Midtown Lunch

Last week, before I hit up the OTB I slipped into Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) for a bowl of their “famous” shredded pork and Chinese pickle noodle soup.  I’m a huge fan of Hing Won, and have been there a ton of times (it was the very first post on Midtown Lunch almost 3 years ago), but this was actually the first time I had tried the soup that the New York Times highly praised years and years ago (the article still hangs in the window.)  When I recommended it to yesterday’s profiled luncher, Lunch’er Dan L. had this to say in the comments:

Hing Won’s pickle noodle soup is overrated. It’s good, but almost everything at Hing Won is pretty good, and the pickle noodle soup doesn’t really stand out to me.

Read more »

Always Hungry has a round up of the best matzo ball soups in New York City, and surprisingly they only liked three versions.  Even more surprising is that 2 of the 3 are right here in Midtown: Sarge’s (on 3rd btw. 36+37th) and 2nd Ave. Deli (on 33rd btw. Lex+3rd).  Carnegie Deli’s version got a C (barely passing) and the Cafe Edison (on 47th btw. B’way+8th) was totally left out!  I wonder how they would have stacked up.

As much as we complain about Midtown as a “culinary wasteland”, the cart scene is probably the best in the city (rivaled only by Jackson Heights, perhaps?) When it comes to variety, we pretty much have everything- with few exceptions.  2 1/2 years ago, we even had a Japanese teriyaki cart (on 50th btw. 6+7th)- which disappeared as quickly as it popped up. Well, I’m excited to report that teriyaki has returned to the Midtown cart scene (on the NW corner of 49th & 3rd), and it is a huge improvement on the original.

Read more »

Let me just admit something off the bat… unlike like many bloggers who consider their opinion worthwhile because they have access to software that transmits their words onto the interwebs, I will admit that there are some things I don’t have a ton of experience with (so maybe my opinion should come with a grain of salt).  And one of those things is Japanese udon soup.  Even though there are many cheap versions all over Midtown (a lot of delis now carry it), it has never really made it into my repertoire of lunches. (Sauteed udon is a different story!)  If I want soup, I usually go with ramen… and when it comes to ramen, two of my three favorite places (Menchanko Tei & Men Kui Tei) were kind of bashed by Rameniac.  So either he’s wrong, or I don’t know shit about ramen either.

So, with that in mind- I headed over to Udon West, the third outpost of the East Village chain which replaced Teriyaki Boy on 46th btw. Lex+3rd a month ago.

Read more »

The blog Rameniac has released their list of the best ramen from coast to coast, and 3 of the top 10 ramens in New York City are Midtown Lunches: Sapporo (6), Men Kui Tei (8), and Menchanko-Tei (10). While the site has some nostalgic words of kindness for Sapporo, they are less than enthusiastic about Men Kui Tei and Menchanko-Tei, which, despite being the lowest on the list, was voted best Ramen in the Midtown Lunch Readers’ poll. I guess there is no accounting for taste… [via Serious Eats: New York]

Last September it was reported that the shuttered Teriyaki Boy (on 46th btw. Lex+3rd) would become a Japanese noodle shop, and surprisingly it has happened in the time frame they specified. Udon West has opened in the old Teriyaki Boy space, serving up 13 different bowls of Udon under $10. They also have teriyaki, curry, and combinations (although the combinations are all over $10), and I believe they are the same Udon West with locations in Flushing and on St. Marks in the East Village. It will be interesting to see how this place competes with Menchanko Tei, one block over on 45th btw. Lex+3rd…. but at least while the  weather is still cold I’m guessing there is room for both. Let the soup wars begin! Early adopters, let us know how it is in the comments.

A shot of the pretty nice interior is after the jump…

Read more »

Blondie and Brownie stray from their comfort zone at Woorijip (on 32nd btw. B’way+5th), ordering the ramen with egg and spicy kimchi soup with pork and ham from the Noodle Bar in the back of the shop. But take note: the noodle bar is only opened until 2pm, so make sure you aren’t going for a late lunch.

Related: 2008 Readers’ Poll: Best Korean Food

 

The Outpost has been mentioned a number of times on this blog, most notably in Lunch’er Grace’s Ultimate List of Midtown Soups at the beginning of the year.  Described as “the soup deal of a lifetime… hidden in the MTV/Viacom Building” this place sounded like a proper Midtown Lunch kind of place. With the weather starting to get cold, I decided to check out the Outpost last week;  but when I entered the building on the NW corner of 44th and Broadway, and rode the escalator up, I found a place called the “V Stop”.  They had soups, and as promised by Grace a 12 oz cup cost $1.25, but the place itself looked like just another generic Midtown crap hole… and the soups looked like they were made by some central catering company- not a random old chef with a whimsical love of soup.  I was kind of thrown off by the whole thing and didn’t even bother trying the admittedly cheap $1.25 soup.

Is this what the original Outpost was like? Has anybody been recently?  Are the soups still good?  My gut tells me this place is now a pass…

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Fashion Soup, a really good take out place on 41st btw. 6th & Broadway featuring tasty soups homemade by its Eastern European owner (who also works in the store during the day.) Seeing as it’s Fashion Week, I thought I’d drop by and see what was going on. In addition to being curious about changes, I was also secretly interested in seeing if business changed considering the influx of fashionable peoples under tents, half an avenue away in Bryant Park.

What I found was a big surprise…  Read more »

On Friday I had lunch plans with my brother, who is hands down the soup aficionado of our family.  I don’t mind soup; he can’t get enough of the stuff.  To decide where we would go for lunch, I sent him a link to Lunch’er Grace’s Ultimate Midtown Soup List, and after careful perusal, he chose Sapporo– so we could try their tantan-men, a Japanese sesame paste broth with pork and scallions.

I hadn’t been to Sapporo (on 49th btw. 6+7th) in awhile so I was happy to oblige. Out of the three Midtown Lunch’ish, sit down ramen places in Midtown (Sapporo, Menchanko Tei and Men Kui Tei) I’d probably rate Sapporo my least favorite, but after this visit, I am starting to really enjoy the charm to the place.  It has a casualness and vibrancy that is missing from the stodgier other two.  And while their ingredients (especially the pork) aren’t as high quality, they do make a mean bowl of soup.

Read more »