Midtown Lunch

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts 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.

I’m more than pleased to report that I stumbled across a pub I’ll boldly proclaim is my current favorite happy hour in Midtown. The backstory: I’ve been reviewing happy hours in Midtown every week for about six months, and I’ve been trying to steer clear of those that have been covered by Midtown Lunch in the last year or so for variety’s sake. Thus far, I’ve really enjoyed Vander Bar, the Irish Ivy, and The Junction, but this week I found a pretty amazing bar that rivals my favorites. The bar is called Galway Pub, formerly the Galway Hooker, on 36th between Madison and 5th. Let me tell you all the reasons why.

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One of our Twitter spies snapped this photo inside Joey Pepperoni’s just yesterday. It looks as if tacos will be on the offering soon. A visit to the $1 Slice-o-Rama victor proved to yield no tacos, though – they will be starting them on Monday the 10th. We’ll bring you the reviews as soon as it’s served up in a soft tortilla for a buck or two.

Every Friday we go 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.

I have fond memories of my first Lucky’s burger in the LES about 6 years ago. It was an unmistakably great burger, but I had so many other burger joints to try in NYC, so I wasn’t able to become a regular. And then I made the terrible mistake of having a Lucky’s milkshake (which are delicious, by the way) after eating a Gus’ spicy pickle. Curdling in your stomach is soo painful. Needless to say, I haven’t been since. But I think it was time for a revisit.

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As the breakup of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War peeled back the veneer of Socialist Paradise, an underbelly of barely functioning economics and crumbling infrastructure laid bare after years of neglect, we now see the aftermath of the Pizza Wars take its toll. When jenfjen and I reviewed Pizza King, (on 6th btw. 37+38th) we were a bit unhappy as to the results and questions of where the corners were cut to drive the slice price to 75 cents came from. The Department of Health recently shut down the erstwhile $1 slice competitor and as we would see a Kazakh nuclear facility in 1993, we now see the pizza-crusted underbelly.

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Angelo Sosa’s Midtown Asian gastropub Social Eatz will close next year to make room for his new Asian gastropub, Poppy Den NYC. Social Eatz posted the an announcement on Facebook after Grub Street broke the news. The difference between this new Asian gastropub and Poppy Den is unclear, but Grubstreet said the Poppy Den concept was something Sosa developed with a former president of Planet Hollywood, and this outpost will be the second of its kind, after the Vegas location opens in a few weeks. Read the announcement after the jump.
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Ming Du just Ming Doesn’t have luck with keeping things sanitary. Without trying to appear like I relish the closure of an independent business, doubly so one whose roast meats can’t be beat, Lunch’er Paulie reported to us that the magical inspection fairies of the DoH have again closed Ming Du for the second time this year.

Check it out after the jump…

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Lunch’er Amanda pointed out to us the other day that K-town’s cheap and wonderful stalwart Woorijip has taken out their fresh-made noodle option. Formerly at the back of the almost-always-crowded self-serve restaurant, it’s been built over and the noodle options moved.

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Aw yeah, it’s cold out. It’s almost universally easier to bundle up and stay warm when it’s cold than to stay cool when it’s hot. Layers, balaclavas, $95 heated touchscreen-compatible loss-proof gloves (pick any two aspects) and the single best food this side of phaal curry to warm you up from the inside out: soup. We did some good stuff with pizza science, but with a few of ML’s top soup specialists (and we want your suggestions to add to that list!) it’s time to break soup down and find the best in Midtown.

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A dedicated Midtown Luncher alerted us yesterday of a yellow sign on one of the Macchiato Espresso Bar locations (44th Btw. Lex and 3rd) where the chocolate chip cookies are delicious and the egg salad sandwich is worth trying. By the time we were able to investigate, it seemed as if nothing was amiss other than a “Grade Pending” sign on the door. As of this writing, however, the DOH website still indicates it is closed. If you’re interested to know why, keep reading.

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