Midtown Lunch

If you are reading this at work, I have one question for you. Why does your boss hate black people?

Lamb pita from Kwik Meal (on 45th & 6th). Photo by bionicgrrrl
 

• Just because the temperature is in single digits doesn’t mean you can’t get street meat from your favorite cart [Bionic Bites]
• The Village Voice’s Robert Sietsema hits up Udon West [Fork in the Road]
• If you can’t finish the Dessert Truck’s hot chocolate, put it in your freezer to make a fudgesicle [SENY]
• Another fancy Asian sandwich shop is opening just outside the Midtown Lunch boundaries [NYT]
• Groups of tourists in Midtown can sometimes look like Nazis (?!?) [NYC Tourists]
• A look at some of the sweet options at Dainobu Japanese Deli [Dessert Buzz]
• Artisanal launches a new recession inspired grilled cheese sandwich menu- but it’s still too expensive for Midtown Lunch [Grub Street]
• The places people ate in Midtown in 1959 [Lost City]
• Dave Cook tries the marocchino from Zibetto Espresso Bar [Eating in Translation]
• Danny attempts to make the chocolate cake in the microwave… twice [Food in Mouth]
• Hooters has Wi-Fi!!! [Blondie and Brownie]

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 she heads to Desmond’s because another commenter told her not to.  (That’s how things work around here.)

In my last review of Subway Inn commenter Goats remarked, “If you write about Desmonds next or my beloved McCormacks, I’m seriously gonna hunt you down!” Well, what can I say? I couldn’t help but get his ‘goat’ by moving this bar up to the top of my list of happy hours to write about.

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I walked by Oms/b (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd), the small Japanese rice ball specialist, the other day and noticed this sign. I have partaken in their delicious omusubi on many occasions, but never noticed that they had Udon (oden, yes, but not Udon). I’m guessing this isn’t new (because it’s on their printed menus), and I really like how you can get a special combo with Udon and 2 rice balls. Has anybody tried it?

Their sushi, on the other hand is definitely new (or, at least, no more than a few months old), and I’m sure it’s perfectly fine… but why would you opt for sushi, when you can have oh-so-delicious rice balls!

Photo courtesy of nycblondieandbrownie

Macaron fans, prepare to get really excited… Blondie and Brownie are reporting that macarons from Itzy Bitzy patisserie are now available at Tafu, the Japanese tea house and bakery on 51st btw. Lex+3rd. Previously these macarons, which Serious Eats called the best macarons outside of Paris, were only available through mail order, or at the Brooklyn Flea. This is great news for those of you on the East side who don’t want to trek to Bouchon Bakery (Columbus Circle) or the Macaron Cafe (36th btw. B’way+7th) for your french cookie fix.

Tafu, 569 Lexington Ave. (entrance on 51st btw. Lex+3rd),   212-980-1310

I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…) Midtown Lunch operates under the assumption that most salads are a joke, so it’s hard for me to feel too bad when you get burned. That being said, these photos are kind of pathetic:

“Me and my co-workers are avid Midtownlunchers and we feel the need to vent about “Flavors”, the new spot in the Fox building on 6th between 47th and 48th. My co-worker just returned with a salad that is complete joke. The salad included 4 ingredients and cost $8, but that’s not the point. Check out the pics attached, they gave no lettuce whatsoever, its basically a half salad for $8!!! Being that we work in mid-town and are all New Yorkers, we understand what to expect when we go to lunch around here when it comes to prices, but to get half a salad and still charge full price is robbery, no wonder Flavors and Café Metro are run by the same joke company. We don’t need our names attached to anything but we wanted to vent. Thanks man and keep it up!!! PS- and the bread is stale.”

I am shocked… Flavors is owned by Cafe Metro? Hopefully this is lesson learned for everyone.

Got your own grievance you’d like to air? Feel free to email it zach@midtownlunch.com

Let me just admit something off the bat… unlike like many bloggers who consider their opinion worthwhile because they have access to software that transmits their words onto the interwebs, I will admit that there are some things I don’t have a ton of experience with (so maybe my opinion should come with a grain of salt).  And one of those things is Japanese udon soup.  Even though there are many cheap versions all over Midtown (a lot of delis now carry it), it has never really made it into my repertoire of lunches. (Sauteed udon is a different story!)  If I want soup, I usually go with ramen… and when it comes to ramen, two of my three favorite places (Menchanko Tei & Men Kui Tei) were kind of bashed by Rameniac.  So either he’s wrong, or I don’t know shit about ramen either.

So, with that in mind- I headed over to Udon West, the third outpost of the East Village chain which replaced Teriyaki Boy on 46th btw. Lex+3rd a month ago.

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The Dessert Truck’s Throwdown w/ Bobby Flay finally aired last night on the Food Network, and in what shouldn’t have been a shock to anyone, the Dessert Truck’s chocolate bread pudding with bacon creme anglaise was the winner!  The big surprise was actually when Bobby Flay claimed that the Throwdown wasn’t actually going to happen until it was posted on Midtown Lunch!  An amusing plot point for the episode, but fairly unlikely (as Life Vicarious proved that it was likely a Throwdown from the beginning.)  Whatever… I’ll take the publicity!  As for the Dessert Truck, which has been on hiatus since the end of last year, they are shooting for a January 26th return to their daytime spot on Park Ave. and 52nd.

Were there any Midtown Lunchers down in Union Square? Did you see yourself on TV?  Eat Me Daily has the video–>