Category Archives: NYC

My (Midtown) Lunch: El Centro

Posted on September 27, 2008 | Leave a comment

Another day, another 9th Avenue lunch.

This time it was El Centro, a quirky little Mexican joint on 54th Street in Hell’s Kitchen. My friend from work and I entered around 12:45 on a Tuesday and the place was practically empty. Not usually a good sign for a Manhattan lunch.

The place is pleasant enough in decor. We sat next to a whole wall filled with small aluminum toys jutting out on metal spokes, while our table was uniquely crafted from beer bottle tops arranged under glass. Cool.

The chips and salsa were better than average, which was surprising. The homemade chips were crispy, not greasy, and the salsa was different than any I had tasted before. It was neither chunky nor entirely smooth, but had a somewhat more creamy texture, which coated the chips better than the watery types. It also had a nice spicy flavor.

For the cheapies like us looking for under $10 meals, there’s a decent amount of stuff. Unfortunately, the cheap eats are also the least interesting. My friend got a grilled chicken taco w/ red rice & mole negro, which wasn’t as small as we expected. It included an 8″ homemade corn tortilla topped w/ lettuce, queso blanco, caramelized onion and radish. For those with healthier appetites, one taco may not be enough, but my friend was well satisfied.

As for me, I also ordered a simple dish: the roasted chicken & Monterrey jack quesadilla w/ chipotle chiles & epazote. There was nothing fancy about the preparation; it tasted just as a quesadilla should. Although I could have used a bit more meat, I was satisfied if not wholly impressed.

What makes me want to come back for more, however, is the rest of the menu. The soups (pozoles) and enchiladas both look great, but I really want to try a chilaquile: homemade corn tortilla casserole topped w/ avocado, queso blanco, crema fresca and  pico de gallo. While I couldn’t quite bring myself to order a casserole for lunch during the waning days of summer, I will return to try the pork version of this concoction.

But for now, El Centro gets a big, fat “decent.”

→ Leave a comment

Posted in My Lunch, NYC, Restaurants

Tagged , , , , , ,

My (Best Midtown) Lunch: Chai Home Kitchen

Posted on September 4, 2008 | Leave a comment

Today was my second time visiting this small Thai eatery, located at 55th and 8th. In my humble opinion, it delivers on all the qualities needed for a perfect New York lunch:

  • It’s good. Sure, I’ve only had a couple things from their lunch menu, but they’ve both been impressive.
  • It’s fast. Not quite as fast as McDonald’s, but for sit-down service, it’s a breeze.
  • It’s cheap. For $6.95 (pennies in New York lunch terms), you not only get a succulent, filling entree, but a choice of salad, soup or spring roll. Not bad.
  • It’s nice. I love the asymmetrical bowls, the swizzley chop-sticks and the little floating-flower pool in the window.

If you’re looking for recommendations, you could do worse than the Pad Sea Eiw, a perfect noodly blend of salty and sweet. It’s my new obsession.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in My Lunch, NYC, Restaurants

Tagged , , , ,

My Lunch: The Gloriously Simple, No-Chew Hamburger

Posted on August 21, 2008 | Leave a comment

There’s something to be said for a no-frills, un-supersized, plain ol’ hamburger.

And that’s exactly what they serve to perfection at P.J. Clarke’s, an old fashioned eatery with a straight-ahead style.

Being the cheapo that I am, I ordered a plain hamburger (sans blue cheese, as opposed to the picture) when a friend invited me out to lunch at the restaurant’s Lincoln Center location. It’s unfortunate that the nostalgia doesn’t apply to the prices, because the burger was the only thing on the menu under $10.

When the waiter brought it to the table, on a small plate with nothing but a pickle to accompany it, I could only stare in disbelief. How would I be satiated by such a miniature serving of meat?

Well, I’m an official convert: size DOESN’T matter.

I bit through this succulent masterpiece like it was butter. The burger was moist and juicy, and in its unadorned state, exuded a recognizable beef flavor that often gets overshadowed by meaningless toppings. Somehow, despite looking as if it would fall apart, the paddy stayed together beautifully… that is, until I finished it five minutes later.

Now THAT is one tasty burger.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in My Lunch, NYC, Restaurants

Tagged , , , ,

Food Cart Craziness

Posted on August 20, 2008 | 1 Comment

Everywhere I look, someone’s writing about food carts.

Details magazine just put up a compilation of the best in the nation. Then there’s one of my new favorite sites, Midtown Lunch, who do a semi-scientific survey of the meat-over-rice carts around the area of Bryant Park. It’s a piece they like to call Street-Meat-Palooza.

Even the UPenn crowd is getting more sophisticated about their carts. The new Penn Food Trucks site carefully rates, organizes and maps the various mobile eateries around campus.

So, why the increased focus on food carts? Maybe it’s the economy, or maybe it’s just the personalities.

But one thing’s for certain: those people you buy all this luscious food from aren’t just vendors. They’re members of the human race.

If you still have the energy, check out the only cart I wrote up in Philly.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in NYC, Philadelphia, Roundups

Tagged , , , ,

My Lunch: Rosa Mexicano (updated)

Posted on August 13, 2008 | 1 Comment

(Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times)

I’m not sure what it has to do with Mexican food, but I love this wall-sized piece of modern art that greets you when entering the Rosa Mexicano near Lincoln Center.

On the other hand, I’m also not sure what to make of Rosa Mexicano’s cuisine, which I did not love, despite my usual passion for south of the border fare.

The special occasion (and for these lunch prices, it has to be an occasion) was my first week of work, and my boss was nice enough to take me out to a welcome lunch. Rosa was just up the street, and even though I had only been in the office for a few short days, I was already dying to try it.

We were seated outside and immediately ordered the fresh guacamole. While it wasn’t prepared table-side (is this service reserved for dinner patrons only?), the chunky green stuff was delicious; proof that when it comes to anything avocado, fresher is always better.

Having had a late breakfast and after scarfing down a bit too much of the guacamole, my eyes automatically went to the salads. I settled on the Ensalada con Atun: avocado leaf-crusted seared rare tuna served on a crispy black bean tostada over jicama, mango and cabbage slaw with papaya-habanero salsa.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it wasn’t my cup of tea.

I definitely expected the tuna to be rare, but the pieces that were served were completely raw. Still not a problem, except this wasn’t a sushi restaurant and the fish had zero flavor. The rest of the dish, however, was flavor overload. There was spice coming from every direction, but no sweet or salty flavors to balance it out. The acidity of the slaw was overwhelming, and I ended up eating around most of the fancy stuff.

Maybe it’s my fault for ordering a salad at a Mexican restaurant, even one that wears its nouveau-ness on its sleeve. Next time, I will return to the tried-and-true and order something with at least one of the following: slow-cooked meat, cheese or a tortilla.

After all, everyone deserves a second chance in America. Even a successful Mexican mini-chain location that’s probably doing well enough without one.

UPDATE – 8/18/08

Well, that second chance came sooner than I thought. I stuck with the plan and ordered the Mexican Club Torta: a pressed sandwich filled with ham, grilled chicken, bacon, avocado and chihuahua cheese with a black bean-chipotle spread and served with sweet potato fries.

It had everything that the salad didn’t: lots of meat, lots of flavor and lots of itself. Even though I still think it’s over-priced, Rosa Mexicano definitely redeemed itself today.

I will return.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in My Lunch, NYC, Restaurants

Tagged , , , , , ,

My (Worst) Lunch: Particle Chicken Sandwich

Posted on August 10, 2008 | 1 Comment

I should have known not to eat lunch at a bookstore.

But being new to the area where I now work (the Lincoln Center district of New York City), I was not quite sure where to grab a quick, cheap sandwich. I had already exhausted the few delis near my office, and I was craving something warm and toasty.

What’s a hungry, poor man to do?

I turned into the local Barnes & Noble, thinking that their cafe probably had something that would at least fill my belly. Little did I know, however, that lurking in this mild-mannered, big box media store was an evil piece of food unfit for consumption: the “Herb Grilled Chicken on Focaccia.”

It looked pretty harmless, sitting there wrapped pretty in cellophane and waiting for a suitor. It came with some sort of cheese and a roasted red pepper dressing, but they were besides the point. I simply wanted to rip into a nice chicken breast sandwich.

What I got – following the interminable wait for the sandwich to finish grilling – was pure, unadulterated mush. The round paddy in the middle did not come from a chicken… or at least a chicken from this planet. It did not even pretend to have the consistency of meat.

In tasted like something concocted in a lab, far from anything resembling a farm, and assembled by scientists who must have played a cruel joke on the new guy by giving him the task of inventing a type of chicken that doesn’t in fact “taste like chicken.”

After reading my fellow blogger’s article on “particle chicken,” I knew what I had come face to face with: a homogenized mass of reprocessed chicken pieces. After that first horrifying bite, I suppressed my gag reflex and proceeded to remove the “chicken” from my sandwich. I forced myself to eat the remaining grilled cheese sandwich because, well… I was still hungry.

The experience was so bad, I might even stop reading books just out of spite.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in My Lunch, NYC

Tagged , ,

An Italian Town

Posted on July 31, 2008 | Leave a comment

As if there was any real doubt, New York is an Italian city.

I know it’s known as the great melting pot, and you can find cuisine from all corners of the globe there. But the standard, go-to food of choice has and always will be Italian.

It’s no surprise, then, that my first two NYC restaurant experiences since returning to the area have been at Italian restaurants. One was surprisingly good, the other… not so much.

CIBO

Located on a nondescript block on 2nd Avenue (near 41st), Cibo would like you to think they serve “contemporary American cuisine with Tuscan-inspired influences.” Really, it’s the other way around.

Not that that’s a bad thing. I love Tuscan food and culture, and appreciate when a chef at least attempts to modernize it. And when the food succeeds under the pressure of a party of more than 20 people, it’s all the more impressive.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in NYC, Restaurants

Tagged , , , , , , ,