Midtown Lunch

With an El Rey Del Sabor cart so close to my office, when I’m craving Mexican food I usually don’t have to venture too far. But while scoping out El Tequilazo for a potential Happy Hour visit, I saw a pamphlet for $8.95 lunch specials. Zach had noted specials under $10 back in 2009 advertised on a board right outside, and now they have some fancy fliers with pretty pictures!

This is one of the places I really debated about before going. I just knew it was going to be one of those overpriced places that’s not worth the money but gets by on tourists and people who don’t share the Midtown Lunch philosophy of thrift.

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In a move that might shock no one, Lily O’Brien’s (40th btw 5th+6th) shut its doors on Friday and, as you can see from this picture, its presence is quickly being erased (thanks Wayne!) Why do I say “shocks no one”? For starters, the infinitely-better Lady M is opening a few doors down (we’re patiently waiting here, Lady M, no rush!) and Lily O’Brien’s did have a few internal problems I was privy to. There is hope to still snag their treats, according to the signs in the window.

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Sorry it took so long but we finally took down the forums, which have been plagued with spam for the past few months. We were hoping to just fix the problem, but unfortunately the issue require us to make changes to the entire site which will take a bit longer. The good news is, when we relaunch the forums we’ll also be introducing some exciting improvements to Midtown Lunch as a whole… so you have that look forward to.  We’ve always been super proud of the community that we’ve built here at Midtown Lunch and are committed to having a place for you guys to exchange tips, organize meet ups and just mess around.  Rest assured we are working hard to fix the issue, and hope to have the forums back up and running (in addition to a lot of other exciting new changes) in no time.

The Night Hotel on 45th street between Times Square and 6th avenue always seemed like a sketchy place, more like a gentleman’s club than a hotel. Recently, though, I found out that if you enter the very dark, goth hotel and walk straight back, past some pretty risque art, beyond reception on the right and the elevators on the left, you’ll arrive at a gated bar and a small swanky looking restaurant that bills itself as Japanese cuisine. Boasting dishes like pad thai and green curry as well as sushi and katsu, Red Moon is not, in fact, just Japanese cuisine, but yet another Asian fusion joint. Still, with its $10 lunch specials, Red Moon still seemed worth checking out.
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Roast pork from El Sabroso. Photo courtesy of Tien Mao/Gothamist

• People are still discovering El Sabroso every day [Gothamist]
• A Nutella truck will be in Midtown this weekend giving out free samples [Gothamist]
• Ramen Takumi is coming to Midtown East [Grub Street]
• Ivan Orkin eats in the Grand Central food court!? [Eater]
• Your guide to drinking at Guy Fieri’s Times Square restaurant [Eater]
• Eggstravaganza makes a great grilled cheese with Chorizo [SENY]

When I first heard via Fork in the Road that Boomer Esiason had decided to try his hand at the restaurant business, good old next door neighbor Guy Fieri was busy completely and utterly overshadowing the former Jets player Esiason in the media and blogosphere. Although I’m never first in line at restaurants where celebs use their star power to draw in crowds (lame!) I figured since I didn’t even know who Boomer Esiason was, that it would be OK. Plus, Blondie wrote a review nearly two years ago about the former Times Square Bowlmor Lanes (44th btw. 7 + 8) bar before Boomer took over, and I thought I would investigate to see how it had changed.

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I must be honest and admit my Meatless Monday adventures have turned into more of a meatless-one-meal-a-week kind of thing as of late. With all this talk about rising meat prices thanks to the Midwest drought… and now rumors of a worldwide bacon shortage surfacing (oh horror of horrors!), I’ve been meatin’-it-up wherever the opportunity arises and with no shame. Maybe I shouldn’t believe the hype… but I keep buying roast beef cold cuts in place of my usual cheese snacks just in case it all gets too expensive, so that blows my meatless days to smithereens. That said, I’m still trying to get a vegetarian meal in my belly here and there for some food variety. And we also gotta give some ML love to Lunch’ers like LuxeSmurf, and others who are looking for vegetarian options from time to time.

I had heard rumors a month ago via Gothamist (who reported from the Zagat blog) about a Zen Palate opening in Midtown. This vegetarian restaurant has had rough times with closures in the past, but still seemed to have a decent following. I checked out the online menu to see if Zen Palate’s prices are under the ML price threshold of $10. Some soups and sandwiches made the cut… but I was skeptical and frankly really scurred after I encountered some serious snark about Zen Burger from way back when, which was a short-lived Midtown offshoot from the same folks.

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Yesterday, we received word from a Lunch’er via twitter that Yagura, hailed as the best deal among the Japanese grocers on 41st between 5th and Madison and a favorite of Midtown Lunchers, is closing TODAY. In deep confusion and sadness we must ask with urgency, What is the meaning of this? Our source says Yagura will be closing indefinitely, and it sounds like it could be lease issues although we don’t know for sure. In this short time frame we’re drawing upon our readers to shed any light on the situation, as this could possibly be the last day of Yagura awesomeness for a while, or perhaps forever! Any tips, inside knowledge, or dirty rumors would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: It appears as if the news is true.  Check out the sign after the jump…

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Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

So last spring, I couldn’t help but spend every day of Mad. Sq. Eats’ opening week stuffing my face with a multitude of dishes. This past week, I have spent a good amount of quality time at the market, but I found that with only a handful of newcomers and the overall prices have prevented me from really going to town. But I gave it my best shot! And now I am going to hit you with it.

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