Midtown Lunch

For any Midtown Lunch’ers who happen to a) regularly utilize QR codes to find out information or b) deeply care about restaurant health code violations when selecting your dining establishment, you’ll be pleased to know that Dan Garodnick (D-Manhattan) has championed a bill to require quick response codes posted in New York City restaurants. First reported by the New York Post, it seems the purpose of the recently passed bill is to give consumers the opportunity to quickly pull up information about restaurants (read: specific DOH violations). For now, the codes will be posted inside, but they may be posted on windows in the future.

Sapporo has once again undergone a menu makeover, as we mentioned a couple of weeks ago. And Sapporo regulars from the Yelp community have been complaining that the gyoza are not the same, neither is the miso ramen. Not a good sign. I’ve been by a couple times now for takeout, now, and have had mixed experiences with both new and old dishes.
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Ever since sampling the unique and full-flavored lomo saltado taco from Morocho at the Vendy Awards two weeks ago, I’ve hoped that the Rookie of the Year nominee would bring their Peruvian-fusion food to Midtown one day. Although the cart does not seem to want to venture from their regular Union Square location, the next best thing has happened. Midtown has gotten our very own Peruvian food cart.

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Photo added to the ML Flickr Photo Pool by Phude NYC

It’s hard to believe it, but the once secret now classic Burger Joint (located behind the curtain, under the neon burger sign in the lobby of Le Parker Meridien Hotel) is turning 10 years old this month. They have managed to survive the Midtown burger onslaught that some would say they kicked off, and to celebrate they’ll be offering up the original Burger Joint menu at 2002 prices all day Monday October 1st. That means $4 burgers, $4.50 cheeseburgers, $1.25 french fries, and $2 beer on tap, plus they’re going to be selling and giving away special limited edition 10 year anniversary t-shirts.  See you on line!

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 Jason, an internet guy with some great recs near 9th Ave.

Name: Jason

Age: 30-something

Occupation: Director, Mobile & Social Strategy

Where in Midtown do you work? R/GA

Favorite Kind of Food: Sushi

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything overpriced

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: When I have time to sit down and don’t want to go far, I like Tabata (on 9th btw. 39+40th) Shio Ramen. This is particularly true when it’s cold and wet out and I need something quick yet satisfying. If I have a bit more time and am super hungry, I stop by Peter’s Since 1969 (on 9th btw. 42+43rd), for all the American/Southern comfort food you can imagine. They’ve got everything from roast chicken, turkey brisket, you name it. Plus all the sides you know and love. Working near 9th Avenue, there’s a ton of Thai places to check out. My regulars are Room Service and Pure Thai Cookhouse (on 9th btw. 51+52nd). The latter is really authentic and has flavors you don’t normally get elsewhere. If I’m pressed for time, as in nearly everyday, I’ll often pick up a wrap at Lenny’s. Unimaginative, but reliably solid and quick.

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We’ve done the big kingpin chains and the aggressors in the 6th Ave Pizza War of 2012 (voted silliest war this side of the War of Jenkins’ Ear by the United Nations Committee on War Naming in recess, eating $1 slices at Roll and Go and wishing they’d gone to NYC Fried Chicken instead). When you think of pizza, if you’re lucky, you think of terrible Italian stereotypes that play off a mix of charming historical quirks and reclamation of blatant ethnic stereotypes that actually serve decent slices. Joey Pepperoni’s, which took over the space, format, and food that was previously known as 2-and-a-Can, sits across the street from the Pizza War battleground, almost above the fray of the 75 cent slice. Is 2-and-a-Can’s loss a pox upon the $1 slice space at this location, or is it just a matter of enough Italian-American colloquialisms to fuel the buck slice turnover? Fugeddaboudit. Let’s siddown, kid.

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Good news for lunchers in the mid-50s – Dainobu Japanese deli is opening an outpost on 56th St between 5th & 6th. Whether its their fried oysters, reasonably priced bento boxes, or their spin on mapo tofu, the original location at 47th & Lex has earned itself a good number of fans. We took a peek inside of the work-in-progress space, and while it doesn’t look close to opening, there’s definitely progress being made.

After a tricky day in Midtown earlier in the week, Mac Truck didn’t give up and returned later in the week, selling mac and cheese on 45th, just east of Fifth Avenue. It appears to be a one-man operation, and the guy running the show was pretty stoked to be in Midtown. Although this was just his first week out, and we all know first weeks can be bumpy, I couldn’t wait to check out the truck. Who doesn’t love mac and cheese?!
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The Tuk Tuk Boy team has certainly been busy over the summer. Not only have they improved their pad thai at their original location, but they’ve expanded Eastward, opening not one, but two new carts along Park Ave. Not only that, I re-sampled their dishes and am happy to report that they’ve made significant strides in improving the overall taste and quality of their food.

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