Midtown Lunch

I know it’s not really Midtown Lunch, but I promised news about Kyotofu when it opened, so here it is… the Kyotofu website says the Grand Opening is on November 6th- but the Hell’s Kitchen Japanese Dessert place has been open every night this week starting at 6:30 PM.  Everything I read made it sound like a bakery AND dessert bar (like a Japanese Amy’s Bread)… but at first glance it appears to be a pretty upscale dessert bar- with no sign of a “bakery” or anything you could take to go.  Here’s the menu for those interested in a little after work Sake & Dessert (click here for a larger image):

There’s also a little controversy as to whether this place even exists in Japan.  There is no sign of a Japanese website, and some questions were raised by the comments on my last post.  Very interesting…. hopefully the “grand opening” on November 6th will include some cheaper things you can actually take to go.

Directly across town, the Midtown branch of Korean Japanese BBQ chain Gyu-Kaku has opened for lunch on 50th and 3rd Ave.  It’s a little pricey to be one of my Midtown Lunches, but if you are looking for one of those grille your own meat places and don’t want to venture below the 40s you can check this one out.  Here’s a link to their lunch menu.  (As much as I liked Gyu-Kaku the one time I went to it in L.A., I think I’ll probably just stick with the Korean BBQ places in Koreatown.)

More Midtown Lunch news, and Midtown Links you definitely want to know about (including one about Chef Ming Tsai being at Rock Center today) all after the jump…

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Every Tuesday we profile another Midtown Lunch’er… want to share your favorites with the adoring public?  Email me at zach@midtownlunch.com 

On Monday I finally headed over to a place called Lahavash Co. on 8th Ave. in the high 50s to redeem a $2 off coupon that I had gotten a few months ago when they first opened up.  I had been meaning to try it, and the coupon expired on Monday… so it finally spurred me into action.  I think the owners were Lebanese, and the menu featured sandwiches served on a traditional flat baked bread (called Lahavash) and filled with all sort of delicious ingredients like avocado, portabello mushrooms, markouk grilled chicken, hummus, and more.  I use the past tense, because when I got there on Monday, this was what I found:

A totally closed up Lavash Co.  Who knew the coupon’s expiration date would actually outlive the restaurant itself.  So disappointing.  I love coupons, and was pretty pissed that I missed out on my chance to use this one (… oh yeah, and I was upset this place closed before I got to try it.)  Midtown lunch is a very volatile thing.  Places open and close all the time for all sorts of reasons.  I wonder where these guys went? Were their sandwiches bad or was it the location that did them in.  No PR company is getting out the word on this sandwich place…

I try my best to keep the site up to date, but I only have an hour for lunch and Midtown is a big place.  Remember Jaques-Imo’s To Geaux, in the Grand Central Terminal Food Court:

It closed about a week after I wrote about it, to make for a Manhattan Chili Co.  Carts are of course the hardest to keep track of.  Changing locations, going on vacation, construction- all take their toll.  That teriyaki cart that I wrote about a few weeks ago:

It’s been M.I.A. all week.  Is that cart gone for good?  Will it ever be back?  Maybe it’s back today.  Nobody knows… until you go and are disappointed by the cart that no longer is there.  The Mexican Cart with the Sombrero that used to be next to it… it’s on the opposite side of the street now.  Who knows why…

Some sought after carts are a total mystery.  I’m still searching for the ever elusive Miriam’s Falafel cart that is supposedly located on 46th & 6th.  People still email me and post about it on Chowhound…. “Best falafel in Midtown!”  But when was the last time somebody ate there?  I’ve walked by that corner a million times and never once seen anybody that resembled a “Miriam” selling falafels.

Then there are the changes you may not notice at first.  We reported a few weeks back about the price hike @ the Hallo Berlin Cart (thanks to a reader email), and the fact that Daisy May’s BBQ was scaling back to one Midtown cart for the winter.  What we didn’t notice is- Daisy’s May’s raised their prices too!  Now the already a tad bit pricey $8 sandwiches are $9.  No word on whether this is a winter thing, or permanent.

So what it really comes down to is, I’m pissed I didn’t get to use my $2 off Lavash coupon… and I’m wondering if anybody knows what happened to those Lavash guys.  If you know about those guys- or have any other Midtown Lunch news/opneings/closings to report, please email me @ zach@midtownlunch.com   I can’t be everywhere, and it always helps to get email tips.  You’d be doing a great service to the readers of this blog, and the eaters of lunch in Midtown.

Oh and by the way… I decided to change the look of the site (but at least the address of the blog didn’t change).  Let me know if you like the new one or old one better (by commenting below or emailing me.)  I’ll probably change it back to the old one tomorrow… after all, change usually sucks.

After snapping the picture of the new Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine set to open on 56th St. I happened upon a place that caught my interest.  What appeared to be a generic middle of the road Midtown sushi joint, had placed a cooler/glass case in front of their restaurant and were selling pre-made little boxes of sushi and other Japanese food… and there was a line.  I love sushi, and am always looking for good, cheap sushi at lunch, but I usually avoid the restaurant places because they are a little bit more money then I want to spend, and I don’t really eat at sit down places for lunch.  I’ll make exceptions for buffets, and really good ramen places… but sushi restaurants, I tend to avoid.

But this one was selling boxes of sushi out front, and that makes it exciting!  I don’t know what it is about setting up shop on a sidewalk that makes something more appetizing to me, but it just does.   Sell fresh made delicious sushi (or BBQ, or falafel, or gyro or teriyaki for that matter), in a restaurant where I have to sit, order, wait and then tip, and I’ll hesitate.  But take the same food, put it in a to go container, and sell it on the sidewalk for the same price- and I’ll be the first one on line.   

What they’ve got, the pictures, and the +/- after the jump…

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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 Cheryl- the girl who introduced us to Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine! (full review coming soon)

Name: Cheryl

Age: 29

Occupation: Research Manager at a Non-Profit

Where in Midtown do you Work?:Lexington btw. 40th & 41st

Favorite Kind of Food: Salty kinds.  For example, iskender, a Turkish dish consisting of a layer of cut up pita bread, covered with shaved lamb, tomato sauce (which makes the pita bread totally soggy and delicious), and yogurt.  If you order this dish in Turkey, they pour a ladle full of hot butter on top.  It makes my mouth water to think about it.

Least Favorite Kind of Food:  Sweet kinds.  Especially any kind of dessert that includes whole chunks of fruit, such as apple pie.  Blech. 

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I have two.  The first is Sophie’s Cuban (Lex. btw. 40+41st) and it’s not just because it’s the closest place to my office, it’s also the best in the neighborhood.  Any of the pork sandwiches are amazing, the roast pork entree with black beans and yellow rice if you’re feeling a little more extravagant, and ALWAYS get the green spicy sauce.  We also like what we call “the rice ball place” (because how does one pronounce Oms/b) on 45th btw. Lex & 3rd.  I order 3 pieces: lobster, hijiki, and tuna, and a miso soup.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often:  Delmonicos, a block away.  Their formula (the midtown deli) sucks, but their BLT with avocado on rye is a weekly necessity.

Place you discovered on MidtownLunch.com: Hurry & Tasty Curry

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why?  Sunset Park (Brooklyn).  The Asian and Mexican lunch options are delicious, cheap and plentiful.

If Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine sounded good to you, but you work a little too north to hit up the Lexington & 41st st. location- I’ve got some important info for you after the jump… (plus, how you can be next week’s Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er)

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***THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CALLED KANAAT AND THE LUNCH BUFFET IS $10.95***

I’m a big fan of the buffet.  Not any particular buffet… just buffets in general.  I like the style of eating.  I like the variety.  I like the extent to which I can embarrass myself by eating a ridiculous amount of food.  Chinese would have to be my favorite kind of buffet, because I find it very hard to order just one thing at a Chinese food restaurant.  I’m actually a huge fan of any kind of Asian food in buffet form.  Sushi is not ideal (because of the freshness), but I have found a couple that I enjoy (like the Korean/Sushi buffet Arang, in Koreatown).  Indian buffets are great.  All you can eat Naan is an added bonus… and the only time I will lower my “don’t eat the bread” buffet rule.

American buffets are ok, but they are definitely my least favorite.  The buffet that a pregnant Frances McDormand ate at in Fargo (with the meatballs) looked pretty sweet… but unfortunately fictional buffets don’t count… and even if it does exist- I doubt I’ll ever be in that small town in Minnesota.  I love the buffets in Vegas- but I usually end up eating the Asian food- so that doesn’t really count as an “American” buffet.  I haven’t been to Charles Southern Kitchen (a Soul Food Buffet in Harlem) but it’s pretty high on the list.  Fried chicken on a buffet is the greatest and worst thing of all time… but I did survive a KFC buffet off I-95 in Florida once, so I’m sure I’ll be ok.

So on Friday, I was walking in an area of Midtown I had never been before and stumbled upon something very exciting (to me, because I’m fat and love buffets).  The place was called Al-Baraka, and it was something I had never seen before in all my buffet eating… a Turkish Buffet.  It passed the price test ($9.95), and the look test (the best part about eating at a buffet is that you can go in and take a peek at what you’re paying for) so I decided to check it out.

What I ate, the food porn and the +/- all after the jump…

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I thought the Tuck Shop had fallen prey to some teenage prank when I spotted their sign walking home from work the other day:

But they must have done it on purpose- because it was still there a few days later.  I don’t know if this is some sort of an Aussie joke, or they just did it for the attention… but apparently worked- because here I am posting about it  (they do make delicious pies… if you haven’t had them, you should check it out.  Damnit!  I just plugged them… stupid Aussies and their clever marketing ploys.)

I also saw this on 45th street btw. 5+6th the other day:

I thought it was pointing out a restaurant with rats… but I think it’s just some union thing, because the rat was pointing at a construction site.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if the NYC Health Department just put gigantic blow up rats in front of restaurants with failed inspections (rather then those stupid yellow notices).  Speaking of those notices… we read on Eater last night that the eagerly anticipated Sushi of Gary 46 (on 46th btw. 8th & 9th) must have failed it’s final inspection and has delayed it’s opening by a day.  Don’t everyone rush over there all at once tonight…

More links to Midtown stuff you definitely want to know about… including 117 stories about the ladies of the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, all after the jump:

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Being from a Jewish family, I’m a big fan of the smoked salmon.  Lox or nova… doesn’t matter which one, just slap it on a bagel with some white fish, cream cheese, onion (and sometimes tomato) and you’ve got one of the greatest meals of all time.  Thank you to the Eastern European Jews who brought this delicious food over at the beginning of the last century… 

Flash forward to the 80s, and Jews all around the country (actually it was probably just in New York and Miami) were trading in their parents’ smoke fish for raw fish.  Sushi was the new “it” food, and Jewish kids everywhere must have been thinking the same thing I was thinking the first time my Dad took me for sushi (“This is the weirdest chinese food I’ve ever had”). 

Now, I don’t know what genius came up with this one, but I’m guessing at some point one of these Japanese chefs said “Hey… Jews seem to love this bagel with cream cheese and salmon thing… let’s add cream cheese to our salmon maki!”  And thus, the “Bagel Roll” was born… also known as the Philadelphia Roll or sometimes the JB Roll (the Philadelphia I understand- because of the cream cheese, but I’m scared to know what JB stands for.  Could it possibly be Jew Boy???  That would be insanity…)

Anyway, flash forward another 20 years and it looks like Au Bon Pain has decided to take this marriage one step farther… reclaiming the salmon & cream cheese bagel- but keeping the Wasabi.  What the hell kind of craziness is this?  I don’t normally eat at chain sandwich places like ABP, but I could only manage walking by the sign 3 times before finally breaking down and trying this “Salmon & Wasabi Cream Cheese Sandwich” at Au Bon Pain.

What the actual thing looked like (nothing like the sign of course…), and the +/- after the jump…

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I totally missed the Village Voice: Best of NYC issue that came out last week… and it’s a shame too because they wrote about a bunch of Midtown places- many of which I hadn’t heard about.  Yesterday was the last day to pick up the issue, so if you missed it- here’s a breakdown of some of the Midtown eats they recommended:

Best Unexpected Outdoor Dining:  Taam Tov.  The balcony overlooking the bustling Diamond District street is one of the cooler things about this Uzbeki Kosher restaurant… although it’s already too cold to eat outside.  Have to wait for the spring for this one…  VV Link

Best Prodigous Pies:  Aron’s. (48th st. btw. 5+6th) I went to Aron’s for the falafel, and it was not that great… but the meat pies (or samsa) they sell outside are delicious.  Apparently the Village Voice agrees.  VV Link

A picture of the pies, and the best place for Okinawan food, rabbit, chicken and korean noodles… all after the jump.

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Yesterday we wrote about our favorite noodle spot in Midtown… Menchanko-Tei.  So in honor of that, we present to you Justin Fox, a Fortune Magazine Editor at Large, and ramen obsessed Midtown Lunch’er who is just as big a fan of the Menachanko as we are:

Name: Justin Fox

Age: 28  42 (He probably would have wanted us to leave that typo up)

Occupation: At Large Editor & Writer (He wrote about us a few weeks ago on his blog: The Curious Capitalist)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Fortune Magazine

Favorite Kind of Food: Japanese (or home-cooking)

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Sandwiches (Editor’s Note:  That may sound crazy to most Midtown Lunch’ers who exists on sandwiches, but I’m right there with Justin on this one… unless it’s Bahn Mi.  I’m all about the Asian sandwich!)

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown: The Menchanko Soup @ Menchanko-Tei

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often:  I go to Sapporo a lot, but can’t say it’s “too often.” The Time & Life
cafeteria, maybe. But having worked for a couple of years in Birmingham,
Alabama, where I ate lunch four days out of five at the same “meat-and-three”
restaurant a block from the office, I’m really not going to complain. (Although
I do kinda miss that restaurant.)

Place you discovered on MidtownLunch.com: Kati Roll

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why?  Tokyo… and I think it’s pretty clear why.

Anything else you’d like to add?  Midtown Lunch has changed my life (or at the very least it has made me a little fatter)

A new Midtown Japanese, our controversial favorite Ramen outside of Midtown, and how you can be the next profiled Midtown Lunch’er… after the jump.

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