PROFILE: Midtown Lunch’er “Caitlin”
Every Tuesday I turn over Midtown Lunch to a random Midtown worker, for their favorite places to eat lunch in Midtown. This week, it’s Caitlin- a Real Estate Paralegal who loves Asian Food (and gravy… did you think I wouldn’t notice your comment yesterday?) She also clued me in to what wiener really means…
Name:Caitlin
Age: 25
Occupation: Real Estate Paralegal/Soon-to-be Law Student
Where in Midtown do you Work?: Grand Central Area
Favorite Kind of Food: Probably anything Asian would qualify… I’m a pushover for good sushi, I’m a dim sum fiend, and I could probably eat my weight in curry, bi bim bap, or lad na. I’m from Montana, so I don’t know where the Asian hankering comes from.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: This is a tough question, since there are few things that I categorically dislike… usually if I don’t like something, it’s because of poor preparation, not the food in question. That being said, shrimp are icky. I love all other (edible) crustaceans, but something about their shrimpiness just grosses me out. That and I had to de-gut about 20 pounds of jumbos for a wedding reception once.
Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I have to say the basil chicken at GoodPortions (Lex btw. 39th & 40th) is at a close tie with the chicken souvlaki at The Famous Chicken Place I recently discovered on 3rd at 39th. For a nicer place, you can’t beat the homemade pasta at Fagiolini at 39th and Lex.
The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Old Bridge Deli at 41st and Lex is the downfall of us all. It’s OK food, OK prices if you know the tricks, and it’s right across the street, so it has its advantages. Beware the “Chinese” food at the hot bar! But their breakfast specials can’t be beat… $1.25 for a large coffee and a bagel with butter? Shyeah!
Place you discovered on MidtownLunch.com: Unfortunately, most lunching spots are a bit out of my walking range for lunchtime, but I did discover Oms/b, that oasis of portable rice and goodness. I just might try Hurry and Tasty Curry this week.
If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Seriously, I have to say Australia. I haven’t been to the Tuck Shop yet, but I am lusting for it. I spent a semester abroad in Melbourne when I was in college, and I still find myself craving the fish curry at this little shop by the Uni hospital. Food of the fishy gods. Also, you can’t beat a continent that deep fries balls of mashed potatoes and sells them with gravy at walk-up shops on the street. It’s also the best of both worlds because of its proximity to Southeast Asia… lots of Singaporian, Indonesian and Malaysian food. And if you haven’t had a Tim Tam with a cup of Milo, you haven’t lived..
Anything else you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? I’m buying a condo soon, so I’m trying to scrimp and save as much as I can. I’d love people to share their strategies for stretching a buck when eating out in Midtown and the places they go to do so…. Stuff like the Olive Garden trick: fill up on the free soup and salad, then take your entree to go. You get three meals out of one!
Interesting… surprisingly I’ve never tried the “Olive Garden” trick. The downside of that plan is you have to eat three meals from the Olive Garden. For those willing to brave it, there is only one Olive Garden in Midtown- on Broadway btw. 47+48th. (I’ll bet you the couple eating next to you, isn’t from New York…)
My tip for Caitlin, PLUS how you can be the next Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er… after the jump.
With nothing in mind to eat last week, I was wandering down 46h St. (btw. 5th & 6th) when I stumbled upon another one of those Kosher versions of the ubiquitous midtown deli. Sandwiches, Salad bar, etc… but a quick look at the menu in the window, and I discovered they had Chinese food! Now, I was brought up Jewish (a reform Jew, so we didn’t keep Kosher at all)- which means I love Chinese food (the goto meal on Sunday nights and Christmas). But what’s Chinese food without pork (and shrimp for that matter)??? I love pork. A lot. As a matter of fact, with all the pork I’ve eaten in my lifetime, I was sort of surprised that an alarm didn’t go off when I walked into Kosher Deluxe.
I bypassed the salad bar and shwarma station on the right, and headed straight to the back, where they serve a variety of sandwiches, dinner type dishes and of course- the Chinese food. The menu had most typical Americanized Chinese dishes (all served with chicken or beef)- like Lo Mein, General Chow’s, Beef or Chicken and Broccoli, Moo Goo Gai Pan, and my personal favorite- Pastrami Fried Rice, in case you had forgotten where you were. The big problem was the price. Almost every Chinese food item was over $12!!!! (And you didn’t even get shrimp!) I did a quick u-turn, figuring that it wasn’t worth the money- but something caught my eye on the way out. On the menu above the Shwarma station I saw it…. “Shnitzel in Pita”. Helllllllo???
Now, I’m a big fan of wiener schnitzel (german fried veal cutlets), so how could Shnitzel be bad??? I spotted some delicious looking fried stuff below the Shwarma, next to the falafel that I was betting was the Shnitzel. I ordered it- and was not disappointed… (It is actually a misconception that wiener schnitzel is some sort of sausage- despite “wiener” being part of the name. 
Wednesday is the 6 month anniversary of Midtown Lunch. That’s right… it all started on June 8th with a posting about 
I don’t eat a ton of Pizza for lunch, so I haven’t written about too many pizza places. In my view, it’s hard to go horribly wrong ordering a slice of pie in this city. Sure there are better slices than others- but there aren’t too many horrible slices- even in Midtown. And if you think that isn’t true- try living in L.A. for two years. One of the only decent slices I had there was from a place that claimed to fly their water in twice a week from New York City… and it wasn’t even that good. Of course, if you are crazy enough to fly your water in from another city just to make pizza, you are creating expectations that are going to be too great to overcome. (“Really? They flew in water from New York and it tastes like this???”) 
Well, if you are one of those people who only eats the “best” pizza this city has to offer Time Out New York has just released their Pizza issue. Ironically enough, I was planning on writing about Two Boots today- the New Orleans/Italy (hence the “Two Boots”) pizza place with locations all over NYC (and two in Midtown)… but it wasn’t even mentioned (not even in the “Oddball” category). Anyway, New Yorkers love arguing about what’s the best pie in the city. In fact, the “Best Hamburger” argument that has been raging lately is probably just people who got sick of arguing about the best slice. Rather than re-hash it all, I’ll just point out the Midtown slices worthy of Tony’s mention.
How much are you willing to pay for a hamburger and fries? Assuming that we’re talking about a take out place (not a sit down restaurant), and the portion is decent (not humongous), but it’s made from good meat (not McDonalds). If you are not willing to pay more than $8, stop reading now. Don’t waste your time. The place I’m writing about today will just infuriate you.
WARNING: What you are about to read was not written by a burger connoisseur. That’s right. I said it when I wrote about 
Name: Elizabeth
Make no mistake about it, meals on the day before Thanksgiving are very important. There’s alot of eating to be done tomorrow- but don’t make the enormous error of starving yourself the day before in anticipation of Turkey, stuffing and all the fixins. Starving yourself will result in a shrunken stomach, that won’t be able to take the onslaught that is surely to happen tomorrow afternoon. The best thing you can do is stuff yourself today… stretch that stomach out as far as it will go, and tomorrow you will wake up ready to win the game!
I had a few ideas for lunch today. The first one is obvious. If you are geting a half day, wait until you get off and go somewhere else for a *good* lunch. Midtown sucks. Failing that, I think an all you can eat buffet is the perfect pre-thanksgiving day lunch. Stuff your face, stretch that stomach out and prepare your body for the big feast tomorrow. Here’s some of the cheap buffets in Midtown that you can “train” at:
Name: Alex
I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of Thanksgiving. Yes, I am a fat man. Yes I love to stuff my face. Me & Thanksgiving sound like a match made in heaven. But as you can tell from this blog, I love ethnic food, so turkey and stuffing just don’t do it for me. American Thanksgiving is boring. Thankfully, America is full of immigrants, not satisfied with putting just turkey out on the table. My step-mom cooks great Italian food- so Thanksgiving at my Dad’s includes Lasagna. I think I would like Cuban Thanksgiving too. One of my co-workers (who is Cuban) said they have roast pork, in addition to Turkey. I’ve never been to a Chinese Thanksgiving, but if they had roast duck (or General Tso’s chicken) in addition to their turkey, I’d probably like that too. 
When I first found this amazing street, Cafe Zaiya was like a dream come true. Fun, exciting and packed with tons of amazing foods at super cheap prices. Chiyoda, in contrast, seemed like a slightly nicer sushi place, that was trying to mimic the success of Cafe Zaiya by offering a limited selection of rice balls and bento boxes in addition to pre-made sushi. In the past few months they have undergone a subtle makeover, and have now come into their own- offering upscale (but still inexpensive) treat, including small dishes like an avocado and salmon tartare, interesting looking Omusubi (rice balls) and an assortment of delicious looking salads, tempura, odon and more… all available to go. But more on Chiyoda another time… this is my Thanksgiving post!