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 Henry, a Hell’s Kitchen bartender who really seems to know what’s up.

Name: Henry (whitesaucehotsauce to you registered MLers)

Age: 30

Occupation: Bartender, oh, and I write this little food bl…just kidding

Where in Midtown do you Work?: The Pony Bar! I live in the neighborhood, too, so I’m really getting the full Midtown experience.

Favorite Kind of Food: Any ketchup delivery system (I’m a Pittsburgh boy!) especially cheese burgers and french fries, as well as a special affinity for BBQ, Buffalo Wings, Gyros, and sandwiches of any kind as long as they don’t have…

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Mayo, raw tomatoes, eggplants, and mushrooms. In
that order.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I know it’s OOB but the corner of 47th and 10th (or Little Guadalajara as I like to call it) with Tulcingo del Valle, Tehuitzingo, and that new little place around the corner. Shorty’s (on 9th btw. 41+42nd) for a whiz wit or a pork sandwich or an italian or a buffalo chicken sandwich or just about anything, really, especially the parmesan fries. Bella Napoli (on 49th btw. 6+7th) for a plain slice, Kati Roll Co (on 39th btw. 5+6th), lobster roll from just about anywhere.

Read more »

Another season, another Korean truck launches into the streets of NYC. Last week fellow Lunch’ers Wined and Dined spotted a new Korean food truck, Bob & Jo Korean Fusion Cuisine truck. There are definitely no shortages of Korean food trucks with both Korilla and Kimchi Taco trucks roaming around, so when I heard about Bob & Jo I sort of rolled my eyes a little. (Can’t we get a Japanese curry truck?! ) Since I was in the area, I decided to check this new truck out and ended up pretty glad I did.

Check out the menu and food porn after the jump.

Read more »

It may be a long time (or never) before we see an In-N-Out in NYC but another popular LA based chain is set to open their doors soon. Koshertopia had brought word that Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf are opening 3 locations in NYC (with the Times Square store to open in mid August on 39th btw. B’way+6th). If you’re not familiar with Coffee Bean, they’re pretty much like Starbucks but not as well known. And they don’t call their cup sizes as grande or venti, it’s good old fashion small, medium, and large. I’m from LA and a big fan of Coffee Bean so I’m super excited to finally get an ice blended mocha (or an off the menu ice blended half and half which is half mocha and half vanilla).

Got word from Lunch’er James last week that Pick-a-Pita (on 8th btw 39+40th), the home of french fry-stuffed shwarma and one of Sam Sifton’s favorite spots has closed it doors. Sadly, there’s no sign explaining the closure and I don’t think there is any sort of Jewish holiday going on. Does anyone know when they shut their doors or why?

Amazingly we’ve never written about the food at Main Noodle House, located on 6th Ave (between 37th & 38th St.). We have no excuse for this – clearly they’re doing something right, as they do brisk business with both the tourist and business crowd, and even earned endorsement from Salon.com and Gilt Taste’s food luminary, Francis Lam via Twitter. Such feedback is entirely justified by their cheap lunch combo specials and humongous portions.

It’s a fairly small, cramped space, and during the weekday lunch rush, you’re definitely looking at a 20-30 minute wait for a table. Customers waiting for take-out orders and for a dine-in table are mashed into a corner near the counter and front entrance, where they must dodge waitresses hurtling by, and customers entering and exiting the restaurant. But a little discomfort and a wait is more than worth the lunch deals here.
Read more »

I walk by the Midtown east branch of Potbelly (44th btw. Lex+3rd) every day and haven’t seen any movement until couple days ago when suddenly metal fence, tables, and chairs appeared out of nowhere. Then we got word from Lunch’er Emmet that a worker at Potbelly told him they will open this Wednesday. We know how excited you guys are about Potbelly, and it sounded like Andrea loved the Downtown location– so we will most definitely be keeping an eye on this one…  UPDATE: Just got confirmation from the PR people.  Potbelly will indeed be opening this Wednesday.