Midtown Lunch

I noticed a sign for a new location of the uninspired Academia Barilla on Sixth Avenue between 40th and 41st Street. For those near Bryant Park who crave a cheap, pasta meal that you could make it home, this could be good news. The pasta maker will open their second Midtown location in the coming months.

As one lunch option opens, another one shutters. Eater reported that the Bryant Park ‘wichcraft kiosk has closed for good in 2015. No word yet on what will replace it. But, of course, there are still locations of the sandwich chain in Rockefeller Center, 46th Street near 5th, and on Park and 47th.

After the reader reaction to the last post about this place, I was really wary about posting my experience. But you know what I say? Bring on the heat: I’m here to report on what I eat, and you can disagree – after you’ve tried it for yourself and determined that I’m totally out of my head wrong.

Read more »

For many reasons, it was probably a bad idea to eat at Academia Barilla. It looks like a poor man’s Eataly or a rich man’s Sbarro (however you want to look at it). The restaurant, which we told you about last year, is owned by the same company who manufactures DIY pasta in cardboard boxes and whose CEO may or may not be homophobic.

But I noticed the menu and the prices seem right – most of the dishes live under the $10 mark. Plus I had a serious pasta craving. My big concern was that I’d be paying $10 for a dish that I could do myself at home and probably better.

Read more »

What do you do if you’re a pasta company whose Italian namesake makes anti-gay remarks that the company is later forced to apologize for?  Open a chain of restaurants in Midtown, apparently!  In a campaign to raise brand awareness, the Italian pasta company, is launching a line of fast and casual Italian restaurants to make Americans eat more pasta, starting with the opening of Academia Barilla Restaurant at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. I think we’ll throw this one to the comments…

Academia Barilla (set to open by the end of 2013), 1290 Avenue of the Americas