Midtown Lunch

The Manganaro’s faithful, while most likely lamenting their Bourdain-praised red sauce served with a 20th-century New York attitude, can at least rest easy that their old digs are still Italian and not in an Olive Garden way. Still, Midtown Lunch laments the introduction of out-of-price-range fare in general, doubly so in the place of a classic. Tavola, the brick oven Italian restaurant that took Manganaro’s old space, has opened quietly and while they have yet to serve up lunch, too little of their menu is within our $10 limit to attract much fanfare.

Read more »

Manganaro’s, the 119-year old Hell’s Kitchen institution praised by the culinary Hunter S. Thompson himself, Tony Bourdain, closed recently to the lament of many an appreciator of fine red sauce cuisine. In its place rises not the balkanized nightmare of another generic deli, a former Yugoslavia-style breakup of food interests at war with itself by definition, but what we can only hope to be a united front against crappy pizza: Tavola.

Read more »