Midtown Lunch

One of my favorite NYC blogs, Lunch w/ Front Studio, left their normal Soho beat for a meeting in Midtown earlier in the week.  They ended up picking up lunch from Pret on 42nd btw. 5+6th and called it a “rousing success”!  I don’t mind Pret, and the two sandwiches they bought sounded tasty enough, but ladies… next time you have a meeting near Bryant Park, can I recommend Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. 5+Mad) for your lunchtime needs? I know it was raining, and Zaiya is full block and half and avenue away from where you were- but it is well worth the extra walk… I’m just saying.

Kathy YL Chan, the author of the most excellent blog A Passion For Food, and Midtown Lunch’s resident Hawaiian expert, went to the new Japanese grocery store Dainobu (on 47th btw. Lex+3rd) the other day and uploaded these photos to the ML Flickr Pool:

Curry Rice… she said it was “just decent. Not good, not bad. Just rice with curry out of a box.” In other words, their curry won’t be replacing Yagura or Go Go Curry anytime soon.

Udon and more is after the jump…

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I just couldn’t ignore this comment that Bronx Briner Girl posted about the White Castle on 8th Ave. btw. 36+37th:  “The fun begins when the recording plays, reminding patrons that there is no loitering permitted on the premises, that if they have not purchased food they will be removed forcibly by the police department. When things really get rowdy, an alert sounds and the manager makes an audible announcement. Then the cops show up and escort the offenders off the premises.” Really?  Have you seen this happen?  That’s awesome. I ate there once without incident.

Here are a few items that have nothing to do with Midtown Lunch, but they happened in Midtown, and are kind of interesting: Lost City reports that Frankie & Johnny’s on 46th Street have renegotiated their lease, and won’t be forced to close at the end of the month… the former Grayz space on 54th St. reopens as Atria today… a former waiter has filed a class action lawsuit again sushi chain Haru… yesterday Frank Bruni reviewed the upscale healthy restaurant Rouge Tomate on 60th Street… and Bobby Van’s Steakhouse on 46th & Park has set up a scotch approval matrix in their window.

I may be in the minority, but I happen to like the banh mi at Boi to Go (on 2nd Ave. btw. 42+43rd), and their newly opened Boi Sandwich (on 3rd Ave. btw. 44+45th).  But even I’ll admit, it’s only good for Midtown.  Put their $8 Vietnamese sandwich in Chinatown and I probably wouldn’t even give it a second look. So dreaming of something a little better, I decided earlier in the week to venture just outside the Midtown Lunch boundaries to try Baoguette, Chef Michale Huynh’s new take-out Banh Mi counter on Lexington btw 25+26th Street. It replaced a closed down Blimpie (unlike our three closed Blimpies which remain empty) and I have to say, if you work in the southern part of Midtown- the choice between waking 8 blocks north to Boi Sandwich, or 10 blocks south to Baoguette is no choice at all.

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So I’m still waiting in the hopes that Danku (the Dutch/Indonesian fast food place on 57th btw. 5+6th) will see the writing on the wall, and make improvements before I give them the old +/-, but it appears as if the situation is getting bleaker and bleaker by the day.  The good news is, they finally got the mac-n-cheese croquettes on the menu.  The bad news is, they finally got the mac-n-cheese krokets on the menu.  Lunch’er Adam checks in with this report:

“So it’s the new year and Danku finally has mac-n-cheese krokets. Unfortunately they are as “mac-n-cheesy” as the beef krokets are “beefy”, which means they are just a mushy glop of something that tastes like mac-n-cheese. My artificially high expectations for the “dutch-indonesian fast food” has let me down as the food is made with the same TLC as the site’s predecessor (McD’s). I can’t rationalize the krokets as anything better than bar-food, and adding in a dressed-up salad for the “combo” doesn’t make them any more special.”

More from Adam, plus the Village Voice weighs in- after the jump…

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It looks like TONY jumped the gun a bit in reporting the opening of Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen in the New York Times Building (on 41st & 8th).  The owner tells me they hope to open at the end of next week, or early the week after.  The official website says “Another great quick-service restaurant from the founders of Hale & Hearty Soups” so I’m still holding out that their menu- which includes fish tacos and sloppy joes(!!!)- will be in the Midtown Lunch price range.

Related:
Hale & Hearty is Bringing Fish Tacos and More to the NYT Building

I’m usually pretty good about ignoring the bad PR emails, but this one was so off base, I had to post it:

“Rhino Entertainment Presents Totally Fit, Spice Girl Mel B’s First-Ever Workout Video on February 3rd! The three-DVD set features fitness workouts and nutrition tips and is available now exclusively on www.Totallyfit.com and at retail nationwide on February 3rd! I have DVDs for review and giveaway and other assets (cover art, photos, and press release) below. Let me know if you are interested in featuring Totally Fit on Midtown Lunch.”

Really? Seriously? Have you even read this website? I don’t do exercise… or nutrition tips- and if I can help it, neither will the readers of this site!

Of course, here I am posting about it- which is exactly what they want you to do… but I’m too smart for them! As loyal readers of this site, I’m going to ask you to pretend that you never saw this, and make a point of *not* purchasing Mel B’s first-ever workout video.

What’s that? You weren’t planning on it anyway. Oh… well that’s good.

I never got the chance to try the Halal Bakery & Pizza on 8th Ave. & 36th Street, and it looks like I never will. Sent to the ML Inbox, and confirmed by the photo above: “Halal Pizza and Bakery is gone. It looks like it was ransacked. When I first started work in the area it was the go-to lunch alternative, a steal at $1.00/slice. When they raised the prices to $1.50 over a year ago I boycotted the location; however, over time it became a good deal once again and recently reconciled with the corner shop. And now it’s gone. It’s like we’ve lost a friend.” Apparently they were known for their doughnuts as well, which makes me even more bummed I never checked it out. According to a different tipster, the super dingy looking Noodles 36 around the corner (btw. 8+9th) is closed as well.

In fact, when I showed up this afternoon I discovered that all the places on that block are closed and being gutted, along with the newsstand just north of the pizzeria/bakery on 8th Ave. Thankfully the construction stops there, sparing the Dunkin Donuts/Taco Bell/White Castle next door. Hopefully whatever monstrosity they are putting in there is some good food- and not another bank or crappy chain.