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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Rating the Food

Working in midtown Manhattan has its perks... and drawbacks. Having a lot of Kosher restaurants nearby is both. (See previous post.) From a food standpoint, all the ones we've gone to so far (we being myself and some co-workers, including one person listed as a contributor below) are pretty solid and not too expensive. Here they are:
Fast favorite: Milk & Honey - good, reasonably priced milchigs (dairy), quick service. Plenty of choices of everything dairy. If you're into salad, you can get pretty much whatever you want in it without the price going up.

Easiest to mock: Circa - though it's a couple subway stops away, we all have unlimited MetroCards. It's basically the same thing as Milk & Honey, but slightly more expensive. There's more room to sit usually, and you get to make fun of all the jabbering Stern girls (or Stern-wannabes) whodon'tstoptalkinglongenoughtobreatheandfeelcompelledtotalkreallyloud. Geez. It IS fun to make fun of them, though. (The only time they get quiet: To talk about someone in the restaurant. Pretty funny/obvious.) (Sorry to all the Stern girls who read this. I don't mean any of you, of course... none of you were there when we went. :) )

Best weather: Ah, to not have to go outside... Mendy's is underneath a whole bunch of buildings in the city, including my own. It's good, solid deli. Nowhere to sit during mealtimes, even in the large eating areas nearby (unless you catch people leaving at juts the right moment!).

Best coffee: The Starbucks when you come into our building. Sweeeet. :)

Best speed: Kosher Deluxe. I've never waited more than a minute to get my food. Plus, it's cheap and somewhat filling. Milk & Honey and the back part of My Most Favorite Dessert Company are both pretty fast, too.
Basically, those are the places I've been to so far. I'm about to go to a birthday party at Mr. Broadway [which is why I'm blogging from my desk], which I don't know if I've been to since Serach & I were dating (good, though), and I'm sure I'll soon be at Cafe K, J-2 [or not, depending on how much I remember past experiences], order from Dougie's, go to Le Marais, and if someone else pays hit up Prime Grill or Wolf & Lamb. Until Serach kills me, anyway.

For all those in the city, drop me an e-mail if you'll be [or are] nearby. Until busy season hits at least, perhaps we can do lunch.

26 comments:

  1. Mendy's has great brisket, and they have pesadik lunches. I love Le Marais. A block away from Mr Broadway is Abigail’s which is also wonderful (and expensive) I have never been a big fan of Dougies. There is a new dairy place on 46th street down the block from the Judaica store (that used to be eichlers) it has really good Sicilian pizza

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  2. not all of us have unlimited metrocards....lol

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  3. There's also a bagel place near my office that is cheap, very quick and the food is quite decent. They have great soup.

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  4. Muscat - I'll try to post a link that shows them all...

    YwL - The dairy place you're referring to IS Milk & Honey :)

    I forgot about Abigail's - it's quite good, and incredibly expensive.

    IPayTooMuch for EVERYTHING - LOLOLOL

    Shoshana - Cool, didn't know that. There's also the hot dog guy who's sometimes around...

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  5. Too many choices in NY! I didn't get to all the ones on your list. (Walked past Mendy's so at least I know where it is! And the Circa I went to was in Flatbush.)

    Cafe K is good. I went there quite a lot when I was in NY. It was pretty reasonably priced as far as I remember.

    J-2 was good pizza late one saturday night, ridiculously busy though.

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  6. Have you tried Vegetable Garden, 48 E 41st Street? Pizza, felafel, and random dairy dishes. I work right over Grand Central - perhaps we could meet for lunch sometime?

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  7. Sarah - J2 is always packed. I just have gotten sick from it 2-3 times...

    Larry - I have. It's decent. I forgot about that...

    I was just at the Grand Hyatt last night! I ate at Mendy's over there... sounds like a plan. Drop me an e-mail - I will actually be at the Grand Hyatt about once a month.

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  8. For six months I was an almost daily visitor at Kosher Delux.
    What a great, delicious and indeed fast place.
    Highly recommanded.
    Ps.When there's no table available go upstairs, only few people know you can sit there as well.

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  9. You knew I would read this, right? Grr to your Stern girls description. Although accurate, I now feel heartily mocked on behalf of the school. But then again, that would never be me. I actually forgot my cell phone in my dorm today. See? A real Stern girl would never do that.

    I am not a Stern girl. I am a pixie. Not really, but I like the idea of pixies. Pixies are fun.

    Yup...so. What's new?

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  10. Pragmatician - Thanks! Didn't know about that...

    Chana - Ah, I knew you'd get to this. :) And seriously - no phone?! Definitely NOT Stern. How COULD you!?

    What's new? Oh, not much. At least, not much I can blog about. :P You'll have to come visit or something.

    You?

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  11. Circa in midtown is better than Circa elsewhere, IMHO. The food is better, and they have amazing prices on their dinner specials in you eat there after 5. Don't forget about Me@t Circa across the street, too!

    And c'mon Ez, you know the Touro girls are just as bad. You're just trying not to upset Serach. :-P

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  12. Dude, don't tease us out here in the hinterland. We got nuthin'.

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  13. I work in Chelsea, so getting to a mid-town restaurant requires either half my lunch hour on foot or else a subway ride of one or two stops. Between that and the price--a non-profit organization is as unprofitable for the employees as for the organization--I don't eat out very often.

    Personally, I love Kosher Delight, where I go for an occasional dinner when I have to stay late in Manhattan, or if I want to pick up something for home. (There's enough in one Chinese dinner to feed both of us.) Thus far, I haven't had any problems with Jerusalem 2, either, though, personally, I 'm not impressed by their pastries. The biggest problem that I have with Circa is that their tuna and salads often have pepper in them. A heartburn warning is hereby issued for the delicate of tummy.

    Ezer k'negdo, given the fact that I'm "kitchen-impaired," I would never survive in the hinterlands.

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  14. I'm right next door to you so we have the same choice of restaurants. Being a girl, my regular lunch spots are Cafe K and Milk & Honey. Have gone to Wolf & Lamb and Le Marais for dinner. If I feel like getting on the subway, I'll go to J2 but Milk & Honey has better food, so why bother? Have been meaning to try Mendy's one of these days, probably in the winter when I don't want to go outside. Just went to Mr. Broadway for dinner this week, food is good and lots of choices. Enjoy the B-day party.

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  15. Being a genuine bona fide super duper out-of-towner, I will naturally assume that all readers know that the Stern girls described in this post are DEFINITELY in-towners. And they're not my in-towner friends either--that is, unless someone just got engaged or is about to and they're really excited about it. :-P

    I like Circa though. And there's also Eden Wok across the street from Brookdale Hall on 34th St. and eee's Cafe just down the block. And of course, acharon acharon chaviv, the beloved Stern caf, where we pay exorbitant prices for very mediocre food--but we don't worry, because using our caf card means it's monopoly money anyway.

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  16. Scraps - I've never been to the other Circas, so I'll have to take your word for it. :)

    I don't know about the Touro girls. They're all nice when they come to our house. :P

    EK - LOL. Not true!

    Anonymouse - But you're not far from Noah's Ark, which is really good...!

    SaraK - Mr. Broadway is usually very good; last night it was NOT. The steak sandwich was really, really weak. But their Chinese, deli, and in general most of their stuff is usually much better.

    SJ - LOL! Of course not. Us superduperbonafide "OOT"ers are all polite and eat quietly, with only Pleases and Thank Yous escaping our lips. And definitely no cellphones. :)

    Eden Wok is solid - I've been there once or twice. What's Eee's Cafe?

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  17. Totally true. Unless you LIKE to eat in places where you can't tell what color the floor originally was because it hasn't been cleaned in 20 years.

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  18. Eee's is bagels and salads and low fat muffins and sometimes soup. When the caf is closed (and even when it's not) it is another good spot to find lots and lots of Stern girls. But the food isn't anything special.

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  19. So for someone who is on 23rd street every day... 1. Walking at least 10 blocks to the nearest kosher food is annoying {but so is paying $2 (nope, I dont either have unlimited metrocard) each way for one subway stop} so I usualy bring my own food or starve and 2. how come we havent met for lunch yet ezzie?

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  20. EK - Nu nu - I just don't eat off the floor there. :)

    SJ - Thanks.

    Shua - I don't know. Why don't you *freaking call me*!!!??? Perhaps Lemel can come along too. :)

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  21. Ezzie, what's your definition of "not far?" Somehow, I think that, if this office were within walking distance of a kosher restaurant, at least one of the 450 frummies who work here would know about it! The only Noah's Ark that I can find on the Internet is on Grand St. What's the difference whether I have to take a subway *up*town or *down*town?

    How could I forget Mendy's?! There's a branch in Grand Central Station where I've been known to buy dinner. Good sandwiches, not the best chicken soup. Cheap, it ain't, though, unless you get just a hotdog and a knish.

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  22. Anon-y-mouse - M'bad. I'm showing my lack of knowledge of Manhattan... :P

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  23. and when you are in the mood for Dairy..In Grand Central there is a Dairy Mendy's next to the Flayshic one

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  24. you should try diamond dairy on 47th street. they got the best blintzes and its a cool place to eat because its very retro being the only ahkenazi jewish style kosher dairy retaurant left in the city.

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  25. If their FLOOR looks like that, I don't want to see the kitchen.

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  26. YwL - I actually had both on Monday... a bagel before a series of speeches, a deli sandwich after. :)

    FwQ - I just heard of it yesterday. I'll have to see!

    EK - As someone who's worked in food a bit... you NEVER want to see the kitchen.

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