Midtown Lunch

I’m out of town until January 7th, so until then I’m turning over the site to you for the First Annual Midtown Lunch Readers Poll, to determine the best that Midtown lunch’ing has to offer. You can only vote once, so choose wisely. Links to info about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section. Official winners will be posted to the site on January 9th.

And so the quest to find the best chicken parm sub in Midtown rambles on.  First, there was Tuscany Catering, the little hidden catering place/take out counter on 55th btw. 5+6th.  I was down with it, but my boss (the resident chicken parm expert) wasn‘t impressed- and a few commenters noted that it was just average.  The train moved on to 45th St., where we hit up Little Italy Pizza.  The bread was good, but the chicken was not up to par, unlike across the street at Park Italian- where the chicken is good, but the bread was weak the day we were there (apparently, their 1st string bread is much better than their 2nd string bread, and maybe we got the back up bread?).

Commenter Margot mentioned La Bellezza on 49th btw. Lex+3rd, and since then, I have gotten a few more recommendations over email.  Then, two weeks ago, Profiled Midtown Lunch’er “David” mentioned the Chicken Parm from a La Bellezza on 40th & 7th.  Same place?  Different place?  What is going on here?  I set out to discover some answers… and by that, I mean I used this as an excuse to eat Chicken Parm subs for lunch in one week.

What I discovered, and some chicken parm sub porn- after the jump… Read more »

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then the new Pranzo Pizza Truck that recently popped up on 55th & Park is a really complementary outfit.  My guess is the Jiannetto’s Pizza Truck doesn’t see it that way.  It’s one thing to build your own truck and serve pizza out of it.  It’s another thing to copy another truck’s entire concept, down to the design of the menu.

On the other hand, you have to admit- it’s pretty ballsy to start a pizza truck 4 blocks away from New York City’s most famous pizza truck.  It must be good, right?  Not entirely trusting their own “Best Grandma Pie” proclamation painted on the front and back of the truck, I decided to try it for myself.  As skeptical as I was, you know I can’t resist food out of a truck!

The pizza pie porn, and +/- after the jump… Read more »

The search for a good Chicken Parm sub in Midtown trucks on.  This week’s stop is Little Italy Pizza on 45th btw. 5+6th.  If you spend any time reading the comments posted to Midtown Lunch, then you know about Little Italy Pizza, and its neighbor across the street, Park Italian.  Both places have their fans, and detractors, serving up what amounts to two pretty mediocre chicken parm subs.

I’m not saying they are inedible.  I’m just saying mediocre.  A Chicken Parm Sub is going to taste good by default.  Any sandwich that consists of fried chicken topped with sauce and cheese is going to have its redeeming qualities.  Sure the sauce may be too sweet, the cheese may be no good, the bread may be soggy, or not toasted- but in the end it’s still a fried chicken sandwich.  It’s going to taste good enough to eat.  That being said, I’m not going to to tell you to go to Little Italy Pizza for the chicken parm.  It’s just ok.  The pizza on the other hand… now that’s a different story!

Awesome pizza porn, and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

***THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED***

I have been very outspoken when it comes to burritos.  Various posts have had me prattling on about how there are no good authentic burritos in Midtown, Chipotle sucks, Burritoville is just glorified wraps, blah blah blah.  So I’m almost embarassed about what I am about to write.  If push came to shove, I would never call something a burrito if it wasn’t Mexican.  But that being said, the other day, while I sat in the recently opened  Sugo! e Basilico, munching on my Campo Piadina Wrap, it occured to me, that what I was eating was possibly the best burrito I’ve had since I started working in Midtown.  It was definitely not Mexican (it is Italian), and there was no rice and beans, or guacamole or sour cream- so technically it’s not a burrito.  But it’s stuff, wrapped up in something pretty similar to a tortilla, and most importantly, it was delicious.  A delicious Italian burrito.  (Hey, if Taco Bell can have a “Mexican Pizza”…)

Sugo! is a fairly new, soon to be fast food chain, an Italian Chipotle if you will, but instead of Mexican burritos, they specialize in Piadina, an Italian flat bread that gets stuffed with various Mediterranean ingredients of your choosing.  There is only one location right now (on 5th Ave. btw. 44+45th), but I’m guessing if this one is sucessful (and I’m pretty sure it will be), there are plenty more to come.

What I got, piadina porn and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

If you look at my Restaurant Index, it’s not hard to realize where my heart lies.  12 Japanese places, 9 Indian, 8 Korean, 6 Chinese.  What can I say?  I love Asian food.  Doesn’t matter what kind.  You email me about a new Asian place, I will be there the very next day with a camera (and bib) in hand, ready to check it out.  Italian, not so much.  There are only two Italian places listed, and one of them (Naples 45) was written about for their late afternoon pizza special.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like Italian food.  (Who doesn’t like Italian food?)  And if you want to talk about the actual food I ate when I visited Rome, Venice & Florence, I would even say I love Italian food.  What’s not to love?  But when it comes to Italian subs and Chicken parm, I could take it or leave it.

Now, let me clarify a little bit before the commentors go crazy.  I like a good chicken parm sub.  I’m a fat man.  I obviously don’t think there is anything wrong with taking a piece of chicken, covering it in bread crumbs, deep frying it and serving it on a gigantic roll covered in cheese and sauce.  It’s good.  I’m just saying, if given the choice for lunch, unlike most people, I would rather have any kind of Asian food (or Latin food, or street meat), before Italian.

That being said, the other day a couple of co-workers and I checked out an Italian place on 55th btw. 5+6th that piqued my interested enough to pull me in and get me to order.  Tuscany Catering.  Why, you ask?  Because it’s cheap, it’s sort of hidden, and even once you’re inside (and told you can order food by your co-worker)- you’re still not sure if you’re actually going to walk out with some lunch.

What they’ve got, and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

I hate people.  Maybe hate is a strong word… but I don’t really like talking to people I don’t know.  That can be a positive and a negative when it comes to Midtown Lunch’ing.  On one hand, I can just get it in and out of a new place- eat my food, and take a few quick pictures, without getting influenced by a super nice cashier, or an overzealous manager trying to sell me on what they have to offer.  It can be all about the food!

On the other hand, if I asked a few questions and made a few friends I probably would get some useful information about the place I was writing about.  Here’s a perfect example of how a little friendliness will go a long way.  A few weeks ago I wrote about the fried calamari sandwich at Tuscan Square Marketplace.  I wrote that it was a good sandwich, but a little pricey ($9)- and only available on Tuesdays.  It also could suffer a little bit depending on when you got there- because the sandwich comes pre-packaged and you don’t know how much time has passed from fryer to counter.

The sandwich came recommended to me by Joann, a woman who works with my wife-  but the sandwich I ate, and the sandwich you might have eaten on the Tuesday after I wrote about this, was not the same sandwich she eats.  She gets a special sandwich.  And that sandwich is available any day she wants it.  And I’m pretty sure her sandwich has more calamari.  How does she do it?  She’s nice.  And she made friends with someone who works there.  And here’s the best part… you can have that sandwich too!  The “special” sandwich, and how to get it- after the jump. Read more »

As you can tell, lunch time is very sacred for me.  I am definitely not one of those “whenever I have time to go” kind of lunch people.  With me, it’s more of an “Only 17 minutes left until the socially acceptable lunchtime of Noon” kind of thing.  I still don’t understand how people can forget to eat lunch.  I don’t care how busy I am, I could never forget lunchtime.  In fact, if I haven’t eaten by 1pm, there’s a decent chance I’ll just pass out.  I’ve never tested this theory, but I’m pretty sure that’s what would happen.

Of course, there are occasions when I do go for a “late lunch”.  Usually these days coincide with times when there is some sort of free food in the kitchen to serve as a mid-morning snack, or I’ve eaten a late or extra large breakfast.  On these days, I get to take advantage of all the late lunch specials that midtown has to offer.  If you can wait to eat, there are some great deals to be had in Midtown and hands down, my favorite is Ho Yip.  I have a soft spot for cheap chinese food, and I love by the lb. buffets- but the price always kills me.  Ho Yip solves this by lowering their price after 2:15pm.  A great deal, and my favorite place to eat a late lunch.  I’ve also heard that alot of chain delis charge less for pre-packaged sandwiches at a certain time.   

A few months ago, a reader tipped me off to another one of these late lunch specials.  Naples 45, a nice sit down pizza place in Midtown, lowers their take out slices to $1.25 after 2pm.  For months I have been waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of this deal… and finally last week I was looking for something to eat around 2pm- so I headed over to Naples 45 to check it out.

What I found, pizza porn and the +/- after the jump… Read more »

***************THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED**********************

There are no shortage of expensive sandwiches in Midtown.  Lenny’s, ‘wichcraft & Cosi have designed entire franchises around them, and all the upscale delis have followed suit.  Some use fresh baked bread to trick you into thinking it’s worth it, some use fancy ingredients, and some just jack up the price because it’s Midtown, and quite frankly- where else are we going to go?  It’s half the reason why I don’t even bother writing about most delis (that and the by the lb. buffets, which are always dangerous for us fatties.)

Occasionally though, I will come across one of these expensive sandwiches that deserves mention.  Something so unique or delicious, that maybe- just maybe it is worth that expensive price tag.  The Fried Calamari Sandwich at Tuscan Square just might fall into that category.  It’s actually a very simple concept, but most of my lunchmates couldn’t quite grasp it at first (“fried calamari what?”).  That’s right.  Fried Calamari, between two pieces of bread (hence the term sandwich).  Genius!!! 

A picture of the sandwich, and +/- after the jump… Read more »