Midtown Lunch

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

Whilst going on a mission to Hop Won recently, I noticed a little blue awning with the words “Uncle Charlie’s”. It looked divy enough, so I wrote it down in my notes to check out later. After a little research, I found out Uncle Charlie’s is a gay piano bar & lounge and I was super excited to go somewhere outside of the typical Midtown pub. Plus, it’s got a long happy hour which runs from 4-9 pm; with five dollar 16 oz. drafts with Stella and Blue Moon, and six dollar wines and wells.

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If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

I’m just going to go right out there and say it so there’s no confusion. Annie Moore’s is too expensive to be classified as a proper Midtown Happy Hour. Most glaringly because there are no happy hour specials. But over the past few weeks for whatever reason, I kept getting invited to go there for drinks. I thought the stars were telling me I needed to write something up, because the bar does have a few pieces of interestingness I can report.

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Back in September, I had the privilege of giving LT burger a first look for lunch. Although the $10 burger with no fries or cheese didn’t quite qualify as a Midtown Lunch, I noticed the 5-7 pm happy hour didn’t look so bad with $5 Hoegaarden Witte, Brooklyn Seasonal, Ommegang Hennepin, Sixpoint Sweet Action, and… Bud Light! This week we went to try it out.

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Even though it’s not easy to find a lunch under $10 at Grand Central Oyster Bar, I have to admit it’s one of my favorite places to eat lunch in Midtown. It’s a classic New York City establishment that opened 100 years ago along with Grand Central Terminal, and with the vaulted ceilings, the charm, and the ample and varied seating, (not to mention the delicious if expensive food), it’s one of my favorite places for lunch with coworkers. And this week, I found out that to celebrate 100 years, they’re offering a Happy Oyster Hour!

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It’s time for the 2012 Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll. Your nominations are in, and between now and the end of the year we’ll be asking all of you to vote for the best Midtown Lunches in a whole range of categories. You can only vote once per category (so choose wisely), and official results will be posted after the new year.

The old staples like Rudy’s, Subway Inn, and Jimmy’s Corner will forever win the hearts of Midtown Lunch readers. However, deals can be found that are just as awesome elsewhere in Midtown. Notably, Vander Bar with its monster $5 wings, Galway Pub with its $4 craft beers, and The Junction with its many specials and fun atmosphere. We’ll mix the old with the new and see how the newbies fare. Vote for your favorite Midtown Happy Hour!

• Galway Pub
• Jimmy’s Corner
• The Junction
• Rudy’s
• Subway Inn
• Vander Bar

Vote for your favorite after the jump…

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Of all the bars in Midtown, Rudy’s and Jimmy’s Corner are the two I’ve heard the most about through word of mouth when I’m looking for a dive. A Midtown Lunch poll back in 2009 had similar praise with Rudy’s and Jimmy’s Corner gaining top recognition for best Midtown Happy Hour. Even though they have both been written up in our happy hour column and there are many other bars to try, I thought it would be rude not to give them a try at some point.

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When I began writing the Midtown Happy Hour column, I was incredibly excited to add in a Buffalo wing review. Wings became the cornerstone of my happy hour experience, and I began judging a bar, in part, because of their wing prices.

But I must lament, over the past month or so, I have noticed that wing prices are climbing. Over my 20-year wing-eating career, I’ve never seen prices like these. Even earlier this year wings seemed cheap. Lately, I’m having trouble finding anything under $10. (Notable exceptions are Smith’s Bar, with 75 cent wings and Vander Bar, with a $5 happy hour wings special). I have been doing some research, and indeed I found three articles written this year about the demand for wings and how it has been driving the price of wings up. Even Buffalo Wild Wings, who has been doing great in the stock market for several years, has been losing ground and has increased the price of its wings. Atomic Wings has also increased their prices, but a representative claims “we’re still not keeping up” — in 2011, wings were $1.09 per pound, and now they’re around $2.15 a pound.

Some articles I’ve read blame the rising cost of chicken, but The National Chicken Council gives a good synopsis on wing-o-nomics, and here was a line I found helpful:

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If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

I’m more than pleased to report that I stumbled across a pub I’ll boldly proclaim is my current favorite happy hour in Midtown. The backstory: I’ve been reviewing happy hours in Midtown every week for about six months, and I’ve been trying to steer clear of those that have been covered by Midtown Lunch in the last year or so for variety’s sake. Thus far, I’ve really enjoyed Vander Bar, the Irish Ivy, and The Junction, but this week I found a pretty amazing bar that rivals my favorites. The bar is called Galway Pub, formerly the Galway Hooker, on 36th between Madison and 5th. Let me tell you all the reasons why.

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If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

While trying to figure out a place to go for happy hour this week, I looked in my notes and saw I had made a note to look into Cassidy’s (55th btw. 5th and 6th) some time ago. It’s a rare occasion when you do a search for a pub on Midtown Lunch and you come up with no full blog post, but four, YES four references in comments or Profiled Lunchers’ write ups saying it’s good. According to readers, Cassidy’s is a go-to place and a good space, with a great burger, where the Guinness is fresh.

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If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

Whilst reading Grub Street earlier this week, I happened upon the name of a bar I hadn’t heard before. They covered an article about a hurricane benefit at The Three Monkeys (54th btw. Broadway and 8th), and although I wasn’t able to make it to the benefit, I thought I’d check it out since it hadn’t been featured in the Midtown Lunch happy hour column yet. It turns out The Three Monkeys (hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil, get it?) was once on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side. Yelp reviews for the newer Midtown location date back to early 2011, so it’s fairly new to Midtown.

I was hopeful as I approached. The bar has a decent deal on beer — the all day happy hour is $4 Yuengling and Lionhead drafts (16 oz) and there are also $6 wells.

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