Midtown Lunch

The Midtown burger hits just keep on coming.  Friday morning you got your first look at the inside of Zen Burger.  Now, Grub St. has the first look at the three level Pop Burger opening at the end of the month on 58th btw. 5th+Madison.  Our only hope for a true “Midtown Lunch” will be the “first floor, open from 11 a.m. till 4 a.m. for takeout and dining” and “there will be delivery”. 

Reviews of the downtown Pop Burger are mixed.  According to Grub St., we’ll get our chance to weigh in the week of November 26th, but I can’t imagine it unseating Five Guys and Burger Joint, for lunchtime purposes anyway (both just a few blocks away).  However, it shoudn’t face any competition for the “I’m a typical Midtwon douchebag banker looking for a place to drink and eat burgers after work” crowd… (unless you count Hawaiian Tropic Zone).  I kid Pop Burger, I kid!

How great is IKEA?  Greatest place ever, right?  Well, I love IKEA too- but not for the reason most people love it.  Sure, the cheap furniture is nice, and building our IKEA entertainment center was probably the greatest “building” accomplishment of my life- but the real reason I love it is for the food.  Seriously… the food at IKEA is awesome- and dirt cheap.  (Picture of IKEA meatballs to the left is courtesy of eggrollboy on flickr )

Of course I was skeptical at first.  Those signs as you walk in, encouraging you to eat Swedish meatballs in the IKEA cafe…  for $3.99?  I’m not eating that crap.  Who eats at IKEA?  Well, I will tell you who… people who spend the entire morning moving into their new apartment- but still want to take advantage of the van that is due back at U-Haul that night.   So you drive out to Elizabeth NJ, and are so hungry that the IKEA Restaurant is your only option.  That was the first time I ate at IKEA.  The next time- our “shopping” excursion to IKEA, was just an excuse for lunch.  If you’ve never tried the Swedish meatballs with gravy and lingonberries- you don’t know what your missing.  And if you don’t like it- you’ve wasted $4.  Not that big a gamble…

With that in mind, you can imagine my excitement when I read about the new FIKA Swedish Espresso Bar on RestaurantGirl.com… Even though they are called an espresso bar- they also have sandwiches, salads, and Swedish meatballs.  How can you go wrong???  More pictures, and the +/- after the jump…

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