Midtown Lunch

_{International Food House Restaurant & Buffet
Posted to the M.L. Flickr Photo Group by Seraphim1970} 

Last week I was on Sirius Satellite Radio’s Maxim Radio Channel giving my tips on how to beat the All You Can Eat Buffet.  Most of the info is already covered in the “Midtown Lunch Guide to Beating the All You Can Eat Chinese Food Buffet“, but now you can check it out in audio form! Notice how Stretch, the DJ, refers to me as “Champion of the Buffet” and “Buffet Expert”.  I think I could get used to that…

Part 1 – [mp3]http://www.midtownlunch.com/blog/wp-content/buffet1.mp3[/mp3]

Part 2 – [mp3]http://www.midtownlunch.com/blog/wp-content/buffet2.mp3[/mp3]

Unfortunately, when it comes to all you can eat Chinese Buffets, we’re pretty weak here in Midtown.  The only option I have found is the “Midtown Buffet” on 7th Ave. btw. 39+40th., which is the kind of buffet you eat at once every 6 months, to remind yourself why you only eat there once every 6 months.  Luckily there are other places to enjoy, for those of us obsessed with buffets.  My favorites, after the jump… Read more »

***This Blimpie Location is Now Closed, but the Latin Food can now be found in the newsstand next door***

Latin food (and Korean food) seems to pop up in the strangest places in Midtown.  Delis (like Utopia Cafe on 56th btw. 5+6th), Pizza parlors like La Strada (on 56th btw. Lex+3rd), and I’ve even seen a lady selling homemade Latin food out of a grocery basket on 46th. btw. 5+6th.  But all of those pale in comparison to what I discovered the other day.  Latin food inside a Blimpie.

That’s right.  Blimpie.  The sub chain.  The place I would never step foot into in a million years… unless I saw a sign for Latin food.  Imagine my surprise when I saw such a sign while walking down 6th Ave. the other day.  Spanish Food.  Right there in neon.  For $5.50. How could I not?

Photos that prove I entered a Blimpie, what they had, and a +/-, after the jump… Read more »

It’s official.  The Five Guys on 55th btw. 5+6th has been completed and is planning on opening a week from tomorrow.  Here’s your first look at the interior… (you can see the giant bags of peanuts stacked up in the back, which they give out free for your meal.)

Mark in on your calendars… Thursday, October 25th.  I’ll be the fat guy in the corner, taking a picture of his double cheeseburger with sauteed mushrooms & onions (and bag of fries of course).

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 »

I may be too excited to type out this post.  Sushi.  On conveyor belts.  In Midtown.  Oh my lord,  my prayers have been answered.  No, not the one where David Chang starts serving Korean burritos out of a cart on 49th St. & 6th Ave,  or the one where Saigon Banh Mi opens a Midtown branch, but doesn’t change their prices.  It’s the dream, where I’m sitting in a Midtown Japanese restaurant, and all the food is circling around me, there for the taking, around and around, each plate begging “Pick me!”  “Take me!” “Don’t I look good?!?”

That’s a good dream.  And hopefully by the end of the year, I will finally get to visit this place while I’m awake.  Sushi Sakae, a very large and famous Singapore chain of Japanese (go figure) Conveyor Belt Sushi restaurants is opening their first U.S. location here in Midtown.  It’s going up on 43rd btw. Lex. & 3rd Ave. and they are hoping to open it by the end of November.

Conveyor belt porn, and a sneak peak, advance look at the U.S. take out menu- after the jump… Read more »

Growing up in a Jewish family meant bagels and lox were always served on special occasions.  Break the fast and special Sunday mornings visiting Grandma always made exciting events, if for no other reason than the appearance of bagels and a giant platter of smoked fish.  Even funerals were an event to get a little excited about.  Sure, somebody died- but isn’t this pickled herring delicious?  I don’t really celebrate the holidays that often anymore, but I have not lost my appreciation for a nice bagel with cream cheese, onion, lox and white fish.

Unfortunately, the one drawback to this food (and the thing that makes it difficult in the context of Midtown Lunch’ing) is the price.  Smoked fish is expensive.  It’s tough to get a bagel with lox or whitefish in this city for under $10, which made the “discovery” of Ess a Bagel all the more exciting.  I say “discovery” because Ess a Bagel is not exactly a hidden gem.  When people argue about the best bagels in New York City, it will almost always come up, and while their original location is on 21st & 1st Ave., they have a second location on 3rd Ave. & 50th.  Or as I like to call it Midtown Lunch East.

What they’ve got, bagel porn, the +/- and exactly how they “got me”, after the jump… Read more »

Midtown has its boundaries, but every once in awhile I’ll discover a place that just might be worth the extra few blocks, and profile it in a category I call “Out of Bounds”.  Since Ressie May’s Soul to Go closed, there has been a soul food hole in the Midtown Lunch’ing landscape.  Anything good and cheap would be welcomed.  A place that sells fried chicken for a $1 a piece, collards and mac & cheese for $1-2 a scoop- well now you’ve got me excited, and willing to walk those extra couple of avenues for an Out of Bounds lunch.

Piece of Chicken is that place, and their sandwich board doesn’t lie.  As unbelievable as it seems to passersby, they do in fact serve fried chicken for $1 a piece, and side dishes for $1-2.  Add to that rib tips, fried fish, corn bread and soup, sold out of the back window of a kitchen that once belonged to upscale Caribbean restaurant Jezebel (with nothing costing over $2), and you’ve got a winner.

The menu, piece of chicken porn and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

I haven’t really been interested in baseball this year, but I still followed the Yankees every day.  Not because I’m a fan of the pinstripes (10 years of living in Boston beat that out of me), but I am a fan of fried meat cutlets served over mounds of rice and covered in curry.  And every time Hideki Matsui hit a homerun this season, it meant free topping coupons at Go Go Curry, the Japanese Curry shrine to the Yankees #55 (Go means 5 in Japanese).  It only happened 25 times this season (so disappointing!), but hopefully he’ll overcome his injuries in the Playoffs to salvage a few more coupons for us before the end of the season.

Kare Raisu (Curry Rice) is an incredibly popular lunchtime dish in Japan, and while a number of Midtown Lunch places serve it (Yagura, 47th St. Convenience Store), Go Go Curry is the only place in Midtown where it is the specialty.  You can’t get anything else.   I wrote about it when it first opened, but didn’t give it a proper write up at the time.  With baseball season coming to an end, I figured it was a perfect time to really see what they’ve got, and give it a proper +/-.

The Katsu Curry (fried pork cutlet) is the industry standard, but they also offer chicken cutlet, sausages, & fried shrimp- and if you are anything like me, there’s only one option.  All of it.  And the only way to do that, is The Grand Slam- a $12.50 platter of everything Go Go Curry has to offer.

Here’s what a normal $7.50 order of Katsu Curry will get you:

The $12.50 Grand Slam after the jump… Read more »

Walked by what will soon be the Midtown location of D.C. chain Five Guys Famous Burgers & Fries today and found them in the process of hiring staff.  The guys in front of the 55th St. (btw. 5+6th) location said they were 2 weeks away from opening, but from the looks of the inside, I’d guess more like 4.  Regardless, we’re getting close and I’m getting excited.  

Check out the menu w/ prices, after the jump… Read more »

Yesterday I walked into my boss’ office and spotted a giant cookie on his desk from Cosi, still in it’s plastic wrapping.  I looked closely at the cookie, and despite how tasty it appeared to be, I knew that he had not meant to purchase this particular cookie.  It had raisins in it.  And while many people enjoy a good oatmeal raisin cookie from time to time, there was something about this raisin cookie, clearly masquerading as a chocolate chip cookie, that said to me “this was a mistake”.

Me: “Hey man.  What’s up with the cookie?”

Boss: “Awww yeah.  Looks delicious, right?”

Me: “Really?  I think you might have bought the wrong cookie.”

Boss: “What do you mean?  Cosi cookies are great.”

Me: “That cookie has raisins in it.”

Boss: “No.”  (looks closer at cookie) “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  It was in the chocolate chip cookie bin.  Those bastards!”

It’s not hard to see how he made the mistake.  From afar it looked like a chocolate chip cookie.  Even one of the raisins had smeared up against the plastic wrapping, saying “Look at me!  I’m like a melted chocolate chip!  Hahaha! You wanted a dessert, but now you’re eating healthy fruit!!!”

Is there anything worse than biting into a cookie you think is filled with chocolate chips, only to discover raisins?  Luckily I was  able to save my boss in time.  Let this be a lesson to the rest of you.  Never trust signs.  And never trust raisins. 

In a related story, the Treats Truck is on 38th St. & 5th Ave. today.  Got a favorite cookie in Midtown?  Post it as a comment below…