Midtown Lunch

Spicy Pork from Woorijip.  Photo by NYCblondieandbrownie

• Are rising food costs effecting the portions at Woorijip? [Blondie and Brownie]
• The Famous Ray’s Pizza on 52nd & 8th Ave. is now Famous Amadeus [Urbanite]
• Danny hits up the Papaya Dog on 33rd and 5th [Food in Mouth]
• First it was Bella Vita, now Angelo’s is the best pizza in Midtown [Superman]
• You can still get the 3 rolls for $10 at Aoki [Blondie and Brownie]

You know what I say… the only good Chipotle is free Chipotle, and two more Chipotles opening soon in Midtown should mean two opportunities for free burritos.  The first one is on 45th Street btw. 5+6th and is tentatively scheduled to open on Monday July 14th.  Usually free burrito day is the day before the grand opening, but that would be a Sunday and very disappointing.  I’ll confirm as we get closer to the date… but let’s hope July 14th will bring gratis burritos.  Maybe that will make up for their grossly misleading calorie postings.  Signs for the second location have gone up on 50th and Park, but no date has been set for an opening.

In other chain burrito news, if you work on the west side and were jealous of the east side Qdoba alternative- the west side will soon be getting its very own Qdoba on 50th btw. 6+7th.  Huzzah! 

Have you seen a new place set to open up in Midtown?  Email the news, with or without a photo to zach@midtownlunch.com

This amazingness is no more.

This is the part of my job I like the least… much like a cop telling a parent their kid is dead I have the unfortunate job of letting everyone know that Goodburger has discontinued selling breakfast.  This means no more breakfast burger over a bed of hash browns topped with an egg.  Goodburger now opens at 10am everyday, only serving their lunch menu.  I… promised… myself… I… wouldn’t… cry…

Goodburger… I begged you to have egg topped burgers added to your lunch menu, and this is how you respond?  Getting rid of them entirely?  It’s almost as much of a slap in the face as not being on your wall.  I resubmit my plea.  Please don’t let the egg topped burger go by the Midtown wayside.  It’s the only way you can distinguish yourself from the Five Guys/Burger Joint onslaught.  Pretty please with an egg on top?

Le Pain Quotidien, the bread/sandwich/salad/bakery chain from Brussels, quietly opened its second Midtown location back in October on 40th St. btw. 5+6th, across from Bryant Park.  It probably wasn’t all that quiet to LPQ fans in the area, but for this hater of expensive Midtown bread/sandwich/salad/bakery chains it went virtually unnoticed.  After Profiled Midtown Lunch’er Janine mentioned it last Tuesday, I thought maybe it was time to go check it out.  While I normally detest paying over $7 for a sandwich, if it’s done right- with really nice ingredients, I will occasionally splurge for something really good. ‘wichcraft  has managed to rope me in despite having tiny sandwiches.  LPQ will have to a little better to lure me away from my goto Bryant Park lunch.

Two sandwiches attempt to be worth $9, and the biggest cookie in Midtown- after the jump…  Read more »

This news came in yesterday courtesy of Blondie & Brownie. Au Bon Pain is giving away free medium ice coffees today (6/26) starting at 2pm. No purchase necessary. No coupon required. For a complete list of locations in New York City go to blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com  Oh and you may be wondering why there is a photo of a cookie in this post?  It’s because Au Bon Pain happens to make an amazing cookie (I like the chocolate chip and the m&m versions), and if you’re going to be going there for a free coffee anyway- you may as well pick up a cookie.  (Trust me, they’re real good.)

Lunch’ers who ventured over to 38th St. btw. 7+8th today expecting a plate of roast pork over rice from Ying Du, or a plate of katsu from Go Go Curry were greeted by this scene.  Both restaurants were closed today, and converted into sets for “All Good Things” a new Kirsten Dunst/Ryan Gosling movie filming on the street. 

Ying Du as the “Times Square Deli” and Go Go Curry as a “Body Rub Parlor”, after the jump… Read more »

When the Caribbean Spice Cart popped up at the end of April on 46th Street btw. 6+7th it had a pretty tall order: to operate a cart selling Caribbean food just 5 blocks away from the Jamaican Dutchy– what I consider to be one of the best carts in Midtown. Sprung from the ashes of Caribbean Spice, a Hell’s Kitchen restaurant that had closed down at the beginning of the year, early reports from the cart were mixed. The first meal I had there was decent, but not great, and Danny from in Mouth reported that the oxtails were just mediocre. Now, with actual signage (when they first started it was just a cart with a piece of poster board) the cart is finally hitting their stride, and while it’s pretty clear they’re not going to unseat the Dutchy, there are two items on the menu that set them apart. Read more »

The rennovation of the 47th St. Japanese Convenience Store between Lexington & 3rd continues on, and I got this look inside.  It’s hard to make out exactly what is going to happen to this place, but as long as they keep all the bentos and fun stuff they used to serve (at fairly low prices) it should be good.  The store, which is owned by the upstairs restaurant Amakusa, has been closed since January.

Major plywood just went up at the original Kati Roll location on 46th btw. 6+7th, covering not only Kati Roll but another location next door.  Still no word on what may be moving into the place… but from the last bit of info I got, it probably won’t be a Midtown Lunch.

Speaking of speculation, info about the Strawberry space in the McGraw Hill plus the Indian buffet on 37th St., after the jump…  Read more »