Midtown Lunch

Photo courtesy of Lunch’er “Chip Beef”

On Friday Midtown Lunchers poured into Certe (on 55th btw. 5+6th) for the chance to sample their “lobster roll” for the one day only price of $8.95.  I put lobster roll in quotes because as the complaints started to pour in it became clear that this sandwich was more of a lobster wrap than a lobster roll. This comment from Lunch’er “Sushiburger” pretty much sums it up:

Just had the Lobster Roll. They really shouldn’t call it a Lobster Roll since.. well… there’s NO ROLL! Maybe you guys knew this already but I didn’t realize that it was a wrap.. and not an actual roll. The lobster mix was fine… nothing amazing.. but nothing bad… it wasn’t too overloaded with mayo as fillers… and there was a decent amount of lobster, but having to eat it in a wrap just ruined the whole thing. i placed the order from my office to pick it up. and I couldn’t turn back since they had it ready for me right when i got there. In any case, it was pretty good for what it was but I was looking forward to biting into a roll and having the wrap was disappointing.

And Lunch’er “Chip Beef” added this:

“Apart from being served on a fucking wrap (uncool, unacceptable), Certe somehow saw it fit to include CORN and RED ONIONS in their lobster salad. These foolish ingredients totally overpowered whatever small amount of actual lobster flavor that this “thing” was packing.”

Certe (being the attentive Midtown Lunch readers that they are) immediately responded with this apology, and make good.

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The day has finally arrived! The first Manhattan location of the popular West Coast chain Baja Fresh opens today on Lexington btw. 45+46th (in the old Zen Burger space.) Last week we gave away the chance to sample the place for free before they officially opened, and one of the winners sent in this report:

“I went [on Sunday] night. The place was roomy and reminded me of a bare-looking Qdoba. The food was fresh and good but nothing to write home about. My friend and I ordered a chicken breast baja burrito ($7.75), a mahi mahi diablo burrito ($9.23), guacamole/chips ($4.29) and churros ($2.58). Please note that each burrito order came with free corn tortilla chips.

“The grilled chicken breast baja burrito was the best thing we got. It was basically grilled chicken breast with guacamole and pico de gallo wrapped with a flour tortilla. The whole burrito is heated/toasted to look like taco bell’s grilled stuff burrito.”

And then things went south…

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It’s not all terrible news for those of you who have to work today (5/25).  Hebrew National will be giving away 45,000 hot dogs for free on Broadway and 45th starting at 11 a.m., and once you’re done with that, head to 7th btw. 46+47th, where Virgil’s will be handing out free ribs from Noon to 2pm.

My kid looks on as I take down a DIY pork chop sandwich from Ying Du

• This weekend the city will start closing Broadway off to cars in Times Square [City Room]
• A new burger place is opening in New World Plaza, across from Blockheads [Life With Food and Drink]
• A possum draws a crowd (and police) outside a Midtown restaurant  [EV Grieve via Eater]
• Pork is back on the menu at Gyu Kaku… [Eater]
• … but the pig in front of Rudy’s is still scared of getting swine flu [Life With Food and Drink]
• NYMag is all about that Russian Vodka Bar Mamacita wrote about a few months ago [NYM]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, 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. This week, the Happy Hour Post is good enough to double as a regular Midtown Lunch post. And quite frankly, what better way to kick off Memorial Day Weekend with a lunch of pizza and takeout beer in a soda cup!

There are almost more Pronto Pizzas in Midtown than there are generic delis. If you are in the mood for dodgy free street sushi you can go to the one on 55th St. If you are yearning to bite down on a terrible looking gyro, then head to one of the two Prontos on 48th (I don’t know what the other one is good for.) But if cheep-ass beer and pizza in an … umm … “unpretentious” atmosphere is what you’re looking for, than the 41st Street Pronto is the dive for you!

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As if lunch today wasn’t a hard enough decision today.  Bacon implosion at Channel Four… the $9 lobster roll at Certe… and now this:  The NYC Cravings Truck is back today, and by popular demand they’ve added (a limited number of) pork chops ($7) and tea eggs ($1 each) to their menu.  The plan is to park on 52nd & Lex again, but they had a little trouble last week- so you should probably check their Twitter feed before heading out for some Taiwanese pork chop or fried chicken action. UPDATE: They are parked on 53rd btw. Park+Lex.

The Midtown HWBH Cart and the Downtown Korean BBQ Cart have the same owners

Remember a few weeks ago when the Happy Well Being House Cart (on 50th btw. 6+7th) was having problems, so they brought their Korean BBQ cart from Downtown to take its place.  I’m hearing rumors that the cart has now returned to its spot Downtown (on Varick & Charlton), and that’s why 50th btw. 6+7th has been fried fish-less this week.  Are there any Downtown Lunchers that can confirm this?  Put any updates in the thread on the forums>>

I had heard about the mysterious take-out only lobster roll offered as an occasional lunch special at Certe (on 55th btw. 5+6th), but at $11.75 it’s usually out of the Midtown Lunch price range… except for tomorrow. We’ve gotten word that for one day only (Friday, May 22) Certe will be offering their lobster roll for $8.95 (take out only.) There is nothing like a lobster roll to get your Memorial Day weekend kicked off right… except maybe the bacon implosion. This could be a really tough decision. Anybody had the Certe lobster roll before? Let us know in the comments if it’s worth it.

Been getting a lot of emails about the new cupcake truck launching in NYC tomorrow.  No sign of Midtown on their preview schedule– but the truck was started by a couple of NYU New York Law School grads who couldn’t get lawyer jobs, so I’m guessing they’ll want to flaunt their new business in the faces of those that spurned them. In other words, it’s only a matter of time before they start parking outside Midtown law firms. UPDATE: SENY is reporting that they plan on parking in the Herald Square area from 9am to 5pm.