Midtown Lunch

Photo courtesy of Roboppy

Manganaro’s (along with its unaffiliated next door neighbor Manganaro’s Hero Boy) has been mentioned a few times on the site as a great place (on 9th Ave. btw 37+38th) to get an Italian sandwich. And even though it’s never been officially reviewed (it’s out of bounds, and a lot of things will cost you more than $10), I’ve always considered it an honorary Midtown Lunch. Which is why this post caught my eye on Fork New York, a long dormant blog run by Profiled Lunch’er “Andre Mika”. He resurrected his blog this week specifically to rant about the “bitches” who run the 100+ year old Manganaro’s Grosseria. The story is worth reading in its entirety, but is essentially summed up at the end with this:

“So I guess the moral of the story is, unless you love being abused and crapped on by people who you are trying to give your money to, stay away from Manganaro Grosseria Italiano.”

Read more »

The Trini Paki Cart (on 43rd & 6th Ave.) has become the present that keeps on giving.  By now you’ve read about how excited I was to discover all the things they serve in addition to their Pakistani chicken over rice plate, with Trinidadian pepper sauce.  There were the doubles and poulori (which are served every day), the special biriyani on Thursdays, and the pigeon peas pulau on Wednesdays.  But wait… there’s more! And while some of these things might be old news to longtime fans of the cart, now that business has picked up a bit getting some of these special things has become less of a crap shoot.

Read more »

Remember that house thing that popped in Rock Center Plaza for Ina Garten a few weeks ago? Well, undoubtedly inspired by the pop up bar in Bryant Park, they’ve decided to leave it up and convert it to a bar/restaurant through September 4th. It’s open from 11am to 10pm daily, and will serve food and drinks. You wouldn’t think there would be anything Midtown Lunch worthy in this news, but this week’s menu (provided by the Rock Center Cafe) includes mini fontina sliders (for $10), and a $10 grilled proscuitto pizza. (There’s also a mini lobster roll for $12, but I don’t like the sound of the word “mini”.)

Next week the food will be taken over by AJ Maxwell’s, and if it’s anything like their $10 special lunch take out menu, that might be worth taking a look at too. Plus there’s a Happy Hour every day starting at 5pm, with two special drinks being offered for $7. All things considered, it might be not terrible…

Sure, there is a Baoguette on Lexington btw. 25+26th that is worth walking out of your way to. But I always hoped we’d get a branch a little closer to Midtown proper.  Well, my dreams of a closer Baoguette have not been completely answered- but this is pretty damn close (and arguably even better!)  Eater is reporting that Chef Michael Huynh is planning on opening O Bao Noodles and Grill on 53rd St. btw. 2+3rd in October. (I’m thinking maybe it’s going to be in the old Bunchberries space?) It will focus on “grilled and barbecued Vietnamese food and a slew of International noodle offerings from China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand.” Between this and the new Midtown Momofuku, the end of the year could make my head explode with excitement.

Related:
Baoguette’s Out of Bounds Banh Mi is Worth the Extra Walk

Thanks to Lunch’er Joe for sending along this email:

“The Eastern boundaries of the mid 50s is heating up ML style. We recently got the Chinese sandwiches of Mantao, and will be getting a Kushi-Q in the Citicorp buidling — now we are getting Italian sandwiches as well. Another storefront just got a coming soon sign and it looks real promising for the Midtown Lunch crowd: I present to you, Piada. The sign is on the window outside the subway entrance at 53rd and Lex, before you walk into the Citicorp building. It’s going to be where Starwich used to be.”

I don’t know about this one Joe…

Read more »

• Favorite sit down lunch spots in Midtown [Midtown Eating]
• Is there a place in Midtown for fancy pants doughnuts (ala Craft)? [Midtown Eating]
• Do you tip street vendors? [Miscellaneous]
• You can get a combo platter with chicken, lamb, *and* kofta on 53rd & 6th [Midtown Eating]
• Warning: If you eat street meat at 4 in the morning, you might get groped [Miscellaneous]
• Who knew Midtown Lunchers were so picky… [Miscellaneous]