Midtown Lunch

I think I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say it again.  I love food courts.  What’s there not to like?  It’s like 20 cheap restaurants, all under the same roof.  Sure I always get the Chinese food, or the Chinese food knock off (bourbon chicken I’m looking at you)… but having the options (whether you use them or not) is great- because if you go with other people, everyone can get what they want.  So when I want Chinese food (which I always do), my wife and I can go to a food court even if she doesn’t want Chinese food, because there’s other things for her to get!  It’s a fool proof scheme…

There aren’t many food courts in Manhattan (you’ve gotta go to a mall in the suburbs for that), but there are a few.  And one, that seems like it should be amazing, is the Grand Central Terminal Food Court.  One walk through this place, and you’ll think you’ve died and gone to food court heaven.  No wasted space on generic fast food joints like McDonalds or BK, and they have all the requisite food options (Chinese, Sushi, Indian, Cajun, Caribbean, BBQ, Pizza, and more.) 

And yet, for a food court- with a ton of options- right in the middle of Midtown, it’s not nearly as crowded as you would think.  None of the places have lines, and we didn’t have too much trouble finding a place to sit.  To top it off, I get emails all the time recommending places to eat in Midtown.  Very few “good” (a relative term of course) or popular places have gone unrecommended.  And yet, nobody has ever recommended the food court, or singled out any of the choices in an email.

A superficial look at the options, more pictures, and a call to arms… after the jump.

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I’ve received a lot of emails asking me to recommend nicer restaurants in Midtown for client lunches, and even client dinners.  Clearly these people haven’t read my thoughts on all you can eat buffets, and not wanting to spend $12 on a hamburger lunch.  I’m clearly not going to any fancy lunches… and lord knows the company I work for would never trust me with anything resembling a client.  But there is a lot written about Midtown eating, so- every Friday I will start posting info and links abuot places and news in Midtown that you might be interested in….

The brand new Hawaiian Tropic Zone had it’s grand opening party/fashion show/close down 7th ave. because there are girls sitting on beach chairs in the sand and everybody wants to stop and take pictures, gala event.  If you haven’t heard about this new place, think Hooters meets Ruby Foo’s.  From the looks of the picture above, it seems like Chef David Burke’s menu is clearly going to be the main draw.  New York Times  reported that they were opening to the public yesterday, and Eater claims September 30th.  We’ve heard it’s actually October 2nd.  Mark your calendars boys!

If you are looking for an expensive lunch, and your client is not interested in waitresses in bikinis, one avenue away, 7 Square actually did open yesterday.  As you can see the crowds weren’t as large as the Hawaiian Tropic Zone (maybe they should re-think the whole ‘no watiresses with bikinis’ thing).  Described as an “American Chophouse“, the lunch menu and dinner menu are pretty much the same, with a few lunch-y items during the day, like the 7 Square Hamburger ($13) and the Niman Ranch Hanger Steak Sandwich ($18).  http://www.7squareny.com

But wait there’s more- Midtown Links to stuff you’re going to want to know- after the jump…

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My boss is constantly asking me where he can get a good burger in Midtown.  He knows I write this blog, and he thinks I have some sort of insight- but the truth is, he has been working in this area a lot longer then I have- so I’m pretty useless.

The conversation usually goes like this. 

Me: “Why don’t you just go to the Burger Joint

Boss: “So great… but I’m not waiting on that line.”

Me:  “How about Burger Heaven”

Boss: “I don’t remember that place being that good.”

Me:  “What about Prime Burger”

Boss:  “That place is terrible… although it’s worth it just to go for the seats in the front”

Terrible is some strong words… especially for a place that has so many fans.  In fact, just this week I read two blog postings raving about how good Prime Burger was, one on Plate of the Day, and the other was on Gastro Chic (via Eater).  I decided to ignore my boss’ warning, and check the place out for myself.

How bad could it be?  After all, Gastro Chic goes out of her way to eat there “even if it’s raining” and Plate of the Day went out of his way to mention that one of his “coworkers is an avid burger fan and she’s tried burgers all throughout the city and gave Prime Burger a thumbs up.”  That sounds promising… how can you argue with an “avid burger fan”???

So, with the battle between blogs and boss all set- I ventured with one of my co-workers (not particularly an “avid” fan of burgers… but he was down with the trip) to Prime Burger to see who was right.

The battle of epic proportions… after the jump.

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By now I figure you might be sick of hearing my opinions about places to eat lunch…  so, for a new point of view, enjoy our new feature PROFILE: MIDTOWN LUNCH’ER.  Every week we’ll profile another Midtown Lunch Eater, where they work and what their favorite places to eat are.  Enjoy!

Name:  Harry

Age:  29

Occupation:  Freelance Lighting Guy (and co-owner of the soon to be open store The Brooklyn Kitchen)

Where in Midtown do you Work?:  Wherever they pay me to be

Favorite Kind of Food: Fresh, unless it’s pickled or preserved

Least Favorite Kind of Food:  Stale and Old

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown:  If I’m working in Koreatown, I’ll eat at Han Bat (35th btw. 5th & 6th).   If I’m on the west side of Midtown, it’s Manganaro’s Italian Grocery (9th Ave. btw. 37th & 38th) or the soup at Amy’s Bread (6th Ave. btw. 46+47th).  But my all time favorite is the place on 9th ave. with the sign that says “Toss your own salad, $5.99”

Favorite place you read about on MidtownLunch.com:  Hurry & Tasty Curry

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why?  It would be across the street from Peter Luger’s, 40 years ago when Mr. Forman bought it.

Want to be next week's profiled Midtown Lunch'er?  Follow the jump to find out how...

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I had lunch for the first time at Maharaja the other day, an Indian dive on 45th st. btw. Lexington & 3rd.  Maharaja, you say?  I’ve walked down that street many times and never seen a place called Maharaja… Well, that’s because the awning doesn’t say Maharaja.  That’s not memorable… and it’s a little too “nice” a name- especially for a dive like this.  I don’t care what the take out menu says, I’ve always called it by the name on the awning- “Hurry and Tasty Curry”. 

How could you not?  It’s a perfect name for this place.  Say what you want about grammar, reading the name, you understand what kind of restaurant it is.  During lunch, the food is all in steam plates, so it’s “hurry”, and a lot of the food is pretty tasty (I’m not going to vouch for all of it).  Maybe it was meant to be “Hurry and Taste THE Curry” but the guy who made the sign heard them wrong.  To add to the confusion, Menupages has two listings for the place, at the same address (133 E. 45th St.), Maharaja (which gets four stars) and Hurry & Tasty Curry (which gets 3 1/2 stars).  As far as I can tell, the owners of Hurry & Tasty Curry used to own an Indian restaurant on 44th St. called Maharaja (which was half a star better then the only place they own now- which is on 45th St. and has a giant awning that say Hurry & Tasty Curry). 

Who knows… but either way the sign says everything you could ever need to know about this place.  It’s fast, tasty and it is clearly authentic (because these people are too busy making good Indian food to care about English grammar).

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

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How great is IKEA?  Greatest place ever, right?  Well, I love IKEA too- but not for the reason most people love it.  Sure, the cheap furniture is nice, and building our IKEA entertainment center was probably the greatest “building” accomplishment of my life- but the real reason I love it is for the food.  Seriously… the food at IKEA is awesome- and dirt cheap.  (Picture of IKEA meatballs to the left is courtesy of eggrollboy on flickr )

Of course I was skeptical at first.  Those signs as you walk in, encouraging you to eat Swedish meatballs in the IKEA cafe…  for $3.99?  I’m not eating that crap.  Who eats at IKEA?  Well, I will tell you who… people who spend the entire morning moving into their new apartment- but still want to take advantage of the van that is due back at U-Haul that night.   So you drive out to Elizabeth NJ, and are so hungry that the IKEA Restaurant is your only option.  That was the first time I ate at IKEA.  The next time- our “shopping” excursion to IKEA, was just an excuse for lunch.  If you’ve never tried the Swedish meatballs with gravy and lingonberries- you don’t know what your missing.  And if you don’t like it- you’ve wasted $4.  Not that big a gamble…

With that in mind, you can imagine my excitement when I read about the new FIKA Swedish Espresso Bar on RestaurantGirl.com… Even though they are called an espresso bar- they also have sandwiches, salads, and Swedish meatballs.  How can you go wrong???  More pictures, and the +/- after the jump…

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I snapped this photo the other day while walking by the Original Soup Man chain (franchised from the original Soup Nazi on Seinfeld)…

Get it?  If you go to the left you get “No Soup”, because on Seinfeld the Soup Nazi used to yell “No Soup For You!”.  Remember?!?!?!  Hilarious… in a franchising something to capitalize on a sit-com, soul crushing kind of way.  So sad…

A picture of the real Soup Kitchen International- plus the end of the week wrap up… after the jump…

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So, Fashion Week is almost over, and despite it being only one block away from Bryant Park, I didn’t get my picture of a model eating at the Chicken & Rice Cart on 43rd and 6th ave.  But it didn’t stop me from enjoying a medium order of delicious chicken, served over rice, at this Midtown street meat institution.

There are many halal carts, serving many things in Midtown.  And if you are one of the adventurous lunch eaters willing to eat at the Midtown carts, you know that they are not all created equal.  Not only do they all serve their own “type” of halal food, the quality can vary immensely depending on what cart you decide to get your street meat from.  The undisputed “Chicken & Rice” king, seems to be the cart on 53rd and 6th (it was a Vendy Award runner up for best cart last year).  But unfortunately, that cart doesn’t open up until 7pm.  So for lunch, the cart that comes up the most is the Chicken & Rice cart on the SE corner of 43rd & 6th.

Pictures and the +/- after the jump…

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Sapporo, after being closed for two weeks for “repair work”, finally re-opened this past Friday.  While the food at this Midtown Ramen institution is delicious, I always felt like it was on the “dingy” side (especially when compared to Men Kui Teior Menchenkotei)- but with these “repairs” I was amped for a cleaned up version of one of my favorite Midtown lunch destinations.  Who knows what they would do?  New floors?  New Ramen Bar?  The possibilities were endless… especially considering what it looked like last Thursday afternoon.

Well, yesterday, I finally stopped by for my “First Look” at the new Sapporo…. and was surprised to find, the old Sapporo.  Actually, that’s not entirely true.  I thought it looked really nice… new tables, new chairs, the light seemed warmer and more inviting.  But then when I got home, and compared the new picture, to the old picture- it looked pretty much the same- (except for some minor changes).

Have you ever played Photo Hunt before?  The touch screen bar game where you have to find the little differences between two pictures before time runs out.  Well, it’s time for the first ever Midtown Lunch Photo Hunt! 

Find the differences between the Old and New Sapporo… after the jump.

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Continuing our Fashion Week theme, I decided to give the full +/- treatment to a place I discovered on Friday, and mentioned briefly in yesterday’s post.  Walking back to work from taking pictures of ‘wichcraft for my Fashion Week guide to Midtown Lunch, I randomly stumbled upon this weird little soup place- and based on the name alone, and what was going on half a block away in Bryant Park, I figured I had to check it out.  As big and strange as NYC is, it really is a small world.  Coincidentally enough, I ran into a friend of mine from college who I’ve maybe seen twice in the past 7 years, who was picking up lunch in the weird soup place.. so I asked him if it was any good, and on his recommendation I decided to check it out.

Whatever pre-conceived notion you might have about a place called “Fashion Soup Corp” it’s definitely wrong.  There’s nothing about this place that is fashionable (unless you count the fashion magazines strewn around the counter for patrons to read).  It’s actually so bare bones, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they opened up just for Fashion Week attendees once a year (like those Halloween stores in the mall)… but that is not the case.  Fashion Soup has been on 41st St. btw. 6th & Broadway for years- and the brother and sister duo who run it make a delicious array of homemade soups, sandwiches, quesadillas and empanadas for a menu that changes every single day.

What I got, and the +/- after the jump…

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