Midtown Lunch

There is an actual article in this morning’s NY Post about (and this is a direct quote) “the cutthroat world of the tossed-to-order salad, which has replaced the three-martini lunch as the [Midtown] office worker’s mealtime measure of status and self-worth.” It goes on to explain what your lunchtime salad choices (Chop’t vs. Cafe Duke; Pre Made vs. Pick Your Own) say about you as a worker/human being. I don’t know why they didn’t interview me- I could have pinpointed exactly what eating at these salad places says about the world we live in… it says that this anti-salad-website is doing god’s work. (Although I have to admit the “Po’Boy Salad” at Chop’t does sound intriguing.)

I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…)  These are both a week or two old, so apologies to both places if they’ve managed to miraculously fix their issues since these emails were sent.  I’m guessing they haven’t.

Please warn fellow Midtown Lunchers [about John’s Shanghai on 46th btw. 6+7th).] Here’s the review I posted on MenuPages: “I’ve ordered here many many times before and have never been so disappointed. Sure, restaurants have their off days, but today’s food was a complete insult. I had 6 orders in total, none came close to mediocre. General Tso’s chicken was just a pile of red chicken, no broccoli on the side or anything. Chicken and Brocolli was sweet. Double Sauteed Pork was sweet rather than spicy, and pork slices were too thick. Thought that was bad, here’s the icing on the cake. Soy Sauce Chicken over rice, they had the nerve to give us re-cooked chicken. I’m Chinese, I know! It looks like leftover soy sauce chicken reheated in the steamer. The skin on the chicken had shrunken a bit and the color from the soy sauce had come off already. Why would you dare serve something like that to a customer?!!?!?!??!?!!! I will NEVER order from them again!” Thanks, Lily.

Wow… I don’t even know what to say to that.  Luckily, John’s Shanghai has never really been considered a Midtown Lunch, so I don’t even really need to waste any time trying to interpret that rant.  The email I got about Ambrosia was a little more upsetting.  Why the generic deli (that became a ML favorite by adding Korean food) might have me re-thinking my “Best Bi Bim Bap in Midtown” claim- after the jump…   Read more »

Big news out of the Midtown pizza front: Lazzara’s, the relatively old school sit down pizza place on 38th btw. 7+8th is getting a second location on 9th Ave. btw. 43+44th. Opened 23 years ago, the original Lazzara’s has been mentioned a few times on this site in the comments, usually when the discussion of best chicken parm is raised. Unlike the original, which is opened Monday through Friday and only until 9 p.m., the new location will be opened 24 hours, and according to Tony Lazzara will be standing room only, delivery and take out.  Slightly out of bounds for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes, the 9th Ave. location will hopefully lighten the lunchtime load on the original, which has some pretty long wait times between Noon and 2pm.  They expect the new place to be up and running in the next 2-3 months.

With so many cheap, order-at-a-counter-and-take-it-to-a-table pizza and chicken parm places in Midtown, Lazzara’s isn’t really a prototypical Midtown Lunch. But with food this fresh and good, and a fairly busy take out business, it’s tough to ignore. Check out what they’ve got, after the jump… Read more »

The popular Frogurt (which is available at 40 Carrots inside
Bloomingdales) is now available at generic deli Printon 56 (on 56th btw.
5+6th). They’re also giving away free samples outside (although I wont
guarantee they’ll be doing that all day.)

Awhile back I posted a “Where to get Bubble Tea” Ask Midtown Lunch post, which yielded a few responses: Dishes (which is supposedly terrible) and Hing Won on 48th btw. 5+6th, which is not that bad. You can get in Koreatown on 32nd btw. B’way and 5th, but for those of us working in the heart of Midtown Lunch, there’s not much. I did however noticed the other day that Ying Du on 38th btw. 7+8th (formerly the 38th St. Restaurant and Bakery) is now serving bubble tea. For $2.50 you get a decent size cup, and the regular black tea version I had was pretty darn good (especially in the ridiculous heat,) and definitely better than Hing Won.

If you’re heading over to Go Go Curry today for your 3 free toppings coupons, you might want to check it out- it’s right next door.  Anybody else have a bubble tea suggestion?  Feel free to put it in the comments below…

I decided to stop by the Treats Truck yesterday after hearing rumors that the Wednesday lines have gotten crazy on 45th & 6th. Sure enough the line was down the block, and that was at 2:30!  I don’t even want to know what it’s like during peak lunch time.  That corner is easily owner Kim Ima’s most popular spot, and she used to park there twice a week, but now that it’s summertime, and the ice cream trucks are back she is only “allowed” to park in that spot once a week (competition among carts in Midtown is fierce, and there is a lot of politics and jockeying for position between the carts.)

You may remember the Treats Truck only started parking in that space regularly last winter, when the ice cream truck that has occupied that spot for years went into “hibernation.”  Clearly he’s back (it’s freakin hot out), which is why Sugar is only there once a week now- but I have a great idea to get the Treats Truck more days on 45th & 6th, and hopefully make the lines shorter…  Read more »

Whether you’re a Yankees fan, or a fried cutlet with Japanese curry fan, you’ll want to be at Go Go Curry tomorrow (Thursday, June 12th) where they’ll be celebrating Hideki Matsui’s Birthday by giving away 3 free topping cards to every customer. It’s not as good a deal as their $5 1 year anniversary day, but I’ll take it.

More important than that though, Go Go Curry has decided to top their oh so giant and awesome “Grand Slam” with a newly introduced “World Champion Curry.” Check it out (in all its greatness) after the jump…

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Some places you just instantly know you are going to like. Like the Chicken House on 36th St. just East of 8th Avenue. To call this little fried chicken/fish/shrimp/chip shop small would be vastly overestimating its size. This place is tiny. With no more than 10 seats facing the fryers where everything on the menu is made (nothing escapes the oil except maybe the rice and beans, although I’m not positive), you cram into the 12 inch space behind the stools and decide whether you want to try and sit down, or just order your food to go and quickly flee to the safety of your cubicle.

With the prices maxing out at $6, and a perfectly filling lunch available for a ridiculously cheap $2.50, is there any way I wasn’t going to like this place? Sure there are tons of people who won’t eat nondescript fried fish and shrimp from a tiny off the radar garment district hole in the wall. Lucky for you, I’m not one of those people, and relish every opportunity to put my body in harms way for the sake of this blog (especially when it involves cheaper-than-what-is-humanly-acceptable-for-consumption fried food.)

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Fried Pork and Plantain Sandwich

Yesterday it was Gourmet Magazine editor Ruth Reichl shining a light on Midtown Lunch’ing, this morning it’s the New York Times.  Sophie’s Cuban, one of the more popular lunch’ing options we have (and not just because of their free lunch grand openings), is reviewed in the $25 and under column in the New York Times today.  Considering that the newest location (40th btw. 7+8th) is across the street from their building, it’s not all that surprising.  Pete wells pays special attention to the pork and plantain sandwich, calling it “authentic sandwich bliss.”  He also mentioned the all too familiar sensation of having your “mind go blank” shortly after eating it.  My brain is going numb just thinking about it. [NYT]