Midtown Lunch

If you’re in Midtown South and haven’t yet had a chance to hit up the always amazing Wafels & Dinges (I don’t care how much you love Nutella, get the damn spekuloos spread your first time out, and you’re welcome in advance) you’re gonna have a chance real soon to pin ’em down in Herald Square at their second brick & mortar location. The former ‘Wichcraft kiosk has had the signage taken down, and the two dudes working in it confirmed that W&D’s going to be taking over the space in a few weeks. Keep your eyes out on the main page and Twitter feed – no better way to ring in autumn than awesome wafels!

Summer’s tenuous hold on the start of Fall has brought us some really nice warm days. What better way to spend ’em than hitting up the al fresco Broadway French Market on Broadway btw. 35+36th for some farmer’s market’ish stuff and prepared foods. Now open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday they’ve added some additional new items to make it one heck of a decent lunch option.
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Kimchi afficionados, you’re in luck! New York Kimchi is moving in to a 7,158 square foot ground floor space at 18 West 48th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. The Kimchi store, which is owned by the popular Kum Gang San Korean restaurant located on West 32nd Street in Manhattan, will be selling a variety of Kimchi priced anywhere between $6 and $30, including “traditional cabbage Kimchi (whole or sliced), New York (mild) Kimchi, Korean radish Kimchi, Watery Kimchi, Ponytail radish Kimchi, Green cabbage Kimchi and Cucumber Kimchi” as stated on their website. The storefront also plans to offer kimchi making classes at the location, but no word on whether or not they’ll have anything resembling lunch. We can only hope!

New York Kimchi, Coming Soon to 18 West 48th Street (btw. 5th & 6th Avenues)

Though Munich might be about 4000 miles away, Shake Shack on the other hand, is not! In celebration of Oktoberfest, Shake Shack is having their 8th annual Shacktoberfest beginning this Friday, October 4th through Sunday, October 13th, with a menu featuring various brats, wursts, and special desserts.

Additionally, Midtown East Lunch’ers can finally access Shake Shack a bit easier with the opening of its newest location in the lower level concourse of Grand Central Terminal this Saturday, October 5th! Though the location will not be participating in Shacktoberfest, Grub Street has reported that the location will be serving up some new things including Shackmeister Ale in commuter bottles, a special “GCT Constellation” concrete, and hand-cut fresh french fries, instead of frozen krinkle fries, which are currently only available at the UES location. If anyone grabs a pair of their opening day “Shack Shades,” save a pair for me?

Highlights from the Shacktoberfest menu after the jump…

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We’ve covered Treehaus pretty extensively, from its sandwiches and hot food bar to Kosofresh, the Chipotle-esque Korean bibimbap bar. But did you know that Treehaus also houses a ramen and soba restaurant? It’s true, right next to the upstairs dining area is Nikai, and they’re are serving up good, fresh, and affordable noodles.

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Last week, we told you about the new meatball cart that’s been popping up in the neighborhood. It often hangs out on 49th and 6th Avenue, but on Friday I discovered it on the strangely quiet stretch of 47th and Vanderbilt. This is the street that recently became off-limits to food trucks thanks to an unsurprising crackdown.  In their place now are a few fancy, colorful food carts serving things like philly cheesesteaks, gourmet sandwiches, and meatballs.

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What do you picture when you think of Japanese food? Sushi probably comes to mind first, right? Then maybe teriyaki of some sort? Possibly ramen something or other? While these answers are all correct, I’d like to assert my opinion that the greatest Japanese food is actually katsudon. What is katsudon, you may ask? Well, according to Wikipedia, it’s “a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, and condiments.” So basically, it’s the one Japanese dish that Americans wish they had thought of. Deep-fried meat with egg? Sign me up!

I first discovered this wondrous food when I reviewed Benton Café on 45th street a few months ago. Even though Benton’s katsudon is relatively cheap, I was immediately smitten and vowed to try as many katsudon options in midtown as I could. Sadly, the dish is most often over the Midtown Lunch limit of $10, but if you look hard enough, there are options within our budget.

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Photo courtesy of Eataku

• The Schnitzel & Things truck makes and outstanding schnitzel sandwich [Eataku]
• Num Pang is opening in Midtown West!?!?! [Grub Street]
• These guys are big fans of Glaze Teriyaki’s new location [II]
• The szechuan pork dumplings from Land of Plenty are one of the best dishes in NYC [FitR]
• Olympic Pita’s spicy sausage laffa is one of the hottest sandwiches in NYC [SENY]
• The Grill on Wheels kosher truck puts fries in their sandwiches! [Tasty Eating]
• Bagel Boss is now open in Murray Hill [DNAinfo]