Midtown Lunch

Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Kellie, a conference producer who loves spicy food and Mongolian BBQ.

Name: Kellie

Age: 28

Occupation: Conference Producer (and a foodie blogger on the side. Check me out at: www.iatenewyorkcity.com)

Where in Midtown do you work? 44th & 5th

Favorite Kind of Food: Anything spicy!! Mexican, Thai, Indian I LOVE chicken wings (extra crispy) and I eat a ton of soup…I always add crushed red pepper flakes to make it hot! I’m also obsessed with seafood. especially oysters!

Least Favorite Kind of Food: This one is hard… I eat pretty much everything and will try anything once! Creamed herring totally grosses me out though!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Hale & Hearty – Awesome variety of soups! Food World (on 46th btw. Mad+5th) – I LOVE the Mongolian BBQ! Delish (on 44th btw. Mad+5th) – spring rolls are insanely good! Little Italy Pizza (on 45th btw. 5+6th) – really good veggie pizza! I am also a sucker for cart-food.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Stephanie, a marketing director who is looking for some Midtown East tacos.

Name: Stephanie

Age: 28

Occupation: Marketing Director / Commercial Real Estate.

Where in Midtown do you work? 49th & Madison

Favorite Kind of Food: Mexican. I have a penchant for tacos.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Indian

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: If I’m in a sandwich mood, I’d go to Toasties (48th St) and I’d order the Tuna Melt, the Italian or the Sue’s Combo (Turkey, Brie, Honey Mustard). Favorite pizza in the area is Harry’s in Rock Center or Little Italy Pizza.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s David, a production editor who is addicted to noodles and looking for the perfect dosa.

Name: David

Age: 35-ish

Occupation: Production Editor

Where in Midtown do you work? Grand Central-ish

Favorite Kind of Food: Any vehicle for capsicum, like Pad Ki Mao, Ma Po Tofu, Extra red at a falafel cart

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Not a dessert fan. Unless you count Ice Cream as dessert, which I do not.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Margon (on 46th btw. 6+7th) for beans/rice; Wu Liang Ye on 48th btw. 5+6th) for their veg dumplings; Joy Tandoor (on 46th btw Lex+3rd) for 2 veggies, depends on day, always great.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Emily, an office admin who has graciously agreed to brave the ML commenters to help out fellow vegan Midtown Lunchers.

Name: Emily

Age: 29

Occupation: Office Admin and vegan blogger

Where in Midtown do you work? Grand Central Terminal area

Favorite Kind of Food: Any Asian cuisine, bonus points if it’s spicy.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: A mushy veggie burger

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Being vegan, it can be pretty difficult to find quality vegan meals in Midtown. My ultimate favorite is when The Cinnamon Snail vegan food truck is in the neighborhood… I can’t resist their food and pastries. My favorite thing from there is their General Tso’s Seitan sandwich, but that’s only on special every now and again. I love Franchia’s (vegan Korean) vegetarian Stone Bowl (on Park btw. 34+35th) with their spicy chilli sauce as well as their assorted dumpling platter. I’m also big fan of the raw pizza from the FreeFoodsNYC (on 45th btw. 5+6th) lunch bar, the edemame salad from Dishes in Grand Central Marketplace, the super protein plate from NatureWorks the food bar at Health Nuts. The food court in Grand Central also has a couple places with good vegan options — Two Boots V is for Vegan pizza, the green curry from Thai Toon (on 42nd btw. Park+Vanderbilt) and cucumber avocado rolls from the sushi joint (the name is always changing so I’m not sure what its called now).

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Jen, a grant writer in Bryant Park who wishes she was lunching in Hong Kong.

Name: Jen

Age: 32

Occupation: Grant Writer

Where in Midtown do you work? Bryant Park

Favorite Kind of Food: Anything that’s spicy. I love exxxtra hot Thai and Indian curry. Peruvian aji sauce = amazing. I’m always looking for great Buffalo Wings. Piri Piri chicken needs to happen in this city, stat.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I’m wary of raw seafood and fish dishes, but I’ll usually still eat it if it’s there.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Right now? Go! Go! Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th), Bian Dang, Comme Ci Comme Ca, and Cinnamon Snail.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Brooke, a quiche hating lawyer who seems to do a lot of food truck eating.

Name: Brooke

Age: 26

Occupation: Attorney Editor for a legal publishing company

Where in Midtown do you work? 46th & 3rd Ave.

Favorite Kind of Food: Italian, Sushi, Mexican…and really good buffalo wings. I went to college in Buffalo so I have pretty high standards for buffalo wings now, and really, who doesn’t love buffalo wings?

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Quiche…just the thought of it makes me sick.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I’m a big fan of the chicken (original or grilled) wraps at Schnitzel and Things (45th and 3rd). It’s right by my office so it’s convenient and they give a pretty great amount of food for the money. Pulled duroc pork sandwiches from Num Pang (41st btwn 3rd & Lex). I also really like the salads and platters at Uncle Gussy’s (always parked at the corner of 51st and Park). Nick and Franky are two of the nicest people serving food in Midtown, they’re always so friendly, they leave you and your stomach happy.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Mike, a non profit marketer who has a good halal rec near Columbus Circle.

Name: Mike

Age: 34

Occupation: Non-profit marketer

Where in Midtown do you work? 61st & Columbus

Favorite Kind of Food: Mexican

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Chinese-American (I won’t say Chinese because I’ve never had the real stuff)

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Chai Thai (55th and 8th) – super tasty, quick and cheap sit-down joint. The Pad Sea Eiw is like crack. The Flame Diner (58th and 9th) – dependable diner food; vines on the ceiling. Turkey burger and turkey club are standards. Halal Food Cart (61st and Broadway) – in a land of a thousand Halal carts, the guy with the beanie hat is king. Chicken over rice goodness for just $5.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Yesbelt, an assistant and blogger pizza enthusiast who wishes she could move to Naples for the carbs …

Name: Yesbelt

Age: 32

Occupation: Assistant and Blogger

Where in Midtown do you work? 46th & Park and 48th & Madison

Favorite Kind of Food: Pizza! I can eat it all the time but it has to be good as I’ve become a bit of a pizza snob. I also really like sandwiches and I don’t discriminate, I like all kinds. I find it hard to be disappointed by Mexican food; tacos and enchiladas are so good.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: It’s hard to answer this but I’m going to go with authentic Chinese. I just think it is scary.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: 48th St between Madison and 5th has three of my favorite places. Mangia: the food is so good especially the Telera sandwich, anything in the food court, and the fresh juices. Toasties has delicious and creative sandwiches and a very good hot food buffet. Hatsuhana has the freshest and best tasting Sushi around; I like to go there when I want to treat myself.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Ross, a finance guy by day/DJ by night who’s still looking for a mind blowing breakfast in Midtown West.

Name: Ross

Age: 26

Occupation: Finance (day) / DJ (night)

Where in Midtown do you work? Markit, 40th & 8th Avenue, in the NY Times Building

Favorite Kind of Food: Mexican

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Cheap sushi

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Shorty’s (on 9th btw. 41+42nd) for their classic and Mozzarella Triangles, Potbelly’s wreck, Italian, and chicken Salad, Tabata Noodle (on 9th btw. 39+40th) for their shuo and miso ramen (spicy ramen is amazing as well), and Totto Ramen (on 52nd btw. 8+9th) for the Totto spicy Ramen and Totto miso ramen.

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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Megan, a digital strategist who wishes she worked in Chinatown and is looking for some good sushi recs…

Name: Megan

Age: 22

Occupation: Digital Strategist

Where in Midtown do you work? The wonderful corner of 57th and 3rd.

Favorite Kind of Food: Vietnamese, Dim Sum, Brussels sprouts and all the sandwiches of the world.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Bean sprouts

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: The Buffalo Artichoke and Italian Wedding slices at Pizza by Cer Te on 56th btwn Lex and Park are killer (dab a little bit of their habenero sauce for an extra kick). At Chola Eclectic Indian Cuisine on 58th btwn 3rd and 2nd, $8 gets you all-the-indian-food-you-can-stuff-into-a-to-go-container and it’s pretty damn good but always makes me super sleepy. Korilla BBQ was awesome but then they stopped parking at 56th and Lex (what’s up with that?).

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