Midtown Lunch

Photos Courtesy of ML Correspondent “Ultraclay”

While we were urging people to give Kyochon some space yesterday, Eater was doing the opposite- posting a Good/News bad news about the chain on their first day of lunch service that seemed to fall mostly on the bad news side.  Is this the case of a chain breaking off a bit more than they can chew? (The new K-Town location is the largest location they’ve attempted to open in the U.S.) Or do they just need some time to get the place operating properly?  One thing is for sure, they spent far more time planning out the decor than training their staff on how to handle a lunch rush.

More photos of the Day 1 weekday lunch, are after the jump…

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Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. Today it’s Jason, an investment banker dude who (like the rest of us this week) wishes he was lunch’ing in Austin.

Name: Jason

Age: 30

Occupation: Programmer Analyst

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Investment Bank in Midtown proper – 47th/Madison

Favorite Kind of Food: Sweets. Dinner last night was a dozen cookies.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Vegetable matter.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Onya (on 47th btw. Lex+3rd) has become my winter friend – I love the fresh noodles here. Oleg and his schnitzel truck broke my heart when they left 48th/Park but I occasionally track them down. With spring approaching I’ll get back to Daisy May’s (on 50th btw. 6+7th), Kati Roll (on 39th btw. 5+6th), Cafe Cello (on 46th btw. 5+6th) and similarly distant locations (5th to 6th is the longest block ever).

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On my walk back to the office from lunch last week I noticed Buk, a new Balkan restaurant on 55th Street. Their menu is solidly on the pricier side of the ML scale, only the flatbread sandwiches and salads were $10 or under–and in my book you better make a damn good sandwich if you are going to charge $10. But I did see their window advertised a 30% off “your next fine dining experience at Buk” and they had a table top sign outside promoting $2.50 pizza slices. As luncher “high temp” reports in the forums, the early “reviews” on urbanspoon are of dubious authorship. Any reactions from early adopters?

Buk Balkan Bistro (55 W 55th St, btw 5 + 6th), (212) 541-4723

This morning’s New York Times has an article on the rising popularity of the two major $1 pizza empires in New York City… 99 Cent Fresh Pizza and 2 Bros. Some interesting tidbits… $1 pizza has “delighted, dismayed and disturbed pizza lovers, food bloggers and rival pizzeria owners” (who knew!?), the Manager of DiFara thinks “it’s great… for the people that aren’t interested in high-quality product” (ouch!), some businesses buy the pizza in bulk and resell it for twice the price (really?), and the inspiration for the original 99 Cent Fresh Pizza place behind Port Authority was wanting to help homeless people (I actually believe that.) The article didn’t mention the brand new 2 Bros that just opened on 8th Ave., but it did break the news that 99 Cent Pizza will be opening a new location on 34th Street and 3rd Ave. next month. Nice.

Related:
A New 99 Cent Pizza Battle Surfaces
$1 Slice Alert: St. Marks’ 2 Bros. Pizza is Officially Open
99¢ Fresh Pizza (Expands its Mini Empire!!!)

My name is Brownie and I have…a cookie problem. I can trace this cookie issue back to childhood. You see, my mom wouldn’t let me have an EasyBake Oven (“it’s just a light bulb, Brownie“). So I turned to real ovens and a cookie baking/eating fiend was born. Remember, this is the same woman who wouldn’t let me eat cart food as a child, so clearly I have a problem with authority. When I read that New York Magazine called the Chocolate Chip Cookies at Má Pêche (aka Momofuku Midtown) the best in the city, I knew that I had to check it out. For science and the good of the ML community, of course.

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I was a big fan of the relatively new Previti Pizza (on 41st btw. Lex+Park) when I first tried it out back in December, but for serious pizza opinion I always turn to Adam Kuban and Slice.  That’s why I was pretty excited to see that he tried the place last week, and has decided it’s not just “good… for Midtown” but it’s good for “anywhere”! Apparently for pizza connoisseurs, it’s the cheese blend that gives the slice a nice depth of flavor. (Who knew!?) Now if we could just get Adam to try the pizza at Cafe Duke we could settle this “best non-restaurant pizza in Midtown” argument once and for all.

Related:
Newly Opened Previti Pizza Is Serving a Kick Ass Artichoke Slice

Yes, we treat Korean fried chicken like it’s crack here at Midtown Lunch and track burger developments with CIA-like precision but, really, we’re just people who love lunch hour and trying our best to leave bad Boar’s Head days behind. So when I heard about the “drippingly juicy” roast beef and gravy sandwich from Eating in Translation at Best Bagel & Coffee (W 35th St. btw. 7th+8th), I obviously had to get my hands on it. Growing up in Brooklyn where corner delis abound, I became something of an expert in sliced meat, especially when served hot. So with my highly-trained Good vs. Bad French Dip taste buds, I ventured west to the Garment District to put The Sandwich to the test.

Click for more cause you gotta see it to believe it…

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