Midtown Lunch

Last Thursday, we mentioned Pizza by Cer Te just added “salad pizza” to their menu. Out of curiosity, I wandered over the next day to check out these freaks of nature healthy pizza alternatives. After all, Blondie had given their regular slices two thumbs way way up, so maybe – just maybe – their salad pizzas wouldn’t be as silly as they sound. Still, try as I might, I never understood why someone would consider a pizza place for low-fat options. For veggie-topped pizza, yes (maybe…) I can understand, but Pizza By Cer Te‘s new salad pizzas are pretty confusing. It’s salad…on a pizza. Can you really call it pizza when there’s no tomato sauce and no cheese at all? I try these abominations after the jump… Read more »

You guys know I love my sweets and now that it is officially summer it’s time for an all-out attack on anything sweet and frozen. I got super jealous of you Midtown Westerners with the opening of Grom last month, but it inspired me to search out what Midtown East has in the way of delicious summertime treats…

Best Ice Cream: 5th Avenue Chocolatiere (3rd btn 43rd+44th)

I’ve never picked this chocolate shop to satisfy my cravings, until now. I got the Italian Cookie Ice Cream, and it was crazy good with a melty chocolate ribbon going through it. Bonus points: you also get a free truffle.

Honorable Mention: Cafe Zaiya (41st btn Mad+5th)

One of the few places around where you can get soft serve with an Asian twist, my favorite’s the Black Sesame. They now offer Kinako, made with soybean powder, and little servings of hard ice cream. Your best bet is to let this sucker melt a bit or you’ll be flinging ice cream all over.

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The $7 house-smoked pork sandwich. Photo by Wined and Dined.

• There are some tasty looking under $10 sandwiches at the Plaza Food Hall [Wined & Dined]
• Vegetarians will like the eggplant dip at Marketa [Fork in the Road]
• The Treats Truck is opening a brick and mortar store in Brooklyn [Feed Blog]
• You can hire somebody to buy your lunch [Brick Underground via Grub Street]
• Want to see Josh Ozersky eat a macarella? Wish granted [Ozersky.TV]
• No toss up here… Bon Chon is “hands down” better than Kyochon [At the Sign of the Pink Pig]
• We’re not the only ones that like the falafel at Crisp [Ramen & Friends]
• Why would we want to eat at a cajun diner spurned by New Orleans? [Grub Street]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so every Friday afternoon our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

A good cheese steak is a many splendored thing. The perfect bread, the finely sliced, glistening grilled steak, the peppers, the mushrooms, and, of course, the cheese. Shorty’s, previously Tony Luke’s, has been mentioned numerous times by ML, yet a proper +/- has never been bestowed. Clearly it’s my obligation to fill that void (It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.)

Shorty’s claims to offer the only “authentic” south Philly style sandwiches in NYC. Rather then being a divey lunch counter they have adapted to Hells Kitchen’s unique flavor stepping up their game with a full bar, 22 beers on tap, and a focus on local breweries, craft beers, and cask ales. What caught my eye was their daily cheesesteak and pint special. Now I’ve gone on and on about burger and beer specials in town, but a cheesesteak happy hour? Now you’re speaking my language!

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‘Tis the season to eat ice cream and with some sunny and warm weather in the forecast today, might I suggest a slightly out of bound excursion to Holey Cream in Hell’s Kitchen for a donut ice cream sandwich? After all if there’s any day it would be ok to enjoy a doughnut ice cream sandwich for lunch, it’s National Doughnut Day!

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Now that Downtown has its very own section of the site, what are we going to post on Fridays at 10am? Answer… how about a new column devoted to those lunches just south of the ML boundaries. Every week we’ll post about a lunch in Murray Hill south, Gramercy, Flatiron, and everything in between… or as we’ll call it from now on: Flatiron Lunch.

Thai food restaurants are few and far between in Midtown South. Up until a week or so ago, the only option I knew of near my office was Lemongrass Grill (on 34th btw. Lex+3rd). Every several months I end up there with co-workers and we all get the exact same dish we always get and then bathe it in the various sauces that are on hand and hope for something more interesting than usual (it rarely succeeds.)

Then, the other day, I spotted Taan Thai Cuisine. Actually, I spotted the signs for JoeyThai, presumably the previous restaurant in this spot. Apparently, no one thought it necessary to bother changing signs- but  I’m fine with that because the food is a vast improvement over the other Thai options in the area.
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