Midtown Lunch

Luke’s Lobster Truck is on hiatus until the spring, which means in order to get your Luke’s fix, you have to visit their brick and mortar locations… which are, unfortunately, not in Midtown. While at their Upper East Side location the other day (which is on 81st and 2nd for those of you who occasionally do a subway lunch), I decided to forgo my usual shrimp roll for the lobster grilled cheese sandwich ($12). Large pieces of lobster sandwiched between Gruyere cheese and perfectly toasted white bread sets a very high standard for grilled cheese. Add a couple of drops of sriracha per bite, and you’ve got some next level stuff. As much as I hate to spend more than $10 for lunch, Luke’s Lobster, when you return to the streets in the spring, PLEASE bring the lobster grilled cheese with you!

Friday is National Girl Scout Cookie Day (who knew!?) so if you haven’t put in your orders for Samoas yet, the Girl Scouts will have a truck selling cookies selling cookies in Manhattan this Friday only. They’ll even be giving out free samples! The truck is scheduled to be at 42nd St. and Madison Ave. from 8:30-10:30am, at 57th St. between 5th Ave.and 6th Ave. from 11:30am-1:30pm, and at Park Ave. between 52nd St. and 53rd St from 2:30-4:30pm. You can also get their location on Twitter.  Beats the old days when we used to have to lurk around the Girl Scout’s Midtown HQ.

Catty-corner from the Mitzvah Tank (which does NOT have a 105mm kosher cannon and as such I want my money back) upon its normal parking spot at the far edge of the Garment District, Mr. Broadway has sat for as long as I can remember. Pitopia’s taken up the Israeli edge of the world of kashrus, and offering up some viable soupy options, Mr. Broadway not only rounds out the old-school (or in the words of Grandpa Boris, the old country) options of kosher fare with the inevitable kosher sushi. Enough with the meshugener alte kacher kosher sushi, though – as it’s getting colder and people are getting sicker, we need grandma-style soup. Mr. Broadway, put our soup’s name in lights!
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A few weeks ago, we gave you a first look at Zucker’s Bagels and Smoked Fish on Lex btw. 40+41st. At the end of the post Brian mentioned that the owner seemed pretty confident about his pastrami, and a few days ago Lunch’er DDR wrote in to let us know that it is as good as advertised: “I just had their pastrami sandwich on an everything bagel today and it was outstanding. Not the typical pre-made block of meat that many delis unwrap from plastic and slice onto bread. This was fresh, warm, moist, juicy and flavorful, approaching 2nd Avenue Deli’s pastrami (which I guess is the best of a weak lot in Midtown). Not all that peppery, but very high quality pastrami, just the same. For $9.95, you get a solid amount of pastrami and you shouldn’t leave hungry. This sandwich is a hidden gem right now. I don’t want to blow it up but I also feel bad because these guys had only a slow trickle of business during the lunch hour today, although the pastrami alone is worth repeat visits.” That’s good to know.  Now let’s make sure this place doesn’t go the way of Times Square Hot Bagels.

Back in November we heard that the Goodburger on 54th & Lex would be replaced by P.J. Clarke’s spin-off, Clarke’s Standard (Lex+54th), and thanks to a tip from our friends over at Wined & Dined it looks like it’s opening tomorrow. They also sent us a sneak peek of the menu, which goes beyond the burgers P.J. Clarke’s is famous for with new things like hot dogs and cheesy tots! And the best part is, the prices aren’t terrible.  Check it out after the jump…

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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 Chris, a coffee obsessed editor who may or may not have a fear of pigeons.

Name: Chris

Age: 28

Occupation: Science and Technology Editor at TheWeek.com

Where in Midtown do you work? 39th St and Sixth Ave.

Favorite Kind of Food: Coffee beans, freshly ground with precision and steeped in hot water.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Cherry tomatoes or anything oval shaped.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown:Italian hero with fresh mozz from Park Italian Gourmet ($8; 45th St. and Sixth Ave.) Ma Po Tofu from Cafe China. With Tums. ($9; 37th St. and Madison). Rotisserie chicken w/ rice and beans from 2 Bros Pizza, AKA THE BEST DEAL EVER. ($3; Sixth Ave. and 37th St.). The Mongolian BBQ bar from Pergola ($4 to $9, depending on the weight; 39th St. and Sixth Ave.)

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‘wichcraft‘s new seasonal menu begins today. They’re serving the roasted chicken sandwich ($9.64) with tuscan kale, cannellini puree and mozzarella on grilled country bread. I’m happy to see the meatloaf sandwich is back on the menu too with tomato relish, bacon and aged cheddar served on ciabatta ($9.87). Of course there must be a frittata, and the new one includes pancetta, roasted tomatoes, rosemary and aged cheddar on a ciabatta roll ($6.89). And, the veggie option is a sweet potato sandwich on grilled country bread with black olives, basil, goat cheese and mozzarella ($7.35). In additional to the new seasonal items, ‘wichcraft will now offer daily specials as well. No word on the price for those, but I’m going to go ahead and assume they’ll be at the top end of their $7-$10 range.

‘wichcraft, multiple locations

If you’re a fan of Pizza by Cer Te‘s margherita slices, but don’t like paying full price, you’ll be excited to know that they’re doing another one of their Two For Tuesday specials today.  Starting at Noon today you’ll be able to get two slices of pizza for just $2 at their location on 56th btw. Park+Lex.  And that’s not all.  Over at sister restaurant Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) they’re introducing their Feb. sandwich of the month today.  It’s a pambazo, and features chorizo, potatoes, lettuce, caramelized onions, queso fresco, salsa verde and sour cream stuffed inside a torta roll that’s been dipped into Guajilla sauce. As always, the sandwich will run you $8.95.  Early adopters, let us know what you think in the comments.

An article in Gothamist on Friday revealed that Mayor Bloomberg is proposing to create a team of seven lawyers who will hunt down food vendors with outstanding violations. He’s willing to invest $580,000 in the program assured that they will recoup that money with the payment of tickets. I’m betting he’s wrong.

The reason why the majority of the millions of dollars in tickets have not been paid is because the fines are simply too damn high! The Street Vendor Project has been arguing this for years (since the Bloomberg administration raised the fines from $250 to $1000 back in 2006). They even held a hearing last year to get the $1000 fines lowered to a more moderate $250 and have been campaigning for City Council Speaker Quinn to call the bill for a vote.

SVP Director Sean Basinsiki responded immediately with an email blast to members. It’s after the jump…

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It’s possible to frequent Koreatown stalwart Food Gallery 32 and have no idea a top floor exists. Most of the food vendors are on the ground floor with a small seating area in the balcony. You have to venture even further up to the second floor to discover the newly opened Angry Chicken.

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