Midtown Lunch

Walking into Sons of Thunder, I sensed a bit of Shake Shack style. The brand new, slightly out-of-bounds burger joint seems poised to expand with a beach shack vibe. But unlike Shake Shack, the burgers are not quite ready to go (they’re waiting on their gas) and the day I visited, there was nobody inside the place.

Despite it being on a residental strip of Midtown, I think it is just a matter of time before the lunch crowds discover this place (when they start doing burgers, that will help) so I recommend coming to check it out now before the lines get insane.

Currently, the only things offered are hot dogs, ice cream and shakes, and poke. It was the poke that most excited me. This Hawaiian dish is something Zach has enjoyed many times now that he lives in LA, but it is very difficult to find in all of Manhattan, let alone Midtown.

For the uninitiated, poke consists of raw seafood (usually tuna or octopus) mixed with seaweed, sesame oil, soy sauce, furikake, and other potential toppings. Here they do the two traditional varieties, along with salmon and tofu (!?). I was pleased to see they let you pick two fish to go into the poke so I could do a bit of a combo. You also get to choose the traditional shoyu or spicy sauce.

Quality raw fish isn’t cheap, of course, so I ended up spending the $10 ML limit on ahi tuna and tako (octopus). I even added avocado for $1 extra since I was already splurging.

The presentation was nice and I was pleased to see some bright red tobiko mixed in. The fish salad sat on a bed of warm rice, which is a wonderful contrast to the cool fish. I have to say the flavors were great – just as I remembered from a trip to Oahu – smoky, sweet, and fresh. I do think there could be a greater fish to rice ratio, but the quality of fish and vegetables was excellent and mixed with the rice, it ended up being enough for a light lunch.

I’m excited to check out Sons of Thunder when they finally get their gas up and running (the cashier wan’t sure when that would be) to compare their burgers to the nearby Shake Shack. But meanwhile, we have poke in Midtown and it’s pretty good!!