Midtown Lunch

Eater put together a map of New York’s “strange sandwiches” yesterday and (naturally) our very own Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) made the cut. They had so many “bonkers” options to choose from, but went with the Mr. Potato Skin, a special from back in April featuring fried chicken sandwiched inside a baked potato. In other strange sandwich news, Robert Sietsema from the Village Voice hit up City Sandwich, the new Portuguese spot on 9th Ave that Chris got really excited about a few weeks ago. Sietsema’s favorite sandwich? The blood sausage with broccoli rabe. Nice.

After reading Chris’ early word on Korilla BBQ, I made a mental note to check it out next time it came to my nabe. When I read on the Twitter Tracker that they’d be on 46th and 7th the other day, I took the opportunity to hit them up for lunch.

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Forgot to mention this in my chicken shawarma sandwich post about Kolette’s (on Lex. btw. 55+56th)- which was actually just a pre-game! My intial Kolette’s Kitchen curiosity was piqued by this mention of their chocolate and cinnamon rugelach in the forums last week. As a person who would prefer taking a long lunch and heading up to Greenberg’s rather than eat most of Midtown’s rugelach offerings, this allegation had to be investigated.

One look tells you these rugelach are hand-made. Each is unique in form, and that form is packed with chocolate goodness. They’re not made fresh on site, but the soft doughy insides let me know that they weren’t sitting around all that long. I like the addition of cinnamon, it’s just enough to play off the chocolate and makes the rugelach seem a little exotic. I haven’t run across many with that flavor combination at all. At 75¢ a pop, these make a nice little mid-afternoon dessert snack.

Kolette’s Kitchen, 672 Lexington (btw. 55+56th), (212) 593-2222

I’ve been curious about the kosher banh mi sandwiches at Kolette’s Kitchen (on Lex btw 55+56th) since Amy told us that the Classic wasn’t half bad. Well, if they could do a respectable kosher (aka no pork) version of our beloved banh mi, what about this other hybrid sandwich we heard about, the Chicken Shawarma Banh Mi? What is that all about? Spicy, chicken deliciousness apparently!

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I noticed a couple of new developments in the world of food carts during a little Midtown wandering yesterday. First off, a new halal cart has entered into the Midtown fray on the NW corner of 49th and Park Ave, directly across from our friends at El Rey del Sabor. The cart, Meals on Wheels, apparently set up shop there two weeks ago, and are pricing their chicken and rice platters at $3.99. Added bonus: the interior still has that “new cart” shine.

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Even though Szechuan Gourmet is the ace-in-the-hole for spice loving ML eaters who work around 39th street, there are still other options in the area. And not just Zaiya and the rest of the Japanese food corridor on 41st street. I’m talking Chinese food options. We’ve already seen Lan Seng join the scene last year. But there’s actuallya restaurant on 38th street, just a block away, that’s been doing business for a while. I’ve always walked by Evergreen on 38 and dismissed it because it looked like just another Chinese take-out place. I think they used to have another branch of the restaurant by the NYU campus, but it’s been long gone. If the 38th street location can stay open, then maybe it’s half decent? Last week I thought it was good time to give Evergreen’s lunch specials menu a shot.

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The other day I noticed a call out for vodka slice recommendations in the forums from lunch’er MattPeach. Lunch’er deanlo let him know that Jiannetto’s sometimes has vodka slices on their truck. With vodka slices on my mind I happened to be walking by Bella Napoli (on 49th btw. 6+7th) when I spied a familiar rose colored sauce topped pie on the counter right near the door. Bella Napoli does vodka slices? Now this was something I had to check out.
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Cupcakes can be a bit of a contentious subject here on ML. I happen to enjoy a good cupcake every now and then, but if I step back and look at it objectively, I can see where the haters are coming from. When cupcakes became trendy they became ubiquitous and as such there are a lot of mediocre (not to mention overpriced) ones out there. When Lunch’er Felicia recently asked for cupcake recommendations more than a few readers gave a shout out to Robicelli’s cupcakes available at Lily O’Brien’s off of Bryant Park. I’ve had Robicelli’s plenty of times back in ye olde Brooklyn*, but hadn’t yet had a chance to try them out in their midtown location. Meeting up with a cupcake loving friend for lunch last week, gave me the perfect reason to swing by and try several of their brand new flavors.
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I headed to Koreatown for lunch yesterday hoping to get some of my favorite katsu in the neighborhood, only to find the door locked up at Arang (on 32nd btw. 5th+B’way). A quick phone call got no answer or voicemail. Judging by the Halloween decoration in the window, it doesn’t seem like they’ve been closed for very long. Has anyone heard about them closing up shop? Let us know in the comments.

Now that Downtown has its very own section of the site, what are we going to post on Fridays? Answer… how about a column devoted to those lunches just south of the ML boundaries. Every week we post about a lunch in Murray Hill south, Gramercy, Flatiron, and everything in between… or to make it easy: Flatiron Lunch.

When the Souvlaki GR truck took home Rookie of the Year honors at this year’s Vendy Awards, they were still in their infancy, but I was really looking forward to them eventually serving lunch in Midtown. Unfortunately, they seem to be getting very cozy in a regular noon-9pm spot at 21st and 6th. Hopefully, they will still make it to Midtown eventually, but why wait? A few weeks ago, I took a (temporary) break from mourning Midtown’s loss to celebrate Flatiron’s gain (it’s still better than trekking to Astoria, right?). I can now say that wherever they park, Souvlaki GR is a great addition to the NYC food truck scene (and it’s just a few F stops away).

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