Midtown Lunch

Milant (on 39th btw. Lex+3rd) re-opened today, after a run in with the DOH and a complete “rennovation” of their kitchen. The refrigerator case that houses most of the sandwich ingredients was totally cleaned out, so they were only serving smoked turkey sandwiches today (I passed.)  I guess this is good news, considering that at one time Milant was my favorite sandwich in Midtown, but I can’t help but shake the feeling that something is still off with the place.  Questions still linger about the cleanliness, and the really old looking stuff they still have for sale in the windows and on a little shelf on the sidewalk doesn’t help. 

The guy behind the counter told me the fridge will be re-stocked tomorrow, and the full menu will be available, so Milant lovers should keep their fingers crossed.  If any super-fans go, let us know in the comments how it is…

Eater just posted a link to this amazing You Tube video for “The Food Cart Song” starring some well known (and not so well known) cart vendors in Midtown. Amyn from King Tut (on 50th & 6th), Muhammed from the famous cart on 53rd & 6th, and Andrea from the Jamaican Dutchy (on 51st & 7th) all make an appearance.  Oh, and they lip synch too.

Greatest… video… ever.

Ferris Bueller Likes Me 

OMG!  Did you know that when celebrities listen to you, it validates your opinion? I wonder if Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick read Midtown Lunch? (They don’t, but they should.)  Two weeks ago the NY Observer spotted the couple outside of what they thought might have been Szechuan Gourmet, a popular Midtown Lunch spot given two stars by Frank Bruni in the New York Times.  Yesterday it was confirmed by US Weekly (yes, I read my wife’s copy of US Weekly):

During dinner with friends at Szechuan Gourmet, a low-key Chinese restaurant, the Sex and the City star [Parker] and her hubby [Broderick] noshed on braised beef, fish fillets, sliced pork belly and crispy fried lamb. “They were very nice,” owner Cheng Zhong Huang tells US. “It was their first time here, and they were having a good time.”

What are you talking about low key?  Clearly US Weekly has never been there at 1pm on a Wednesday.  Surprisingly this isn’t the first time Sarah Jessica Parker and Midtown Lunch have collided.  She told Grub St. last year that she loves street meat, and her favorite cart is on 55th & 6th Avenue. (Btw, nice ordering.)

From Eater: Today at the Merchant’s Gate at Columbus Circle: “From 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. the Do-Goodie crew from Greyston Bakery, the for-profit arm of the Yonkers-based Greyston Foundation, will be offering irresistible samples of their new Do-Goodie Brownie, along with coupons for a dollar off of two Do-Goodies, easily redeemed at the nearby Whole Foods at Time Warner Center.”

Free samples of brownies are kind of ok I guess, but the real free food excitement is happening tomorrow at Virgil’s… Read more »

Zagat Buzz has more intel on the second outpost of AQ Cafe, on Broadway between 58th St. and Columbus Circle. “The sign outside spells the restaurant’s name as “Kafé” (rather than original’s “cafe”), and the otherwise similar menu presents one glaring omission: the popular Nordic Cuban sandwich.” The glaring omission we noticed on the menu? The prices. Does not bode well, considering the original AQ Cafe on Park Ave. btw. 37+38th is already teetering on the edge of being outside the Midtown Lunch price range.

We’re also wondering what this will mean for FIKA Swedish Espresso bar, our current Scandinavian fave in the northern reaches of Midtown. It doesn’t get mentioned too often on the site, and is a little pricey, but they deserve credit for serving swedish meatballs in sandwich form (an item also on the AQ Kafe menu.) Walked by today and they were pretty packed, but it will be interesting to see how they fare once the M. Samuelsson train rolls north.

This was the scene at Chop’t on 56th btw. Park & Madison at 12:40 today. They’re not even giving away free food or nothing. Really? Seriously? There’s even a Cosi right next door. Oh, sorry. They don’t chop their salads up into little bitty pieces. You people is crazy.

Related:
Chop’t is As Terrifying As You Would Think

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 Amy- a marketing something or other who is just looking for some cheap Greek.

Name: Amy

Age: 26

Occupation: Marketing

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 40th St. & Ave of the Americas

Favorite Kind of Food: Japanese or Greek, but I love food so it’s really hard to choose. Thankfully living in NYC I really don’t have to! I haven’t found a good Greek place in midtown yet, but for Japanese I love love love Oms/b (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd)—the wasabi shrimp rice ball is my favorite but the choices change all the time it seems and Sapporo (on 49th btw. 6+7th) has amazing gyoza and donburi bowls

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I love food! But if pressed to choose, I’m not really that into fusion cuisine like Rice restaurant.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Djerdan balkan restaurant (on 38th btw. 7+8th) for the authentic burek slices and cucumber yogurt salads (the entrees like the meat balls with polenta, like grits there, are good too and they have big servings, so the leftovers are yummy too), the Aloo Masala roll at Kati Roll (39th btw. 5+6th), the Italiano sandwich and the macarons (of course) at Macaron Cafe (on 35th btw. 6+7th), and I do love ‘wichcraft in the park when I want a fancy sandwich.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Pergola (on 39th btw. B’way+6th) for Mongolian BBQ or Duke’s (on 41st & Bway) because they have everything.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? Oms/b and Macaron Cafe (thanks by the way!)

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Nolita because it’s near the deliciousness in the Little Italy delis, and close enough to the variety in the East Village and even Chinatown.

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Is there a reasonably priced Greek lunch place in midtown?

Ok, so before we get to the Greek food question, something else needs to be mentioned.  On rare occasions a Lunch’er will send more than one photo, often leaving me with a difficult decision.  Especially in cases like this, where one photo is clearly amazing, but maybe the other photo gives you a better idea of what the person looks like.  And lord knows, with the ladies, that’s all you creepy dudes care about…  so, in those rare cases when I can’t decide, I’m forced to post both.  Amy’s New Orleans make out photo, after the jump… Read more »

A heavenly match has been created on 3rd Avenue btw. 34+35th Streets. What better way to counteract the effects of a Carl’s cheesesteak grease bomb than with Red Mango. Yes, I admit it- I like Red Mango. (Pinkberry can screw off, though.) You may say the secret ingredient is Cap’n Crunch. (Trust me, it’s freaking good.) And it has been proven in a study that yogurt cultures, mixed with peanut butter cereal, will help aid in the digestion of red meat and cheese. You can’t argue with science.*

* Not proven by any actual scientific study.