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 Jessica, an art museum worker bee who’d love to live in Pakistan.

Name: Jessica

Age: 27

Occupation: Art Museum Worker Bee

Where in Midtown do you work? Flatiron, formally at 75 Rock

Favorite Kind of Food: I grew up around a lot of different cultures, so I have a lot of favorites. Sicilian, Colombian, Lebanese, Chinese … if I had to choose one dish I’d probably pick a big ol’ plate of rice, red beans and sweet plantains for my go to comfort food. Close seconds include: ANY pasta, pork dumplings, and Entenmann’s banana cake with the chocolate and the crumb topping (yup, I went there).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Raw Onion, Yogurt.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: El Sabroso aka the garment district freight elevator, Qwik Meal, Hallo Berlin, Woorijip, the counter at Grand Central Oyster Bar.
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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 Grace, a Vegetarian from Long Beach who doesn’t understand why NYC can’t be home to decent Mexican food.

Name: Grace

Age: 32

Occupation: Director of Production

Where in Midtown do you work? NYC garment district @ a contemporary womens clothing company called Yoana Baraschi.

Favorite Kind of Food: I’m a vegetarian, so anything with fresh delicious veggies is a win. I’m a sucker for a good sandwich, and I’ll never turn a vegetarian mezze plate.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Pickles, pancakes, baked potatoes & French toast.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Pomodoro on 9th btw 38+39th. Everything is amazing, a few of my favorites are the carrot soup, beet salad & caprese sandwich. They use great bread and everything is super fresh! Cafe Piccolo on 40th between 7th & 8th. Don’t get me wrong, I love your basic egg on a roll that you can get at any deli in this city, but when I want an egg sandwich, and don’t want to look like I’m trying to cure a hang over, Cafe Piccolo is the place to go. I like to think of it as a “classy” egg sandwich. Really fresh, and they have all sorts of good extras like truffle! Kati Roll on 39th between 5th & 6th. Is there anything better than a warm paratha bread wrap filled with spicy & savory potatoes (aloo masala)?? This place is a god send in restaurant wasteland otherwise known as The Garment District. It’s a little bit of a walk from my office, but worth it if I can spare the time. Buongiorno Espresso Bar on 38th & 9th ave. They make a mean cup of coffee & brew their ice tea fresh when you order. A MUCH better alternative to Starbucks.

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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 Yaniv, a software designer who hates Pret and misses Pick-a-Pita.

Name: Yaniv

Age: 37

Occupation: Education Software Designer

Where in Midtown do you work? Pearson, 37th and 7th Ave.

Favorite Kind of Food: Spicy, unusual, only-in-new-york, cheap

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Boring sandwiches, Pret a Manger

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Achari paneer rolls at Kati Roll (on 39th btw. 5+6th). Hot wings lunch special at Bon Chon (on 38th btw. 7+8th). Pastrami on rye at Ben’s Kosher Deli (on 38th btw. 7+8th). Hot tofu ramen soup at Sapporo (on 49th btw. 6+7th). Cheeseburger and beer at Keen’s (on 36th btw 5+6th). Italian hero at Shamas Deli (under the parking garage on 38th btw. B’way+7th). And for a splurge, oysters on the half shell at The Oyster Bar in Grand Central. For dessert, the by-the-pound M&M bar at the M&M shop in Times Square.

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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. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Broadway theaters are just as much a part of Midtown as the big office buildings. So this week we’re excited to welcome Sandy, a theater critic who hates McDonald’s and used ML to get over her fear of street meat.

Name: Sandy

Age: 63

Occupation: Theatre Critic

Where in Midtown do you work? Mostly Times Square/Hell’s Kitchen

Favorite Kind of Food: Eclectic (virtually all)

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Fast (McDonald’s, etc.)

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: For a spur-of-the-moment Bryant Park picnic, I’ll stop in at Zeytinz (on 40th btw. 5+6th) for the Mediterranean cold buffet, especially the curried chicken salad, and some impeccable fruit (if you have a Times Square Alliance Card, they give a good discount). But I might get distracted en route by Cafe China’s (on 37th btw. Mad+5th) nostalgic atmosphere and well-priced pan-fried lamb with scallion. In the shadow of the New York Times building, I’m susceptible to Boi Noodle’s (on 40th btw. 7+8th) assorted banh mi. For a “walking lunch,” especially if running late, I’ll grab some fresh-made spanakopita and/or galakatoboureko at Poseidon Greek Bakery (on 9th btw. 44+45th).

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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. I like pork and lobster just as much as the next guy, but I recognize that not everybody eats the same way I do. So today we decided to profile a luncher for the Kosher readers. If you’re the kind of commenter that gets angry by the mere existence of this sort of thing, you should probably just stop reading now.

Name: Rebecca

Age: 29

Occupation: Non Profit Marketing (but I swear I’m not the one who spams you!)

Where in Midtown do you work? Midtown West

Favorite Kind of Food: Frozen peas. I also love tuna fish on a cinnamon raisin bagel, which most people think is pretty weird but I think is pretty awesome salty sweetness.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Tomatoes! Peanut butter! Cantaloupe Soup!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: For the kosher lunch scene, I like the salad bar at Jerusalem 2 on Broadway near 37th (just reopened in a new location at Jerusalem Cafe) because its a fixed price for unlimited items, including tuna, avocado, pineapple, nuts etc. I also love the grilled chicken wraps at Schnitzel Express (on 39th btw. B’way+6th) – especially the teriyaki chicken with BBQ sauce, onions and garlic mayo. They even have schnitzel sushi there!

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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 we’re proud to welcome the youngest profiled luncher ever: David Pines, author of the book Pines Picks: A Kid’s Guide to the Best Things to Eat and Drink in New York City. He’s 12, so let’s see if we can be on our best behavior today in the comments. (I know it’s tough for all of you.)

Name: David

Age: 12

Occupation: Student and Author of Pines Picks: A Kid’s Guide to the Best
Things to Eat and Drink in New York City

Favorite Kind of Food: Pizza, Buffalo Wings and Nachos

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Raisins

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Atomic Wings (Hot Buffalo Wings), Daisy May’s (Ribs/Sweet and Sticky), Popeyes (Fried Chicken), The Melt Shop (Grilled Cheese), Burger Joint (Burgers), Azuri Cafe (Falafel), Lucky’s Famous Burgers (Onion Rings), Two Boots (Pizza/Bayou Beast), Ranch1 (Grilled Chicken Sandwich), Wafels and Dinges (Best waffles ever!), Ray Bari (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 Lunch’er JD, a Brooklynite who wishes he lived in Singapore.

Name: JD

Age: 31

Occupation: Hungry Freelancer

Where in Midtown do you work? Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

Favorite Kind of Food: Most anything between two slices of bread.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Smoked fish — which disheartens my grandmother.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Red Hook Lobster Pound (CT style, salt and vinegar chips, ginger ale), Mexicue (taco/slider combo: burnt ends chili, brisket, smoked beans, rice and beans), Island Burgers and Shakes (Hermosa Beach churrasco)

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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 Lunch’er Shaun, a software development manager who says he liked to eat healthy- but his favorite lunches are anything but.

Name: Shaun

Age: 33

Occupation: Software Development Manager and Improviser (I perform every Wednesday at the Magnet Theater with house team Grappler, or you can see my on Friday March 2nd, 9th and 23rd at 7pm with my team Honey.)

Where in Midtown do you work? Micros-Retail at 37th and 5th. Kind of a dead zone here!

Favorite Kind of Food: At this point in my life, healthy edible food. I was on a kale kick for a little bit. I love corned beef sandwiches on rye bread! Love Indian food too!

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Not a huge fan of Thai food!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I have a bunch of them! Pizza Suprema at 31st and 8th avenue. Best plain slice of cheese in the city period. Worth the $3. Chicken House at 36th and 8th for their fried chicken and rice. Rafiqi Cart at 39th and 5th for lamb and rice. Carl’s Cheesesteaks at 34th and 3rd for the cheesesteak, whiz no onions. Tina’s Cuban at 34th and Madison for their cuban sandwich.

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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 Lunch’er Moe, a finance guy who wants to tell us about the REAL Little Italy Pizza.

Name: Moe

Age: 25

Occupation: Finance

Where in Midtown do you work? Mid 40’s near Madison Ave

Favorite Kind of Food: My whole motto in life is “I live to eat, not eat to live.” My favorite kind of food can be described in one word — SPICY! I like food with flavor like BAM! If my tongue had a face, I want food that breaks its nose with one punch. I grew up in Queens, which has a large asian population, and combined with my affinity for spicy food, it’s no surprise that my favorite cuisines are mostly from Asia. I enjoy Pakistani, Indian, Afghani, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Lebanese, and Turkish food (yes, Turkey is partially in Asia).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: 4Food on Madison b/w 40th and 41st has to be the WORST place to eat for many reasons. First and foremost, their food was horrible. It’s the kind of food that makes you really sad after you eat it, because now you’re full and can’t make up for it by eating something good, so you’re stuck with horrible food in your belly. Secondly, they tried making their menu really interactive, but ended up making it overcomplicated. They even had an employee out in front that had to explain the ridiculous menu.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: My co-workers and I are really into food trucks and carts, so we frequent Korilla BBQ (bulgogi tacos ofcourse), Taim Mobile (Harissa Falafel), Jamaican Dutchy (jerk chicken, duh), Luke’s Lobster (uhhh Lobster rolls), Biryani Cart (spicy buradi rolls), Wafles N Dinges (speculoos ice cream w/ nutella on top), and Mr. Khan’s halal cart on 45th st b/w 5th and 6th ave.

When the trucks aren’t around, we frequent Naya express (the lebanese chipotle on 3rd ave b/w 43rd and 44th st), Potbelly’s (just for the oatmeal/chocolate cookie), Num Pang (grilled skirt steak sandwich!), Kati roll (chicken unda / beef tikka rolls), and Crisp (African and Parisian falafel). There needs to be a special burger section, because here at work, we are all burger fanatics. In fact, we had a taste test between 5 of the supposedly best burgers in midtown (Shake Shack, Pop burger, PJ Clarke’s, Burger Joint, and Bill’s burger — photo attached for proof). Shake Shack won with an overwhelming majority.

Special Midtown dessert tip: Go to the Doubletree Hotel on 51st and Lexington and buy a tin of their amazing cookies for around $10. These cookies are heavenly.

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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 we’re throwing a bone to the Flatiron Lunchers.  Meet Ada, a student who works in the far reaches of Flatiron East.

Name: Ada

Age: 21

Occupation: Study Coordinator at Bellevue Hospital Emergency Department/Senior at Barnard College/ Food blogger

Favorite Kind of Food: Sushi, ice cream sundaes, salads (I’m an anomaly, I know), seared tuna, ostrich burgers

Least Favorite Kind of Food: mayonnaise (yuck), bone marrow, blue cheese

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Baoguette (on Lex btw. 25+26th) for some mean bahn mi sandwiches, Saravaana Bhavan (on Lex btw. 26+27th) for lunchtime thalis/dosas, the second floor of Kalustyan’s market for inexpensive lentil sandwiches, Murray’s Falafel (on 1st btw. 15+16th) for the awesomely monikered Shwafel.

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