Midtown Lunch

The fact that free waffles ends at 1pm did not discourage these people still lined up at 12:55pm. And their patience was rewarded… everyone on line at 1pm gets a free waffle! Nicely done W&D. You could have been dicks and cut it off at 1, but you didn’t. Much appreciated…

Oh… and the new addition to the dinges menu: Speculoos, a spread made from ground up biscoff cookies (the ones you get on airplanes.)  Consistency of peanut butter, but tastes like gingerbread. Amazing!

There’s a reason that most Midtown pubs are not considered Midtown Lunches.  First off, few serve lunch for under $10.  Tack on tax and tip, and you’re usually spending a ton of money for food that is fine by Midtown standards… but kind of boring.  And not better than what you can get for less at a real “Midtown Lunch” spot.  Sure, there is the added bonus of beer and TV during your lunch… but is that really worth paying $4 for a soda?  Yeah, that’s right… Channel Four (on 48th btw. 5+6th) charges $4 for a soda.  I know it’s expensive to run a restaurant in Midtown, and I won’t pretend to understand the financial difficulties of being in this high rent part of town. But $4 for a soda?  That says one thing to me… tourist trap. (Or, rich lawyer happy hour spot.) Either way it’s unforgivable.

But I’ll give credit where credit is due.  Channel Four stepped to the plate with this bacon explosion thing.  If you haven’t heard of the bacon explosion, it was one of those gross food sensations that hit the internets earlier in the year. Essentially a bacon wrapped, ground pork roll covered in BBQ sauce, Channel Four decided to recreate it for consumption in Midtown. (Amazing, right?)  Even more than that, they were willing to turn it into a sandwich (called the “Bacon Implosion”) and charge under $10 for it as part of our Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.  So I swallowed my cheap bastard, Midtown Lunch’ing standards and stepped into Channel Four yesterday for a taste.

Be prepared to be rocked by the “Implosion” after the jump…

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This just in… today is the free cupcake day for the newly opened Crumbs on Broadway btw. 52+53rd. They’re only giving away 1000, and the employee I just talked to on the phone said they’re already at #600. Of course, if you don’t make it there, there’s always the free waffle sample from Noon to 1pm at the Wafels and Dinges Truck on 45th btw. 6+7th. Freeloaders engage! (Thanks to Blondie and Brownie for the Crumbs tip.)

I finally got around to trying Certe’s May entry in the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge, the Mexican Torta.  “Tanman” and “Wayne” were kind of enough to send their reports earlier in the month, but in keeping with the rules of the Sandwich Challenge I should probably post something… so here it is.  Good sandwich.  Quality meat.  Love the avocado (always a sandwich bonus.)  Liked the bread, salsa and cheese.  All around a good sandwich.  I wouldn’t call it a torta though.  That’s a torta! This was more like a good steak sandwich with avocado.  Though for $8.95 it kind of lacks that wow factor that is required for me to spend this much on a sandwich- although I would definitely recommend trying it at least once. Another solid effort from Certe (on 55th btw. 5+6th).

If you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, I think Friday may be the last day.

Related:
Certe’s Thanksgiving Dip is the Greatest Sandwich Ever Created
Underestimate Certe’s Vegetarian Sandwich at Your Own Risk

It looks like the short lived Empanada Joe’s (on 8th Ave. btw. 43+44th) is becoming a place called Roma Pizza.  If the look of the sign is any indication, I’m guessing this will be just another generic 8th Ave. New York City fast food pizza place (aka for the tourists.)  I guess only time will tell.

I’m a big advocate of taking the subway to lunch.  If you have a monthly pass it’s free, and with a little bit of planning you can easily get a delicious lunch in a different neighborhood in under an hour.  If you don’t like to plan do what Peter Cherches from Word of Mouth does- play subway roulette.

“Sometimes I feel like getting out of the neighborhood for lunch, for variety, but some place not too far, maybe three of four stops on the train.  So I go to the subway at Lexington & 53rd and wait for a train.  The two choices are the E and the V.  If the E comes first I hop on and go to lunch on 8th, or more likely 9th Avenue.  If the V comes first I go some place close to 6th Avenue, maybe one of the Korean places on W. 32nd or maybe Szechuan Gourmet.”

Yesterday, the E came so he ended up at Bali Nusa on 9th Ave. (one of my personal favorite out of bounds lunch spots.)  This could be the greatest idea ever.  Do you work near a subway stop with multiple trains?  What would your roulette options look like?

Related:
Subway Lunch: This Could Be the Perfect Week For Banh Mi
You Can Make it to Porchetta and Back in an Hour
Both Shake Shack’s Are Do-Able From Midtown in 60 Mins

A new little kosher falafel & sandwich nook has popped up on 37th Street btw. 5+6th.  The owner used to have a small restaurant in Brooklyn, until his customers encouraged him to move to Midtown.  With Olympic Pita (on 38th btw. 5+6th) and Crisp (on 40th btw. B’way+6th) just a few blocks away, and Maoz coming soon to Broadway and 40th, Midtown South is starting to get a little falafel heavy.  But the price is right, and everything is Kosher so who knows?  You can probably never have too much falafel in Midtown.

I couldn’t decide between their baguette sandwiches (pastrami, corned beef, etc.), their schnitzel (fried chicken cutlets) or their falafel. But in the end the falafel won out. (You’ve got to start with the basics.)

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