Midtown Lunch

Midtown West is getting another exciting lunchtime option. A new branch of Mooncake Foods is currently under construction on 54th St, between 8th & 9th ave, with a targeted opening date of early January. Lunchers who are familiar with Mooncake’s fast-casual Asian fusion concept should be particularly excited, as they do an admirable job of turning out quality, tasty, food for $10 and under. I’ve always been a fan of their generous portions and fresh flavors, and apparently so is our old friend Lunch’er Adam Prato (his job moved Downtown a few months back.)  Never been to the Downtown or Chelsea locations?  You can see a write up of the place on the Downtown section of the site.  And we’ll be sure to keep you updated with an exact opening date, the menu, as well as pictures of the space. Mooncake Foods, 359 West 54th St (between 8th & 9th).

Taim Mobile’s Split Pea Soup. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Marx/FitR

• Not surprisingly, Taim Mobile’s split pea soup is a winner [Fork in the Road]
• Food Exchange makes a great lentil soup.  Who knew?! [Food Mayhem]
• Park Italian is a little skimpy with their proscuitto [Tasty Eating]
• IHOP is coming to Times Square [Eater]
• The egg wrap special from the Bap Cha cart is enjoyable [Ramen & Friends]
• Sweetery’s croissant and quiche are great. Brioche and flourless chocolate cookie? Not so much [SENY]
• Why are tourists the only people eating hot chestnuts!? [Gothamist]

Tis the season for giving and seeing as someone gave me their cold, there will be no drunkards review this week. However, if any of you should be feeling that holiday spirit (and no I don’t mean that bottle of Jack Daniels) there are many venues where you can donate to those less fortunate. All locations of Qdoba Mexican Grill will be accepting Toy for Tots, but so will some local bars. First on my list is Rudy’s Bar, on 627 9th Ave., whose Santa decorated box shown above will be accepting presents for the month. Also on the Westside, Hibernia, on 401 W 50th St, will be helping underprivileged children by accepting gifts until the 21st of December. B. B. King Blues Club & Lucille’s Grill NYC, 237 West 42nd Street, is accepting contributions for Toys for Tots as well. One of the sweeter charitable deals comes from Galway Hooker on 7 East 36th Street. The pub is working with NY Foundling, Abandon No One to provide gift cards to teens in need. In return for a donation of a $30 gift card, Galway will offer you a two-hour open bar on December 13th, 14th or 15th -anytime from 4 to 7pm, but I suggest you make a reservation.

That hereby finishes my public service and whether or not it was court ordered is none of your business.

Photo courtesy of HungryK9

I’ve been very curious about the French onion soup that recently returned to the menu at Macaron Cafe. I’ve been a huge fan of onion soup since I first had it on my honeymoon in Paris a couple years back. When done right, it’s an amazing bowl of oniony beef broth with chunks of bread inside and topped with a thick layer of gooey, chewy gruyere on top and a bit more tossed in the middle for good measure.

Luncher HungryK9 recently gave it a try and posted about it on her blog. She was sorely disappointed. Apparently, she searched and searched but barely found any cheese to speak of. Now, that’s just not right. Has anyone else tried the soup with more success? Or know of a great French Onion Soup in Midtown?  Let us know in the comments.

If you’ve always been curious about the goings on at 99 Fresh Pizza, you’ll want to check out Nightline’s pizza report from the other night.  They actually got an interview with the $1 pizza “Director of Operations”, and he was shockingly realistic- admitting that the pizza wasn’t “high quality” or the best pizza he’s ever had but adding “you get your bucks worth”.  The best part of the piece, however, is the interview with lovingly insane Jim Lahey, the owner of Sullivan St. Bakery and Company, who proceeded to call all pizza inedible. Check out the entire segment here>>

Back in September, Mamacita told us about the $6 burger, fries and beer deal for $5.95 at the Bull Moose Saloon. Yesterday Lunch’er Joe checked in to let us know that they have raised the price $1, but made some significant sounding improvements!

So I read about the Bullmoose lunch deal, BURGER, FRIES AND BEER (Bud, Bud Light, Yuengling… the latter being the obvious choice) for 6 bucks.  I headed over there about 3 or 4 weeks ago with a buddy, and it was 7 dollars.  Okay, whatever, that deal still rocks no matter what… we went in and ordered.  Blown away. Basically, this is the best burger in the area, and I will stand by that.  It’s fresh, thick, on a pretzel roll, and with what ever cheese they have you can throw on.  I got bleu cheese, it gets melted right on and it’s phenomenal.  The fries, delicious.  Everything is fresh.  7 bucks for this just makes the deal even sweeter. I honestly think it beats Shake Shack down the block, since they don’t give you booze with your meal, and it’s nearly impossible to find a spot to sit and you need to wait in the huge ass line.  I urge you go back, and review this place one more time.  Nice bartender, too. Me and my bud go back every Wednesday.  Thanks for introducing me to this place.  -Joe

Every Friday our man UltraClay goes 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.

Rhong Tiam was the first of a wave of Flatiron openings that happened around the end of the summer. It didn’t get the attention of nearby Eataly, but given how few really good Thai options there are in the area, I’m still pretty excited about the place.

When I first visited Rhong Tiam, they had only been open a couple of days and while I was excited about the food options (especially the roti) there was much confusion to be cleared up. I stopped in for a follow up visit, hoping that the logistical issues had been dealt with and it  would be easier to get to some of the previously unavailable tasty options on the menu. Check out the follow up after the jump.

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If you’re willing to give it access to your Facebook account, and cell phone, there’s a new deal site on the scene.  It’s called Tenka and it works like this…  you give it access, it gives you free deals and coupons sent to your cell phone.  The only catch?  Getting the coupon doesn’t ensure you get the deal.  It only goes to a predetermined number of people who use the coupon first.  Sounds terrible, right?  Until we realized you could score 3 free tacos from the Korilla BBQ Truck– no money up front, no strings attached.   Not too many left though, so you’ll probably have to redeem the coupon today during lunch to score the deal (if it’s not gone already.)