Midtown Lunch

One of the things that I love about ramen joints in New York City, is the sheer variety of options and riffs on noodle soup that one finds on the typical menu. Walk into Ippudo, Men Kui Tei, or Sapporo, and you’ll find the traditional, the experimental, and in the case of Tabata Noodle, a truly multi-national take on ramen. According to Julia Moskin of the New York Times, the owner of Tabata, Linn San Maung, as well as most of the staff are Burmese. Thusly, the ramen at Tabata seeks to marry Chinese, Indian and Thai (the primary flavors of Burmese cuisine) influences into a happy handshake with traditional Japanese ramen procedures. And with over a dozen variations of ramen, ranging from the more traditional Tan Tan Men to a crazy coconut based concoction that Danny seemed to enjoy, there are plenty of reasons to come back time and time again.
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• Desperately in need of fried pork rinds… [Midtown Eating]
• Maoz, Crisp, and Taim Mobile are all good Times Sq. falafel options [Midtown Eating]
• Sandwich Planet makes a decent French dip [Midtown Eating]

Recently, there have been a few sad changes to the Thai restaurant scene on 51st between Broadway and 8th. First of all, Siam Inn appears like it’s a goner, which is a shame since they seemed to show a lot of promise. At least there’s that new Pad Thai cart a few boulevards over to help fill some of the Thai void.

More alarmingly, Tom & Toon has done away with their low brow but brilliant AYCE Thai buffet. I called the restaurant, and they confirmed that they stopped the AYCE buffet a few months ago as it wasn’t profitable. They’ve replaced the buffet with a smaller line-up of $8 lunch specials and $3 Chang beers between 12pm and 3pm on weekdays. You can view their full menu after the jump.
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First there was Salume, then there was Snack box. Now, there will be Nuchas! Lunch’er Mike sent us a tip that a kiosk called Nuchas is setting up in Times Square to sell gourmet empanadas. According to the Nuchas Facebook page, we can expect six varieties, including Argentine (ground beef, onions, peppers, scallion), short rib, pulled pork, porto (portobello mushrooms, spinach, mozzarella), spicy cheese and capresse.

They’re definitely not open yet, as they are painting the entire street from 44th to 45th street blue today. But, the nice folks inside the Nuchas box said they’d be opening on Friday. Based on Snack Box’s precedent, I wouldn’t hold my breath, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be stopping by to check out their progress!

Nuchas, Broadway btwn 44th-45th Streets in Times Square

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 Michelle, a fashion designer who loves curly fries.

Name: Michelle

Age: 24

Occupation: Fashion Designer

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 37th & 8th

Favorite Kind of Food: Hands down, BBQ

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Pasta Salad, no idea why… maybe I think its a waste of pasta haha

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Sour cream apple pie from the Little Pie Company (43rd btw. 9+10th), Bulgoki from Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart (on 46th btw. 5+6th), Lobster BLT from Ed Brown in Foodparc (on 30th btw. 6+7th), Totto Ramen (on 52nd btw. 8+9th), Lamb Burger at the Breslin (on 29th btw. B’way+5th)

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Num Pang (which has a Midtown location on 41st btw. Lex+3rd) recently unveiled its new Fall specialty items, so naturally I hightailed it over to check them out. I set my sights on the Roasted Fig sandwich ($8.25 + tax): Kadota figs, chilis, bacon, chili mayo and the usual veggie suspects of cucumber, pickled carrots, and cilantro.

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We announced recently that you can now get bacon at every single Wafels & Dinges locations. Up until recently, the bacon waffle was only available at the mother truck. This is because it was paired with the lighter Brussels waffle and due to space restrictions on the four carts, they only offer the chewier denser liege waffle. Well, the people want bacon, so the people get bacon. Now they’ve started serving it on the aforementioned liege.

Since the truck itself rarely comes to Midtown West any longer, I went by one of the carts last week to check this out. I had never had the Bacon Waffle at the truck – I was always partial to the surprisingly awesome pulled pork waffle – so I can’t compare it to the original. I imagine there’s a little less sweetness with the Brussels making it a more solid lunch option, but the liege version is pretty darn good.

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Recently Los Angeles’ Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf opened their first New York location in Times Square (natch). I’ve never been to a CBTL but it seems like every few weeks Us Weekly photographs some otherwise malnourished celeb clutching on of their large frozen beverages. Being a coffee addict, I decided to check it out. Read more »

For years we’ve always dreamed of the day that Midtown might get a Pad Thai cart (we even suggested a prototype), and it looks like that day has finally come! We just spotted a new cart called Tuk Tuk Boy on 50th btw. 6+7th selling pad thai ($5.99), spring rolls ($3), chicken satay ($3) and red curry ($5.99). Apparently they’ve been uptown, but today is their first day on 50th (which they plan on making their permanent location.)

Lunch’er Tom has already tried the Pad Thai, and reports that it’s “tasty and mildly spicy”. Check out a photo after the jump…

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