Midtown Lunch

Rejoice, all those who like soup in the height of August and didn’t read about Soup Spot this morning! In an inexplicable attempt to cash in on an almost 20-year old sitcom that did to 3/4ths of its cast the same thing Star Wars did to Mark Hamill, the official Seinfeld page on Facebook has convinced some obviously debt-ridden food truck operator to make a “No Soup for You” truck to appear across the country.

Yes, you too can maybe shake the hand of Larry Thomas, whose career was no doubt boosted greatly by his one-episode appearance that in turn gave rise to a tourist-trap soup chain.

The Soup Nazimobile — which only devalues the -mobile suffix and makes the Batmobile very, very angry — hits NYC on 8/1. Specific location and time frame to follow, but if I were you, I’d spare the disappointment and just go to Hale and Hearty to get it over with, or if you’re feeling generous, give Al Yeganeh your money directly at one of the Original Soup Man locations. The rest of us will keep Soup Spot in our minds and hearts.

Freeloaders, move to the extreme left after ordering and set phasers to “soup.”

There’s nothing better in any season — summer included — than soup. Yes, soup. Soup that’s hot. Soup that’s steaming. Soup that isn’t an overpriced container of liquid suck. Sure, your only option may be an attempt to capitalize off a Seinfeld-ized urban myth meant to sucker in tourists (PRO TIP: check out the rules list and look for the one in German, and question why they’d do that at ALL given Soup Nazi evasion in name and mythos) or a generic deli whose soups are conveniently pre-prepared at some anonymous Sysco affiliate in Queens. But if you’re in the very belly of the beast — the looming shadow of Penn Station — you have an option. You can get in on the secret. You have access to 17 or 18 different flavors that change daily. You have freedom. You have options. You have Soup Spot.
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I walked by this storefront-in-progress in the middle of Friday’s heat wave and burst out laughing. I mean … I couldn’t imagine anything I wanted less at that exact moment. We on this blog are not huge fans of Hale & Hearty (I fell for a completely underwhelming “Thai” chicken soup some months ago), but if you are, a new shop is under construction on 40th street between 7th and 8th avenues.

This week, I got sucked in by Hale & Hearty’s advertising. They started serving Thai chicken soup, and in theory it sounded pretty good. They described it as “hot, spicy, smooth and sweet – it’s a just like a vacation on the beaches of Thailand.” I love Thai food … I love chicken soup … maybe, just maybe Hale & Hearty could pull off this combination?!  (I’m sure most of you know where this is going.)

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I really enjoy soup but usually avoid it for lunch for fear of major mid-afternoon munchies. The exception to this rule would be homey and delicious Asian noodle soups, but I’m sure that’s no surprise to regular readers of this blog — we tend to be partial to the Asian goodies. Anyway, a month or two ago, I noticed that the Hot Soup cart had returned the northeast corner of 45th street and 6th avenue for the winter season. Soup carts are usually invisible to me, because of my previously stated aversion to cup-of-soup lunches, but the unusually long line caught my eye. I checked in recently and couldn’t resist trying the interesting (or maybe just weird) sounding “chicken jerky” soup listed on the menu.

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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.

The other day, I was feeling under the weather and in need of some hot soup. After perusing various menus, I settled on Bao Noodles (on 2nd btw. 22+23rd), which Clay recommended back in August for their lunch specials. Unfortunately, I ordered this meal on Seamless, where apparently the lunch special is not offered (so long, free starter). But I settled on Saigon Style Egg Noodle Soup (Mi Saigon): egg noodles with slices of pork, squid, quail egg, shrimp, garlic, chives, and bean sprouts in chicken broth ($9.95).

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Let’s face it – It’s only February, and we still have at least a month of cold weather left before we can put away the sweater, scarves and jackets. Bundling up is one way of beating the cold weather, but the contributors here at Midtown lunch like to reach for a hot bowl of soup to warm up. We’ve asked each of the contributors to share a favorite bowl of soup in Midtown, so read on to find out where we like to get our soup on.

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Despite the terrible name, I’ve become a little hooked on Foodie (44th btw 2nd+3rd). Everything close to my job has gotten a bit stale for me, so when Boi became Foodie earlier this month it allowed me to enjoy the quick lunch again. I have been especially looking forward to their dumplings, which weren’t available until last Friday. And not only do they have dumplings, they have dumpling soup! I know it’s just dumplings in broth, but it’s more than that to me-it’s the first time I’ve gotten respectable dumplings for lunch in Midtown in a long time.

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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.

The random swings in temperature over the last few weeks probably have a lot to do with the coughing and hacking I’ve been hearing up and down the rows of cubicles at work. It’s getting to be about that time when the office cold starts spreading. Hoping to preempt the first cold of the season, I headed to Negi-Ya (on 37th btw. Mad+5th), formerly Washoku Cafe, to fortify myself with noodles and rich, warm broth.

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