Midtown Lunch

Last September it was reported that the shuttered Teriyaki Boy (on 46th btw. Lex+3rd) would become a Japanese noodle shop, and surprisingly it has happened in the time frame they specified. Udon West has opened in the old Teriyaki Boy space, serving up 13 different bowls of Udon under $10. They also have teriyaki, curry, and combinations (although the combinations are all over $10), and I believe they are the same Udon West with locations in Flushing and on St. Marks in the East Village. It will be interesting to see how this place competes with Menchanko Tei, one block over on 45th btw. Lex+3rd…. but at least while the  weather is still cold I’m guessing there is room for both. Let the soup wars begin! Early adopters, let us know how it is in the comments.

A shot of the pretty nice interior is after the jump…

Read more »

2008 was the year of the price hike, and if the state of the economy is an indicator, there is no reason to think 2009 will be any different.  And yet, Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. Mad+5th) starts off the new year with some great news, sending out an email to their customers last week announcing that they are going to decrease their prices now that food costs have gone down:

“First and foremost, we would like to thank each and everyone of you for another great year. The last sharp increase in prices of ingridients such as flour and butter caused by the commodity boom had severely affected our business and we unfortunately had to raise our prices. Most recently though, prices have dropped to a more sustainable level and ingredient pricing has been stable as well.”

Read more »

As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, we always end the year with a gigantic photo of every lunch consumed in Midtown that year.  Whether or not I should be proud or ashamed is something I’ll leave to you… but I’m pretty sure my wife and mother are concerned for my health, and this spectacle will only validate their fears.

So here it is… a photo of every Midtown Lunch in 2008

Read more »

Eater is doing their annual “Year In Eater” series and for the “Best Dining Neighborhood” question both Josh “Mr Cutlets” Ozersky (from Citysearch) and Brooks of Sheffield (from the blog Lost City) chose Midtown as neighborhood of the year. It kind of makes me embarassed to have chosen the Upper West Side…

And we have a winner!  A few weeks ago Murray’s Salami introduced a new line of pre packaged, individual sized servings of sandwich meats inspired by our quest to create a great sandwich during lunchtime using ingredients from the Grand Central Terminal Market. They also agreed to a contest where one of you would get to design the ultimate Midtown Lunch sandwich pack, which would then get added to the menu (with the prize being a giant charcuterie platter worth $150.)  Well, you guys responded with a ton of great options (with the blog Blondie and Brownie going so far as holding a taste test to come up with their entries.) Unfortunately, there can be only one winner.

Read more »

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, it’s the final profiled luncher of 2008… meet Casa a “training developer” who seems to like every kind of food but durian.

Name: Casa

Age: 28

Occupation: Training Developer /occasional wanna-be chef broadcaster

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 49th & 7th Ave.

Favorite Kind of Food: Vietnamese food (pho, spring roll, etc), Indian, Thai, Korean, Mexican/Tex-Mex, southern food (BBQ ribs, chicken fried steak, fried okra, mash ‘tators and gravy). These are the types of food that I enjoy and are in my rotation frequently (except for southern food; I haven’t found a decent place in NYC that does southern food well). I’m also a fan of desserts and have these horrid “cake” cravings around 2 PM that drive me out of my office regardless of how the weather is to search for a slice of moist and crumbly cake with a creamy layer of frosting that is not too sweet/too buttery. Then I settle for a Crumbs cupcake after I realize I’m in Midtown.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Durian, mustard (it’s not a food per se, but I despise it), fermented fish, shrimp paste. My mom scarred me for life when she cooked food with fermented fish or shrimp paste when I was growing up. The smell lingered for two weeks in the house! As for mustard, I don’t know why, but it reminds me too much of durian. I think it’s the color.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Café Duke (on 51st btw. 6+7th) for their soon tofu or ramen ( I know it’s way overpriced, but I love ramen. If I can bring in my own ramen to cook, I would in a heartbeat), papri or samosa chaat at Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th), Thai coconut soup and mushroom bisque from Au Bon Pain, and waffle fries from my company’s cafeteria. There are many places that I also want to try, but during my first visit to NYC, I ate a chicken kebab from a vendor in Times Square and got violently ill that night. I was a tourist then, and now I’ve been enlightened: don’t eat from shady street vendors in Times Square. So I’ll leave the street meat for the others and just salivate and admire their stomachs of steel from afar.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Café Duke – I head straight to the back for soon tofu, spicy beef ramen, and sometimes their bibimbap. Teriyaki boy (on 7th Ave. btw. 48+49th). This is a hit/miss place for me though. There were times where I got more chicken fat than chicken (yuck!), and I’d stay away from the beef there. I got their beef bowl, and it was actually beef fat with some meat on it. So far, the udon soup has been satisfying when I’m too lazy to walk to Café Duke.
Read more »

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…)  You would think during the holidays, the complaining would be reduced… and yet here we are.  Here are the final complaints of 2008 in one big blowout post:

“Touch of India sucks, it shouldn’t even be included in the best buffet under $11 poll. I went yesterday for their lunch buffet because one of my friends loves goat. Well the goat was super salty, not to mention the chicken tandoori, their only other meat dish. The non-meat dishes included some mixture of potatotes, peppers, onions, etc. Actually, I’m not even sure what I ate but it tasted mediocre. Touch of India’s only saving grace would be their fruit salad. It is a sweet (no pun intended) mixture of fruit pieces and what seems to be yogurt. -Dennis”

Can’t really argue with that… when I ate at Touch of India I was less than impressed. Now on to the cupcakes…

“I was on my way back to work from lunch at decided to pick up a cupcake at Crumbs on 42nd St. (btw. 5+6th). While browsing the cupcakes in the fridge I noticed a fly flying around inside the fridge. I told the lady at the counter and her response was a simple ” I know”. I asked her if she was planning on doing something about it like gee I don’t know maybe opening the fridge door to let the fly out. She said there was nothing she can do about it. I asked her for cooperates number which got the other 2 employees in the store involved. All three of them thought I was nuts for making an issue of this.”

That’s not the end of it… more on Crumbs, plus bad Vegetarian food, and “Doc Chuck” after the jump.

Read more »

I have to commend them for their continued innovations, because
everytime I step into Yushi (on 47th btw Park+Lex) they’ve added
something that catches my eye. Last time it was the Peking duck roll-
this time it was a Thai chicken hand roll, with peanut sauce marinated
chicken wrapped with mango, lettuce, and a Thai chili sauce (which was
tasty, but could have been a tad bit spicier for my taste). At $3 it’s
not outrageously expensive, and washed down with some fresh squeezed
watermelon juice it’s almost like being in Thailand. Actually it’s
nothing like being in Thailand, but as a little after lunch snack, it
wasn’t terrible.