Midtown Lunch

*********THE PRINCE DELI IS NOW CLOSED*********

I admit it.  This post should have been done a long time ago.  And I don’t have an excuse. I’ve walked by the Prince Deli (on 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th) so many times in the past two years, and never once have I pulled the trigger.  Admittedly, I usually hate generic Midtown delis like this, but the Prince has two things going for it. 1) 99 Cent Pizza.  How can you not?  And 2) a falafel sandwich that was touted by the New York Daily News as “the best in the neighborhood.”  The article has proudly hung in the storefront for awhile now (although there is no date on it, so lord knows how long ago this was written.)

Anyway, I finally took the plunge last week, testing out their two signature dishes.  Read more »

This week is Korean Restaurant Week, which means a number of nice Korean restaurants in Midtown are offering bibimbap for just $7.  (Or if you feel like splurging, a complete lunch for $15.)  For a list of participating restaurants go to the official website. [via Serious Eats: New York]

Sinigual, the “Contemporary Mexican” restaurant on 41st and 3rd has officially opened. Not really a Midtown Lunch though… the menu is too expensive [pdf], and the place is owned by Chevy’s. I think I’ll stick with the taco cart on 60th and 3rd.

Danny from Food in Mouth sends along this info about the new ‘wichcraft location in Greeley Square: “32nd St. wichcraft is open now. They got employees in there and everything seems set up. They got a “cash only” sign up front.” Sure the sandwiches are small, and expensive- but if you order correctly, there is a way for to get out of wichcraft satisfied for under $10.

Related: Fat Man’s Gude to Eating At ‘wichcraft for Under $10

 
It’s been all carts all the time this week!  But this one was too good not to post… “How many calories is there in a plate of street meat” is a question I get pretty often.  I guess there are a lot of people out there who are interested.  I am not one of them. Unfortunately, I spotted this (accidentally, of course) posted on a cart in Midtown East. It might be worth noting, the calorie laws that went into effect earlier in the year, only apply to chain restaurants… not carts. I’m not sure whether the white sauce is included in the 680 calories that make up a lamb over rice platter.  A good reporter would have asked… but like I said before- I really don’t want to know.

UPDATE: A savvy commenter pointed out that those numbers are for 100 grams, which is less than a quarter pound of food.  I feel like an order of street meat weighs at least half a pound… which means that sign is kind of misleading!

Related: Basic Math Blows Holes in Chipotle’s Absurd “Calorie Range”

According to Eater, the Rickshaw Dumpling Truckhit the street for the first time yesterday, parking at 51st and Lex.  Anybody see the truck or get a chance to sample?  Today they’re parking on Wall Street for lunch (what’s up with that?!?!)  Secretly, I guess I’m grateful- the last thing I want to be doing in this weather is stalking a dumpling truck.   

Eater says “they’ll be serving an abbreviated menu including six dumplings (for $6), watermelonade, and sides like chili sesame noodle salad” which kind of begs the question- why would anybody who works downtown pay $6 for dumplings, when there are so many other cheaper dumpling options. As with most of the new trucks in the city, you can follow their location on twitter. If anybody gets a chance to taste, let us know what you think.

Photo courtesy of the Hungry Commuter

A lot of action lately on 53rd Street btw. 2+3rd Avenue, a small “out of bounds” block that I’ve covered a little bit in the past. Spoons, the tiny Korean/American take out deli closed up awhile back, and a second location of the East Village’s Brick Lane Curry house has opened in its place. The Hungry Commuter gets the first taste and reports that “the phaal isn’t as hot as the original. But give them some time. They just opened…” I’ve never been to the original Brick Lane Curry House in the East Village, which nobody will argue serves some of the hottest curry in NYC. Whether or not it actually tastes good, is a whole different argument.

But wait. There’s more…

Read more »

Yesterday Eater felt the need to single out Empanada Joe’s with their own “Adventures in Shilling” post, pointing out many positive comments that could have only been posted by people with a financial interest in the new chain succeeding. We just got our own Empanada Joe’s location (the second in the chain) on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th, and I believe they have been doing a little shilling on Midtown Lunch as well. Take this comment for example:

Critically panned? Not by all the happy customers I saw when I tried it out. Personally, I’d rather pay three-something for an item from a nice clean restaurant than two-something from a street vendor whose cart has been God only knows where. Liked all the empanadas I tried: the Argentine beef, the Dolce sausage and peppers and the pina colada. It’s definitely a nice change of pace. See you in line.

I can’t be entirely sure that this comment was a shill, but there are some hints. “All the happy customers” is not something a normal person would necessarily notice, and “See you in line” is not something you would usually say to a bunch of strangers on a website. But the biggest proof may be in the food itself. I tried Empanada Joe’s the other day… and while I will stop short of saying it’s terrible- it’s not exactly going to engender an army of enthusiastic commenters.   Read more »

Our good friend Danny from Food in Mouth visits the original Lazzara’s Pizza location and discovers that the chicken parm has gone from $8 to $9. “Even though it was a filling lunch, I still wonder about whether it was worth it. At nearly $10 and with other chick parm subs that cost less, I wonder if there are other options.” Anybody up for Labeleca today?

It’s looking like the new AQ Kafe on Broadway btw. 58th and Central Park won’t be a second location of Marcus Samuelsson’s casual Scandinavian eatery… it will be the only location.  The original AQ Cafe in the Scandinavia House on Park btw. 37+38th is gone, replaced with the more expensive Smorgas Chef.  If the menu from their three other New York City locations (one is in Midtown East on 49th and 2nd Ave.) is any indication, this is not an improvement for Midtown Lunch’ers.  Well, at least we have the new AQ Kafe coming soon… but that is probably little consolation for the swedish meatball lovers in Midtown south.  Thanks to Lunch’er Wayne for passing along the photo.