Midtown Lunch

As an ardent lover of all things pumpkin, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to try Coolhaus’ fall ice cream flavors. They other day day after missing out on the Mastercard Priceless deal, I consoled myself with a pumpkin ice cream chocolate chip cookie sandwich. The ice cream was dead on for pumpkin pie–just the right amount of cinnamon and spices. If they had their double chocolate cookies I totally would have gone with those (or at least one of those–you can actually mix and match your “floor” and “roof” cookies). At $6, it’s a pricey treat for sure, but if you love pumpkin pie and want to get your fix in midtown before T-Day, this is a tasty splurge. Their Dirty Mint Chip hot chocolate is next on my to-try list. Has anyone tried their hot chocolates?

I recently walked by this nondescript cart on the corner of 55th + Lex and noticed that next to the display case full of muffins and bear claws, amidst the standard pictures of egg sandwiches and hot coffee were photographs of tortas, quesadillas, and tacos. A new Mexican cart? Sign me up!

The cart offers lunch options of chicken, steak, carnitas, and chorizo, and each of these meats are available in taco, quesadilla, burrito, or torta form. They also offer a “Mexican Hamburger” ($5), hot dog ($2), and several plate entrees including but not limited to Huevos Rancheros ($5). I settled on three tacos at $2.25 each, with one each of chorizo, steak, and carnitas.

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Gourmet empanada vendor Nuchas is the latest of the Times Square Alliance kiosks to open, joining Salume and Snack Box in the pedestrian areas of Times Square. The good news for Midtown Lunchers is that every item on the menu is just $3. The bad news is, because of their smaller size, you’ll definitely need at least three empanadas for lunch.

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For those of you who can’t get enough of Potbelly, the Rock Center branch is now serving breakfast until 11 am. In addition to breakfast sandwiches they have steel cut oatmeal topped with brown sugar or fruit and nuts. Now the the real question is are there secret menu breakfast items? How about a Breakfast Wreak? Can we make that happen?!

Donna Bell’s Giant Cookie. Photo by Food in Mouth.

• Donna Bell’s Bakeshop makes a gigantic chocolate chip cookie [Food in Mouth]
• Bangkok House is not that great [Tasty Eating]
• Todd English’s pizza at the Plaza Food Hall is surprisingly decent [Slice]
• Akdeniz serves some solid vegetarian options [SENY]
• The Kimchi Taco Truck is opening a brick and mortar in Bklyn [FitR]

At some point in the review of the sliders at Bill’s Bar and Burger (on 51st btw. 5+6th), both Josh Ozersky and Ed Levine at Serious Eats make mention of White Castle. Ed finds out that they source the slider buns from the chain, while Mr. Cutlets proclaims the sliders to be like a high class White Castle. But comparing these sliders to White Castle is selling them short, as every White Castle experience I’ve ever had is punctuated by soggy, greasy, wilting buns and overwhelmingly onion-y meat – the sliders at BB&B certainly are not. Nonetheless, spurred on by two very favorable reviews by these high profile foodies, I decided that I had to check them out for myself.
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As we reported earlier this week, Nuchas opened for business today, although you might not be able to tell because of the giant trucks and cranes parked right in front of their window. (They are thrilled, let me tell you.) The gourmet empanada kiosk joins Salume and Snack Box in the Times Square pedestrian walkways.

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As I’ve mentioned for the last couple weeks, a ton of new places have opened this fall in Flatiron Lunch bounds. With so many new places popping up, I’d be posting ‘first looks’ for the rest of the month, so I decided to consolidate them into one handy post. After the jump, get a closer look at two Midtown transplants and a fancy, but budget friendly Italian spot.

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Culture Espresso continues to give me more reasons to love them. First, their awesome freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, then they started “importing” SCRATCHbread scones from Brooklyn and now they are getting deliveries of my favorite doughnuts in the city. That’s right you can get Dough doughnuts in midtown! Read more »

• Burger disappointment at BV Burger [Midtown Eating]
• Best stuffing in Midtown? [Midtown Eating]
• Meze Grill just raised their prices [Midtown Eating]
• Tri Tip Grill’s weds tri tip special is back [Midtown Eating]