Midtown Lunch

Conflicting reports this morning about a new pizza place on Park Ave. btw. 41+42nd called Golosi. Urbandaddy says they opened yesterday and reported it this way: “In the shadow of Grand Central Station in a small, modern little shop is a new pizza and gelato maker quietly pumping out classic thin crusts and some fresh ice cream for your Midtown snacking needs.” It says snacking, because they sell their Sicilian style pizza “by the inch” (?!?)

Strong Buzz, on the other hand, is reporting that they open tomorrow, and will be giving away free gelato with every pizza purchase. That’s right… they also have 28 flavors of house made gelato.

I have confirmation that they are definitely going to be open today, but am waiting to hear back about the gelato.  Who among you early adopters will check out this madness and report back in the comments!?! (I have other plans for lunch today, but will definitely be showing up for the free gelato tomorrow- if it’s happening. More when I find out…)

UPDATE: Grub Street brings it all together with a slideshow, menu, and your first look at the pizza which is a kind of pricey sounding 99 cents to $1.50 per inch.  Plus they confirm that tomorrow is free gelato day! (“With the purchase of a pie.”  Whatever that means…)

Golosi, 125 Park Ave (btw. 41+42nd), 212-922-1169

Photo courtesy of Urbandaddy

In what would be considered a huge upset by many Josh Ozersky, the just out of bounds Five Napkin Burger (on 9th Ave. btw. 44+45th) won the Reader Choice award for “Best New Hamburger” at the Time Out New York Eat Out Awards last night. The other nominees were Black Iron Burger, Petey’s, and Midtown’s own City Burger (on 39th & B’way)

Related:
Original City Burger Better Than Black Label? Combo Comes Down By $1

Bar American (sic)?  No offense to Bobby Flay (I happen to think Bar Americain is a really good restaurant), but “best Midtown lunch restaurant”?  Katie… sweetie pie… I have a whole website full of places you and Billy should check out before declaring any lunch in Midtown as “the best”.

Related:
Midtown Lunch’s Twitter Page
Jamaican Dutchy to Help Bobby Flay Throwdown

Luncher Andrew was kind enough to remind us that now that baseball season has started back up again, we’re entitled to a free topping card at Go Go Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th) the day after Hideki Matsui hits a homerun.  And a quick look at the box score from last night… TODAY IS FREE TOPPING DAY!!!  If you’re a Yanks fan, this could be a small consolation for them losing last night.  (And if you’re not, it can be a celebratory lunch!)

UPDATE: From a commenter “Just as an FYI, went by today around noon, they’re not honoring this HR because it was an away game. Only homers hit at Yankee Stadium count…sorry guys.”  Damn you Go Go Curry!!!!!!

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week, meet David- an amateur foodie who is trying to make his way through the entire Tony 100.

Name: David

Age: 23

Occupation: Financial Services and Amateur Foodie (http://amusemybouche.blogspot.com)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Bryant Park

Favorite Kind of Food: Is all of the above an option? Bagel with cream cheese and lox, chopped liver, pan-seared tuna, dumplings, hot pastrami sandwiches, fried calamari, meatloaf, seafood fra diavolo, barbecue pulled pork sandwiches, spicy mustard, cheeseburgers, eel sushi, and raad na, a Thai dish made with soft noodles and gravy; I love the fact that vinegar, hot chili flakes, and sugar are condiments used to temper the heat and sweetness of the dish).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Green, red and yellow peppers, I’m a fan of grilled octopus, but I can’t seem to enjoy octopus sushi, capers, pears

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Though I only just made it there recently, the fried pork sandwich from Sophie’s Cuban is certainly in the upper echelon of midtown cuisine. The falafel from Azuri Cafe (on 51st btw. 9+10th), pickle pork soup from Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th), salads from Ranch 1 on 41st because it’s only $6.50 for soup and salad, buffalo chicken pizza from Cafe Duke (on 51st btw. 6+7th), enchiladas suizas from Viva Pancho (one of the only places I will go to for a sit-down lunch since for under $10 with tax and tip I can get a pretty good meal).

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Eater reports that David Chang (king of the Momofuku empire) will be getting into a food cart for one day, as part of some contest sponsored by NYCNewYork.com.  It doesn’t look like it will be open to the public… you have to answer a bunch of questions to win a “golden ticket” that entitles you to lunch from the cart.  The contest website is closed right now, but will reopen this morning at 11a.m. EST.  They haven’t announced where the cart will be parked yet, but all I have to say is this shit better be happening in Midtown.

Related:
The Perfect Space For the Next Momofuku is in Midtown

Back in Feburary of last year I jokingly complained that Midtown Lunch wasn’t on Goodburger’s “Wall of Quotes.” Admittedly I didn’t give them much to work with… until their (now discontinued) breakfast burger with the fried egg and hash brown toppings came out. Well, it took them over a year but apparently they may have gotten the message. This was posted in the comments on Friday by somebody who called themselves Mr. Goodburger:

Sorry it took so long but the wall quotes are part of our pre-opening operations. Since Mr. Midtown Lunch has been more than good to us, we will honor you soon on our wall of fame. Thanks for the loyalty!

Awesome. Now bring back the freakin’ breakfast burger!!!! That thing was amazing. Mr. Goodburger… meet Mr. Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.

Related:
Midtown Breakfast: Greatest Breakfast Sandwich of All Time
Goodburger Discontinues Breakfast; Egg Topped Burger Lovers Cry
Original Goodburger Write Up

After settling on my “chicken scampi” lunch the other day from the Magdy’s Cheesesteak cart (on Park and 46th), I stumbled across this random sign on what seemed like an otherwise standard street meat cart.  I was super curious, but already full- and vowed to return in my obligatory roll as Midtown guinea pig.  Luckily Lunch’er “Alan” beat me to the punch, and sent along this mini-review:

This Cart on 53rd & Park has been here for a month or two has recently added burritos to their menu. The cart appears to be run by a Mexican couple. For $3 the decent sized burrito included chicken or ground beef, rice, tomato, onions, cheese, hot sauce and sour cream. It was a pretty good burrito considering the options in the immidiate area. Really a great price for what it is, a nice change from your typical halal cart.

The photo of his burrito is after the jump…

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