brownie suggests pie recipes for Thanksgiving, Donny checked out Greenpoint’s new Lobster Joint, Brian recovers from turkey trauma in his new thanksgiving video at Court Street Grocers, Chris wrote up the Italian sub at White House Sub Shop in Atlantic City and Rachel had a dinner of steak and kimchi at Prime & Beyond.

Elsewhere in the ML universe… Andrea splurges for lunch at The Bailey in FiDi, Jamie tries out Pakistani whole fried chicken and Zach ditches turkey in favor of a Hokkaido Seafood Buffet in LA.

• Do any brick and mortar restaurants serve street meat? [Midtown Eating]
• The portions at Korilla are getting smaller [Midtown Eating]
• DiFara’s not immune from the DOH either! [Eating Outside of Midtown]
• Apparently a Dylan’s Candy Bar has popped up near Bryant Park [Midtown Eating]

Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Alexa, a musician who wishes she lived in Japan.

Name: Alexa

Age: 24

Occupation: Music Publisher and Musician

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Midtown East – 51st and Madison

Favorite Kind of Food: Generally Asian – Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean – as well as Italian and Polish/Eastern European. And Tacos.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Salads (usually too boring), Nuts (most things are just better without ‘em)

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Schnitzel & Things (the truck, when it’s parked on 51st between Madison and Park): The pork schnitzel platter with spicy Sriracha mayo, accompanied with beet salad and potato salad. Yes, I have a Schnitzel & Things sticker on my electric stapler…it looks good on there. Hing Won (48th Street btw. Rockefeller Plaza and 6th Ave): Cantonese Wonton Noodle Soup with Roast Pork. I’m a noodle soup junkie from when the temperatures start to drop to the most humid days of the summer. Glaze (Lexington Ave btw 54th and 55th Street): Salmon Teriyaki w/ a side of pork gyoza. Every time I go to this restaurant, I’m bound to hear Phoenix playing on their speakers and it makes me even more pumped to eat my salmon teriyaki. And, as a transplant from Seattle, this place tastes like home – it’s the real deal for Seattle teriyaki. Bian Dang (last encountered on 46th and Vanderbilt): Fried chicken over rice!

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Photo courtesy of Lunch’er Peg

The second floor MoMA exhibit we told you about last month is open and serving free Thai curry from noon to 3 (except on Fridays when it will be served from 4 to 7.) Lunch’er Peg went on opening day (November 17), and reported back:

A few fellow freeloaders – I mean colleagues – from the office tried day 1 of free curry at MoMA. The good news: barely a line at noon for very tasty green curry! The bad news: the portion was small.

The exhibit runs through February 8th, so you have plenty of time this winter to check it out.  Of course unless you’re a member, entry to the museum will cost you $25, so “free” curry is a little misleading…

Photo by Donny T

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, all of the ML contributors have turkey on our minds. And of course this wouldn’t be Midtown Lunch if we didn’t try to think outside of the generic deli turkey sandwiches box (hello, Thanksgiving pizza anyone?). So we polled a few of our contributors to recall some of their favorite Midtown turkey dishes.
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Last month, Lunch’er NYCguy posted in the forums that Pret, of all things, would be taking over the space formerly occupied by the Judaica store that had been in that 45th street spot (between 5th and 6th) forever. Sadness! I passed by today and saw the coming soon signage still there, so I became curious. A quick call revealed they plan to open December 12. With 11 locations already open in Midtown West alone, I can’t imagine anyone’s clamoring for this one to open, but in case you are, there you go.