Midtown Lunch

If a restaurant has a specific food in its name, it’s usually a safe bet that said food is the way to go when ordering lunch. In that case, you’d be wise to order one of the several schnitzels available at Schnitzel & Things (45th St. and 3rd Ave.). But what about the “Things”? Could there be lunchtime gold hidden in there?

I would venture to say ‘yes’. I might even go so far as to say that the best thing you can get at Schnitzel & Things isn’t schnitzel at all – it’s the bratwurst.

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It’s been a good week for chain loving freeloaders. Yesterday a new Pie Face opened, and handed out freebies. Today, we got this news about a new Chop’t on 43rd and 3rd.  I guess technically it’s not free… they will be accepting donations to benefit Wellness in the Schools.

Thanks to Lunch’er “Hengde” for passing along this piece of interesting news… “New spot coming next to Schnitzel Express on 39th btw Broadway and 6th – “iCrepes”, which promises “Organic, Fresh, and Healthy Recipes Created By A Five Star Chef.” and touts menus being available on an iPad as the “new way to order”. Sounds gimmicky but maybe the crepes will be good, and hopefully not expensive.”  In L.A. Zach wrote about a ramen place that uses iPad ordering, and it seemed to work out pretty well.  Who knows… maybe this could be good?

Guess this place wasn’t too memorable! Completely forgot that we wrote about it last year, which means the signage that Lunch’er Hengde saw was actually of a closed iCrepes. RIP place we never knew, and completely forgot existed.

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 Brad, a Marketing guy looking for a sushi deal.

Name: Brad

Age: 29

Occupation: Marketing

Where in Midtown do you work? Midtown East in the 50s

Favorite Kind of Food: Bagels for breakfast and a steady diet of Thai and Mexican for the rest. Steamed fresh lobster on special occasions.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Kimchi, crêpes , pre-made grocery store rotisserie chickens.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Chickpea (on 45th btw. Mad+Vanderbilt), Num Pang (on 41st btw. Lex+3rd), the-no-longer-affiliated-with-Crisp Crisp on Wheels Truck.

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Pie Face has opened their third Midtown shop and first dine-in location near Penn Station at 469 Seventh Avenue (btw 35+36th). This new location will also have new menu items like mini-quiches (including spinach, provençal, sun-dried tomato with goat cheese, broccoli, and mushroom), as well as a self-serve coffee bar.

As we’ve come to expect, new Pie Face means free food, and this opening is no exception. Today from now until 6 p.m. you can try your luck at their prize wheel. And, if Penn Station is part of your commute, keep an eye out for free samples — they should be in and around Penn Station during rush hour.

One of ‘wichcraft’s new Seasonal Sandwiches. Photo courtesy of SENY

• A look at wichcraft’s 5 new sandwiches [SENY]
• A Maxim editor goes to work at Guy Fieri’s American Bar & Grill [MAXIM]
• Land of Plenty is one of the 10 best Chinese places in NYC [FitR]
• A popular Japanese chocolate company is taking over the old Smush space… [R&F]
• … and here’s a look at their original Midtown location [SENY]
• Senor Frogs to open Times Sq. Bro Dungeon [Eater]
• A new batch of restaurants have been announced for Choice Eats [FitR]

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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Our friends at the Vendy Awards have their hand’s full this year. In addition to the 9th annual awards in New York on September 7 and celebrations in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, this year they will add three new cities to the roster. New Orleans will be first on March 13, followed by Boston and Chicago. We may like to claim street food as iconically New York, but the industry is growing across the country and the Vendy Awards will be there to celebrate the best in street vending. At this rate, we may soon see a time when there is a Vendy Award in a different city every single week. Can I be the first to sign up to be a groupie?