Midtown Lunch

After visits to the Bay Area last year, Zach came back first with five and then another three lunches that Midtown really needs to have. I was out there for most of last week and found even more delicious lunch goodness that I would love to see Midtown borrow from the left coast.

First thing we need is an amazing food court like they have at the Westfield Mall, San Francisco Centre. With more than 20 eateries in ML range, there’s Chinese, pasta, Korean Barbecue, Tri-tips, fish shacks and more to wade through. It’s enough to explore for weeks. See what I had and some of the other points on my wishlist after the jump.

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CNN’s “Best Jobs” video chronicling a day in the life of a Mister Softee truck sure did make the rounds on the old blogosphere yesterday!  We were slightly suspicious of its awfully rosy portrait of what it’s like to run a Mister Softee truck, and this morning everybody’s favorite Midtown Mister Softee vendor “Miss Softee” checked in to let us know that our suspicions were justified.

I just watched the video and wanted to expand on what she says, plus share a little more detail with the readers because to think that we’re making almost a thousand dollars a day in our pay is a bit absurd and is totally misunderstood!! I think that she gives a decent explanation of the job, including the long hours, the specifics of working for Softee (that they give you a route, a tune, and you have to use all of their product), but the whole ‘making 900 a day’ thing seems like it’s being misunderstood in this report. The TRUCK may pull in $900 on a really GOOD DAY. But, out of that sum, in addition to the truck startup fees (90K) there’s the ongoing costs: the products, the commissary/depot fee, the franchise fee, gas, incurred tickets, as well as any repairs of the truck, so, while $900/day in your pocket sounds great, that’s NOT what is actually going in!!

But wait, there’s more… Read more »

Yesterday we introduced you to our newest contributor, Jeremiah. Today, he introduces us to a decent hot beef sandwich from a generic midtown deli.

In many ways, Green Emporium (on 8th Ave. and 48th St.) is just another dime a dozen, sandwich slinging bodega (except for all the flowers out front). They use the same unimpressive ingredients as their counterparts, but I find the sandwiches to be constructed a little better. What really sets them apart though, is the big board of their sandwich creations. There are over 50 of them, hot and cold, with names that range from the obvious and boring (Tuna Melt) to the confounding and intriguing (Matrix – which is unfortunately just turkey and Swiss on whole wheat). The sandwiches are mostly pretty standard (Reuben, Italian Hero, Cheesesteak), but the sheer number of options makes it a pretty reliable place. In addition, a few of the choices stray enough from the ordinary to command my attention… and one of those is the Chicago.

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According to the cover story in today’s AMNY, today (and every Wednesday this summer) is “Take Back Your Lunch Day”, a series of meetups across the country designed to encourage office workers to take their full hour of lunch.  According to the “Energy Project”, the group behind the promotion, the average office worker spends 20 minutes on lunch, and this series of meetups (the NYC one is today in Bryant Madison Square Park) is meant to shine a light on how important it is to take a lunch.  Of course, if you read Midtown Lunch, you already know this…

Last week I noticed Richmond’s Homemade Italian Ice truck parked on the SE corner of 40th St & 6th Ave. near Bryant Park.  I’ve actually seen them parked randomly at different places throughout the city, and I guess now they’re trying to settle into Midtown? Sadly, when I went by Bryant Park around 12:30pm yesterday the truck was nowhere to be found. The guy in the truck had mentioned last week that they had trouble finding good parking, and it’s no surprise they had trouble parking near Bryant Park (bet you $$ that Mister Softee was involved.)  They have all your standard flavors like lemon, cherry, watermelon, and they also do milkshakes. Hopefully they’ll find a spot in Midtown… after all, more trucks = a good thing, right?  (Crazy batshit insane Misguided City Council members, you don’t need to answer that question.)

Anybody seen this truck pop up elsewhere in Midtown?  Let us know in the comments…

• …”Kraft Easy Cheese, stat!”[Midtown Eating]
• … a Mister Softee truck in Midtown East [Midtown Eating]
• … Manhattan Special Espresso Coffee Soda [Midtown Eating]
• … Bubble Tea [Midtown Eating]
• … mostarda [Midtown Eating]
• … a branch of Baoguette in Midtown West [Midtown Eating]

Consumerist has posted a great looking day in the life video of a Mister Softee ice cream truck driver in Brooklyn filmed by CNN. There’s no mention of the Mayor’s crusade to get rid of them, the fighting between trucks, the “mafia” controlled turf wars, or the fact that they can only vend half the year (most Mister Softee permits are seasonal). Plus you have to work from 10am to 11pm every single day. But other than that it seems like a super easy and profitable business!  [via Grub Steet]