Midtown Lunch

Boi’s Vietnamese restaurant empire, which already has two banh mi offshoots in Midtown East (Boi to Go and Boi Sandwich), will grow by one this week when Boi Noodles opens on 41st 40th btw. 7+8th.  The new location, which is scheduled to open on Thursday in the old Sophie’s Cuban space, will specialize in pho, but they will also sell sandwiches, wraps, salads, rice bowls, and noodle bowls- just like Boi Sandwich on 3rd Ave- plus Vietnamese coffee and bubble tea.  We’re kind of curious how it will compare to Chicken House (on 36th btw. 7+8th), which added banh mi, bun, and a pretty mediocre pho to their menu last year.

Check out the full menu from Boi Noodles, after the jump…

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It’s no secret that Midtown Lunch has traditionally had a bit of an Asian soup bias… aka Zach just didn’t eat non-Asian soups. And while I can respect his assessment that the majority of soups in midtown are overpriced and not terribly filling (I’m looking at you, Hale & Hearty!), I’m a soup fan, and try as I might, I can’t live on ramen alone. Though the dine-in menu at Dervish Turkish (on 47th btw. 6+7th) is pretty much out of the Midtown Lunch price range, they make a mean Red Lentil Soup that’s available for take out and it’s well under $10.
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And here we are, the fourth Friday in Lent. You can do it Catholics, two more to go! We’ve covered some of the fried fish options, but what if you gave up fried things (Brownie!) or have been sick enough that someone (Zach!) told you that if you’ve called in sick to work on Wednesday, you shouldn’t go have burgers off a truck as a sick-day lunch. Well, then it would be Asian vegetable soup time.

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Got this message from Lunch’er “Michael” the other day: “A new cart opened on 53red and Park. Its an “international soup” and “halal” cart that offer 9 soups daily plus a special. 12oz = $4.50, 16oz = 5.50 32oz = 9.50. The guy running it was very nice and generous with the samples.” Turns out the cart is from a newish soup restaurant in College Point Queens called the Herb International Soup Factory. It’s got great reviews on Chow and Chowhound, and like Michael said they’re willing to give you a sample of any of the soups. I tried a taste of the pumpkin soup yesterday, which was really tasty and more of a savory squash soup than the sweet orange goop you’d expect. Super interesting, and a great change of pace from the red signed Hot Soup carts that have come to dominate the Midtown soup scene. It’s parked on the NW corner of 53rd & Park (where the Mexican burrito cart used to be.)

This week’s issue of New York Magazine tackles the timely issue of “Best Soups in New York” naming what they think are the city’s 50 tastiest. A few soups were mentioned that would be worthy of Midtown Lunch’ing, including the sul long tang from Gahm Mi Oak, the tan tan ramen from Men Kui Tei (I guess I chose wrong last week), and the kharcho from Taam Tov. And a bunch more were mentioned if you don’t mind splurging or going a few blocks out of bounds… like the chicken soup from Ma Peche, the Alsatian beer soup in the Bar Room at the Modern, the oyster pan roast at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, and the hot yogurt soup from Sip Sak. Check out the complete list here>>

After I proclaimed Aura Thai’s duck soup one of the best in Midtown last week, Lunch’er MikeNYC pointed something out in the comments that is hard for me to deny:

It’s strange: If one were to go by this site alone, one would think soup is pretty much an asian food. Try clicking on that food type “soup” link above. The resulting stories skew about 80% or more to asian soups. (I made up that ratio, but it’s a high number) That is not even close to the asian/non-asian ratio of soup sales or consumption, based solely on casual observation in places I go. Which is my long winded way of bitching about the lack of non-asian soup coverage on ML. BTW, anyone got a good chicken pot pie soup near rock center? Bistro does a good one, but not every day. Also, burning question: Pot pie soup – bits o’crust, or no? Maybe I should take it to the forum….

You are so right.  I’m completely prejudiced again non-Asian soups, and it’s not right.  Although, in my defense, a bowl of ramen or udon seems more like a full meal than anything you could get from Hale & Hearty.  Chicken pot pie soup does sound good…  so, I’ll do it!  My next 5 soup posts will be non Asian.  Got any suggestions for me?

Related:
Lunch’er Grace Reports: The Ultimate Midtown Soup List

It’s been a duck kind of a week. Yesterday I wrote about the Thursday duck pancake special at Yushi… and then subconsciously (or consciously) I felt a sudden urge to try the duck soup from Aura Thai. I’ve seen the soups at Aura mentioned a bunch of times on Midtown Lunch (most notably by Lunch’er “Nantini”) but the place is out of bounds (9th Ave. btw. 35+36th) and there are plenty of good soups in Midtown. We don’t need to be hiking out to 9th Ave. just for soup.

Now that I’ve tried the soup, though, I think hiking out to 9th Ave. is exactly what we all need to be doing (especially now that’s it starting to get colder.)

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The news about Onya, the Japanese udon chain owned by Muginoho (the Japanese company that owns Beard Papa) keeps getting more and more exciting.  We reported that they would be moving into the old Cafe Zest space on 47th btw. Lex+3rd back in August, and the more we’re hearing about the place the better it sounds.  According to the owners it will be the first restaurant in New York City to serve freshly-made, authentic udon from Osaka, Japan- going so far as to say that they will do for Osaka udon what Ippudo has done for ramen from Fukuoka.

I guess that means it’s different then the udon served at Udon West (on 46th btw. Lex+3rd).  The description of the restaurant sounds different enough… the first floor will have quick bento lunches in the front, a small dining area in the back, and an open kitchen where you can watch the noodles being cut.  Sit down dining will be available on the 2nd floor.  Even with all that, everything on the menu is well under $10, and looks awesome.  Check it out after the jump…

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Bi Bim Naengmyeon from Pro Hot Korean (on 56th btw. 5+6th)

It’s starting to get gross out, which makes eating hot ramen less and less appealing.  Thankfully summertime means Hiyashi chuka at Japanese restaurants, and Naengmyeon at Korean restaurants. Luncher Mark sends word that Pro Hot Korean (on 56th btw. 5+6th) is not serving their cold noodle dish yet, but what about the Japanese spots?

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We’re hearing rumors that the company who owns Beard Papa, will be bringing a branch of their Japanese Udon restaurant (called Onya) to the now vacant Cafe Zest space on 47th btw. Lex+3rd.  There is also the possibility that it could end up sharing the space with a new branch of Beard Papa, who just closed their counter inside Cafe Zaiya (although that part is still up in the air.)  Anybody been overseas and eaten at (or heard of) Onya before?  Is it a cheap, fast food kind of place (like Udon West) or a fancy sit down place (i.e. expensive?)  Let us know in the comments…