Midtown Lunch

Excited to announce that our old friend Yvo (aka The Feisty Foodie) has just started working in Midtown, and will be posting her lunchtime adventures here on the site.  Please give her a warm welcome in the comments… 

I consider myself a cheesesteak expert, after spending a day in Philly eating 6 different cheesesteaks at 6 different places (bonus picture in that post of my awesome Food Baby after all that meat&cheese). So when multiple people told me that Phil’s Steaks, a food truck newish to the scene, has the best cheesesteak in NYC – the ‘closest they’ve ever had to Philly’ – I had to get my butt over there to check it out.

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Lunch’er “hightemp” let us know that BBQ-Mexican or ‘Texican’ spot Tres Carnes (which has locations in Flatiron and the FiDi) has finally opened its doors on Third Ave between 57+58th, so I stopped by to see what all the fuss was about. Apparently, they were welcomed with open arms because “lines out the door” have been spotted, as well as a limit to three orders per person during high lunch hours (12-2pm). So, even though I wasn’t hungry, I sampled some tacos for you.

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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.

Despite some complaints from FL’ers about this series, well one Fl’er in particular, the series marches on with a famous (but way out-of-bounds) shop and another centrally located. In case my hunt for the perfect whitefish salad bagel sandwich is boring to you, have no fear, this is the penultimate post.

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For the last few weeks, Yassir Raouli, the owner of Bistro Truck has been quietly running a food cart from multiple locations around the city. He decided to close the food truck back in 2012 due to difficulties with permits and to focus on his downtown restaurant Rustic LES. But now he’s back on the streets.

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A new month means new specials at Cer Te’s two Midtown restaurants. By popular demand, Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) has brought back their lobster french toast sandwich for the month of June. And over at Pizza by Cer Te (on 56th btw. Lex+Park) you can now get a “Jackson Heights Pizza” featuring chicken mole poblano, chili corn, cotija cheese, queso fresco, and salsa on a masa crust, which looks… interesting? Early adopters, definitely let us know what you think in the comments.

Here’s some sad news reported by multiple lunchers last week… it looks like Bella Napoli, the pizzeria on West 49th street, has closed. For years it was a standby lunch spot for a lot of offices in the area, so ML’ers, if you have nearby pizza recommendations, leave them in the comments.

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.

While browsing the comments section of a very old FL post, I noticed a reader recommended the pasta bar in the back of Bravo Pizza. It was not an easy feat to walk by stuffed pizzas, Chicago and NY style pizzas, Grandma slices. But I was on a mission.

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Over the past few days, those of you who popped into Schmackary’s (45th btw 8th+9th) for an afternoon cookie or coffee may have noticed a familiar face behind the counter or possibly even a short song and dance. Literally. Because all this week Broadway stars and yes, even some Tony nominees/winners have been slinging sweets for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Half of the sales and all of the tips this week will be donated to the charity, which “awards annual grants to more than 450 Aids and family service organizations nationwide and is the major supporter of the social service programs at The Actors Fund including the HIV/AIDS initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic.” We’ve got the rundown of who’s serving today, tomorrow and Saturday afternoon (seriously, today’s 3-5pm lady is one of biggest names around!)

The first three days have been filled with Tony winners including three 2014 nominees yesterday alone (sorry, Brian J. Smith, Lena Hall and Audra McDonald fans!), but here’s the schedule so you don’t miss any more.

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A show of hands please, from everyone who suffers from menu FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Who among us hasn’t hesitated when ordering, perhaps calling a last second audible, petulantly flip flopping between dishes. What could be worse than sulking over a bánh mì while secretly coveting your dining companion’s bowl of phở (or vice versa)? Co Ba, a welcome addition to the sparse Vietnamese restaurant population in Hells Kitchen, provides the perfect solution for this by serving a soup and sandwich combo ($12) that gives lunchers the best of both worlds.
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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.

Not that this is a fair battle, but a friend’s wedding recently took me to Portugal, and, while most of my meals were related to the wedding, I did manage to find a few that I would like to import to New York (or you should at least check out if you travel to Lisbon.) One day while sightseeing in Lisbon, we were lucky enough to come across an outdoor festival of all things Portuguese in Rossio Square. I could have bought shots of Ginjinha (traditional cherry liqueur) in chocolate shot cups, but instead, I was immediately drawn to the tent with raclette. Who doesn’t like the sight of raclette? While waiting for my food, I noticed the name Sabbores Dos Azores, so I will someday figure out how raclette is a thing in Switzerland and small islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

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