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 Jessica, an art museum worker bee who’d love to live in Pakistan.

Name: Jessica

Age: 27

Occupation: Art Museum Worker Bee

Where in Midtown do you work? Flatiron, formally at 75 Rock

Favorite Kind of Food: I grew up around a lot of different cultures, so I have a lot of favorites. Sicilian, Colombian, Lebanese, Chinese … if I had to choose one dish I’d probably pick a big ol’ plate of rice, red beans and sweet plantains for my go to comfort food. Close seconds include: ANY pasta, pork dumplings, and Entenmann’s banana cake with the chocolate and the crumb topping (yup, I went there).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Raw Onion, Yogurt.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: El Sabroso aka the garment district freight elevator, Qwik Meal, Hallo Berlin, Woorijip, the counter at Grand Central Oyster Bar.
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I stumbled on Karam the other day while walking down 45th Street between 5th and 6th and I have to admit, I was impressed off the bat. Without having tasted the food at all, I was pretty surprised just to see that a brick and mortar Middle Eastern shop could survive in an area with just so many halal carts. Sure, Karam, formerly Bread and Olive, is Lebanese and skews toward the higher end, but there are no less than half a dozen carts within a block, including Biryani Cart, Kwik Meal and Moishe’s. The fact that Karam was there and seemed to be doing well was confirmation enough that I ought to give it a try.

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We reported that Valducci’s has started parking in Midtown a while ago and they seem to now consistently be on 52nd and Park (except for Wednesdays). I realized we haven’t officially given the pizza a review, and I was particularly interested to see how it stacks up against old school pizza truck Jianetto’s, so I went to check it out.

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Okay, I’m addicted to curry chicken. Ever since I had a pretty decent curry chicken over rice from the Fahima Halal cart, I’ve been on the look out for other curry chicken dishes. Even though I know I need to take a long walk over to the West side to try the curry chicken from Trini Paki Boys cart, I just haven’t done it yet. I’ve been too lazy to walk from 3rd Avenue to 6th, so instead I found a few worthy curry dishes on the East side to satisfy my curry craving. After Fahima, I tried a not so spicy curry chicken from NY Biryani Express Cart. Then, most recently, my quest took me to Hop Won, followed by Jamaican Dutchy. How did their curry dishes compare to what I have had so far? Let’s find out.

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A year after Clay first noticed the sign for a new burger shop on 36th Street and Sixth Avenue, 5 Boro Burger is finally open. It’s a bar/burger joint with a similar red logo to the other five burger companies (Napkin and Guys). I stopped by to check out the scene and it was a bit harried on Friday. There weren’t even enough menus to go around (the restaurant was half full). When I did get my hands on one, I discovered the burgers themselves range from $8-$11. And if you want to get one of the five specialty burgers named after each borough (with toppings that have a vague resemblance to the actual borough), it’ll run you about $15. They also have hot dogs, sandwiches, and bar snacks. I had already eaten, so didn’t get to actually try the food. Has anybody else ventured in yet? Early adopters, let us know in the comments.

• 2 Bros and Bombay Fast Food are in a pizza price battle to the death [NYT]
• Burger Heaven makes one of the best patty melts ever [AHT]
• Schnipper’s cheese burger is comparable to Shake Shack [Blondie & Brownie]
• Grilled cheese is having a moment [NYT]
• Social Eatz has a new menu [Eater]

Call me naïve or call me boring, but for some reason, I never think to organize a happy hour in K-town. Hidden above the packed sidewalks of Korea Way, est. 1986 Wine Bar & Lounge is the sort of speakeasy I wish I wasn’t telling you about. By the time this review publishes, I will have already endured pleas from my coworkers, imploring me not to share est. 1986 with you.

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Every time I’ve been by STK OUT over the past few days my eyes have wondered around the menu and landed on the lower left hand yellow circle. Bites. That’s where the sweet potater tots came from, and more recently, the mac n’ cheese bites.

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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.

I realize that I am going to take some flack for this one, but yes, that is a Holiday Inn sign peaking out in the corner of the above photo, and yes, Contorno’s is an Italian restaurant in a Holiday Inn lobby. It’s always fun when we are able to bring you a restaurant in a non-traditional, almost hidden location (in my book, nothing will top El Sabroso), and Contorno’s not only qualifies as an unexpected and worthwhile lunch destination, but also brings better-than-average Italian food to the table at ML prices.

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