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 Mike, a Flatiron Luncher who wishes he worked in S.F.

Name: Mike

Age: 31

Occupation: Digital Community Manager/Musician

Where in Midtown do you work? a dope agency called Mirrorball in Chelsea

Favorite Kind of Food: I’m from the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area, so Mexican food plays a huge part of my “diet,” but my options out here aren’t as abundant as back home. Although I do appreciate a nice carne asada burritio from Dos Toros because it feels familiar.. I’d also say sushi, friend chicken, Korean noodles (jap che,) burgers, gyros and hot dogs count as well. Oooh, and Korean fried chicken (which I would say is different enough from regular friend chicken, to warrant a mention.) I just like to eat.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Orange squash has just been a bane to my tongue’s existence since I used to have to eat that nasty stuff as a baby.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Moreso in the Chelsea/Flatiron area, but the Shack Burger and cheese fries from Shake Shack, the Scnipper’s Classic burger with sloppy Joe fries from Schnipper’s, Texas Tenders and mac n’ cheese from Hill Country Chicken, the tuna burger from Kobeyaki (on 7th btw. 26+27th), Grimaldi’s pizza, the gouda grilled cheese from Morris Grilled Cheese Truck, Korilla truck, the porchetta and prime rib sandwiches from Rosticceria in Eataly, and Kyochon wings from Kyochon, and anything from Woorijip more north from my area. My coworkers and I like to “GO IN” so to speak when it comes time for daily grubfest. Oh yeah, I’d like to give a shout out for Mad Sq. Eats and how it blesses us multiple times a year with Conneticut style lobster rolls, coconut chicken curry and pulled pork empanadas and the Mash & Vinh Asia Dogs.

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Ah, Columbus Day: the holiday that reminds you that the cultural wars over Christmas are not too far off. I’m banking on the extreme majority of Midtown Lunch readers knowing the deal, but for those out-of-towners: while Columbus Day is generally regarded by many Italian-Americans as a holiday celebrating one of their own (who could also have been Jewish – hava nagila, baby!) many are now regarding it as an imposition upon native peoples.

What better way to declare a food blog’s position on Columbus Day than by hitting up a cuisine of one of the original islands discovered by Columbus and brought kicking and screaming into Latin America? Aries Cafe was recently mentioned by ML’s Twitter and having worked the next block over, literally next door to El Sabroso, I was definitely excited to give this place a shot. It last made an appearance on our pages during the storied and fabled Brooks Era. The time elapsed between merits a fresh look. Dueling Dominican/Caribbean elevator shaft eatin’ spots across 8th Ave? Don’t mind if I do!

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The Parisian bakery Maison Kayser has been getting all sorts of attention in New York since they opened up their first US outpost on the Upper East Side. Signage is up now for one of the new locations right across from Bryant Park on 40th Street. It’s due to open in January (after a Flatiron location debuts in November) and will serve mostly take-out, but with their same fancy sourdough bread and pastries.

While I am still majorly bummed about Katsuhama pricing their oyako don out of the ML budget, I’ve been trying to find a new go-to spot. Recently, I hit up Men Kui Tei to check out theirs — don’t count out the rice dishes at this probable Bittman secret favorite restaurant — even though ramen is half the menu, they do very well with most everything they offer. So how did their oyako don stack up?
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Last week we started getting tips about, Mausam Curry N Bites, a new curry truck parking around midtown. With some solid recommendations trickling in from Lunchers in the field we had to check it out.

First lets hear from Lunch’r ladyeatalot

I know we have a few good Indian carts/shops popping up in our nabe but I have to say this one is pretty darn good.

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Simpsons photo taken from Eater

• We would support a Khlav Kalash mega restaurant [Eater]
• Get a finnish lunch at MOMA through October 12th [SENY]
• A video look at 10 years of the Burger Joint [Eater]
• Sam Sifton is filled with regret and self loathing because of his lunch choices [Grub St.]
• Strip House opens next week- unsurprisingly there’s nothing on the menu for us [GS]
• Serious Eats does their own compare contrast on the 53rd & 6th Street halal carts [SENY]
• Fun Buns get an honorable mention in this best NYC pork buns post [FitR]
• Like food trucks, but don’t like leaving your office? This could be for you. [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.

O Glorious Day. I’ve found a happy hour with not just decent, but GOOD deals… maybe even bleeding into the territory of awesome deals (for Midtown)… right around the corner from my office and mere steps away from Grand Central Station. This mythical place I speak of is called Vander Bar (45th and Vanderbilt) in the Roosevelt Hotel.

How do Midtown Lunchers not know about these amazing speacials already? I think, in part, because even though the happy hour boasts dive prices, Vander Bar is disguised as a lame, highly overpriced bar. But it’s not what you would expect at all. It’s actually pretty awesome. High praise, high praise for Vander Bar!

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Momofuku Milk Bar’s cookies used to top my list for funky cookie creations in Midtown, but then Schmackary’s burst onto the scene earlier this year and stole my heart. These two spots each have their own unique cookie combos, but I recently realized that they have something in common: the corn cookie. Well, there’s a clear way to make a comparison — let’s give it a shot.
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A new truck has been parking in Midtown recently called The Trusty Truck and their slogan is “Five Stars on Four Wheels.” Checking out the menu, I’m not too sure of that. They focus on something they like to call durgers, which seems to be hamburgers in the shape of a hot dog. Their sides include fries, mac and cheese bites, meatballs, and jalapeño poppers. They’ve been on the street now for just two weeks and today it looks like they’ll be on 47th btw. Park+Vanderbilt. Anybody tried this truck out? Thoughts in the comments…