Midtown Lunch

Photo courtesy of HungryK9

I’ve been very curious about the French onion soup that recently returned to the menu at Macaron Cafe. I’ve been a huge fan of onion soup since I first had it on my honeymoon in Paris a couple years back. When done right, it’s an amazing bowl of oniony beef broth with chunks of bread inside and topped with a thick layer of gooey, chewy gruyere on top and a bit more tossed in the middle for good measure.

Luncher HungryK9 recently gave it a try and posted about it on her blog. She was sorely disappointed. Apparently, she searched and searched but barely found any cheese to speak of. Now, that’s just not right. Has anyone else tried the soup with more success? Or know of a great French Onion Soup in Midtown?  Let us know in the comments.

I had wanted to try Kabab & Grill (on 36th btw. B’way+7th) long before I read about their funky goat stew on the blog Food and Mouth. Anytime there’s cheap Indian (or Pakistani) food being sold out of steam tables for under $10 I’m going to try it.  Throw in a Latin food steam table, which is where the goat came from, and now pizza, and it becomes a pretty typical “how could I pass this up?” Midtown Lunch.  I finally got a chance to sample the Indian/Pakistani food from Kebab & Grill last week, and while it may not win any “best of” awards, it’s a perfectly good (and cheap) Indian food option for that area.

What I tried is after the jump…

Read more »

Lunch’er Danny, author of the blog Food in Mouth and frequent Midtown Lunch contributor, hit up Kebab Grill the other day- a Latin/Indian/Pakistani combo deli on 36 btw. B’way+7th. According to him, the naan is a little crispy, the kebabs have a “nice spicy kick”, and the goat stew (at the Latin food counter) is an acquired taste.  “You could tell the stew was cooked low and slow because the bones were all hollow. No marrow action. This meant all the goatiness was cooked into the stew. One small problem. It was way too goaty for me.” (And coincidentally enough, according to commenter DubbinBklyn there is a TV in the back– where you can watch the Inauguration.)

Every Tuesday is Croque Monsieur day at the Macaron Cafe (36th btw. B’way+7th), the tiny French macaron bakery/sandwich shop in the Garment District.  A classic French version of a hot ham and cheese sandwich, I’ve been hoping for a good Midtown croque since that croque monsieur truck teased us with its presence for one day last January.  If Macaron Cafe’s version is as good as the other sandwiches they serve, I feel pretty confident recommending it for lunch today…

The Garment District is quickly becoming my favorite little corner of Midtown Lunch’ing.  And while I admit that most of the places I love might be considered “weird” (or gross) to the average lunch crowd (strange chinese food, Spanish food in a freight elevator), the newly opened Macaron Cafe might change all of that.  A few weeks ago my friend Nosher from www.nycnosh.com told me about the little French cafe on 36th btw. B’way+7th, and yesterday we headed over to check out their nice selection of sandwiches and amazing macarons (the little French cookies that look like mini colored hamburgers- not be confused with macaroons).

Some French porn, and a link to Nosher’s extensive review, after the jump… Read more »