Midtown Lunch

Before you get all excited about having lunch at the new ‘wichcraft pop up bar thing opening in Bryant Park on Friday, you should probably know this: 1) It’s more a bar than a restaurant. 2) Even though it is open all the time for anybody to lounge, the only time they’re serving food and beverages during lunch will be Fridays and 3) the sandwiches being served are smaller and more expensive ($9) than the regular ‘wichcraft sandwiches (aka snacks, not lunch.) If you have always dreamed of drinking in Bryant Park after work (while enjoying snacks made by ‘wichcraft) well that’s a different story. Drinks and the sandwich snacks will be served Monday through Thursdays from 5-9pm, Fridays from Noon to 4pm through September.  [Grub Street;Blondie and Brownie]

Photo coutesy of Blondie and Brownie

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week, I’m pretty excited to welcome Sisha Ortuzar, the cofounder of ‘wichcraft, which has many Midtown locations. Whether or not you love or hate ‘wichcraft, Sisha is an amazing chef who has cooked in some of ML’s favorite cities- including Chile, New Orleans, and of course NYC (at Grammercy Tavern). And he co-wrote the brand new ‘wichcraft book (along with Tom Collichio). We actually have 5 copies to give away at the bottom of the profile.

Name: Sisha

Age: 36

Occupation: Restaurant owner, so it depends on the day (sometimes chef, sometimes designer, sometimes architect, sometimes marketer, sometimes dishwasher, etc.)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: ‘wichcraft (several locations in Manhattan, a lot of them in Midtown)

Favorite Kind of Food: I like almost everything; it really depends on the day. The food that I find most interesting tends to be spicy (Szechuanese, Korean, Indian) but I also like simple and straight forward food. One of my favorite things to eat is toast with butter.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Puerto Rican food. It just seems very bland and one-note to me.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Bar Zippeto (on 6th btw. 56+57th) for espresso. The halal meat cart on 6th Ave. and 49th for meat on a stick. A cheeseburger from the Burger Joint at the Parker Meridien (on 56th btw. 6+7th), and Yushi (on 47th btw. Park+Lex) for a healthy snack.

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Danny from Food in Mouth sent along this photo from the ‘wichcraft kiosks in Herald and Greeley Squares (on Broadway btw. 32nd and 35th).

Related: Fat Man’s Guide to Eating at ‘wichcraft for Under $10

Now available at ‘wichcraft. Photo by nycblondieandbrownie

It just got a little bit easier to enjoy a treat from the Sullivan Street Bakery.  You could always trek all the way to to the actual bakery on 47th btw. 10+11th, or you can visit one of Midtown’s many Dean and Deluca locations, and now, according to Blondie and Brownie you can visit ‘wichcraft for your Sullivan Street Bakery fix.  The sandwich chain, which has a number of Midtown locations, is now offering up Sullivan Street Bakery pastries, including their very famous bombolini, which B&B call “a mighty fine doughnut.”  Indeed it is.  Indeed it is.

From 3-6pm every day all coffee drinks at ‘wichcraft will be half price. For some unknown reason, this new “Happy Hour” is only available in the stores, but not at the kiosks (like the locations in Bryant Park and Herald/Greeley Square.) At first I thought maybe it was because of the tourists in Bryant Park and near Macy’s, but the Rock Center location is considered a “store” and that place is crawling with out of towners. (It makes me shudder just thinking about it.) For a store location near your office, check out this map. [via Serious Eats: New York]

Midtown Lunch has always been a community effort, and I have no problem turning the site over to contributors.  Especially when it comes to desserts.  I love the sweets just as much as the next fat guy (or skinny girl), but if given the choice between dessert, or an extra entree- I’m going for the savory.  So when Danny from the blog Food in Mouth offered up a post about his “all dessert, under $10 lunch” I was like… uh… yeah! -Zach

Awhile back one of the Profiled Midtown Lunch’ers posed a question about Midtown desserts that got me thinking. “What if I just ate desserts for my $10 dollars? What can I get with that?” I know how this must look- guy forgoes street food, pizzas, or a hearty sandwich in place of… banana pudding. Might as well trade in my fantasy basketball team for the current issue of Vogue or spend my Saturday nights watching Sex and the City instead of catching up on Heroes and Chuck. I don’t really have a response, so I’ll get started on the actual eating…

First up was Magnolia’s Bakery on 49th and 6th Ave. You could probably spend ten dollars here without going anywhere else. Some of you might take exception to their cupcakes, which sometimes lack moistness. Instead, try the banana pudding which is on-par with most other cupcakeries in the city. It’s rich, lucious, and velvety. It’ll remind you of Ivanka Trump, and it’ll disappear just as fast as she did during that free food giveaway.

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Danny from Food in Mouth sends along this info about the new ‘wichcraft location in Greeley Square: “32nd St. wichcraft is open now. They got employees in there and everything seems set up. They got a “cash only” sign up front.” Sure the sandwiches are small, and expensive- but if you order correctly, there is a way for to get out of wichcraft satisfied for under $10.

Related: Fat Man’s Gude to Eating At ‘wichcraft for Under $10

Le Pain Quotidien, the bread/sandwich/salad/bakery chain from Brussels, quietly opened its second Midtown location back in October on 40th St. btw. 5+6th, across from Bryant Park.  It probably wasn’t all that quiet to LPQ fans in the area, but for this hater of expensive Midtown bread/sandwich/salad/bakery chains it went virtually unnoticed.  After Profiled Midtown Lunch’er Janine mentioned it last Tuesday, I thought maybe it was time to go check it out.  While I normally detest paying over $7 for a sandwich, if it’s done right- with really nice ingredients, I will occasionally splurge for something really good. ‘wichcraft  has managed to rope me in despite having tiny sandwiches.  LPQ will have to a little better to lure me away from my goto Bryant Park lunch.

Two sandwiches attempt to be worth $9, and the biggest cookie in Midtown- after the jump…  Read more »

Yes, I am fat.  Yes, I am a big fan of quantity.  Yes, I love all you can eat buffets- and value is important to me.  But I am not a savage animal.  Not all of my meals must be eaten off a mobile truck parked on a sidewalk.  And it doesn’t always need to be an obscene amount of food, for a ridiculously low price.  I like good food… and I don’t mind paying extra for something special, or super delicious.  As long as there is value.  But value means a lot of different things to different people.

I’ll complain that charging $10.35 for a burger, fries and soda combo is too expensive, or $11+ for a sandwich is just plain stupid.  But then, over the weekend, I’ll spend twice that amount on an appetizer at one of my favorite restaurants (sweetbreads at Prune?  Hello!).  Value is about expectations and balance.  It is feeling that what you sacrifice in quantity, you gain in quality, and the whole thing works out so that you are charged accordingly.  And while for me, Goodburger and FreeFoods NYC have priced themselves just outside that value threshold, I can’t help but think that a place like ‘wichcraft teeters right on the edge.

There is no question alot of the menu will leave you hungry, and feeling ripped off, but with some clever ordering I think you can feel like you had a quality lunch, for an expensive, but acceptable price.  Plus, I love Craft, really like Craftsteak, love Tom Collichio, and even though my first trip to ‘wichcraft, ended with my wife being hungry (and angry we paid so much for such small sandwiches), I vowed to give the place another shot.

Basically what I’m saying is this.  If you are a fat man (like me) and enjoy quantity (like me), ‘wichcraft is overpriced for what it is:  tiny sandwiches that leave you hungry in the belly, and lighter in the wallet.  But if there is that small part of you that occasionally likes to trade a little quantity for quality (mixed in with a dose of celebrity chef), there is a better way to order at ‘wichcraft, to get you out for under $10, and feeling satisfied.

A breakdown of the menu, after the jump… Read more »