My NYC office is on 46th and 6th. It’s taken me a while but I have a good coffee/lunch rotation if you’re in the area.
Pave got voted as one of the best croissants in NY by the NYT. They use beurre de bordier. It’s a very nice croissant. I think the humidity kills some of the flakiness. Excellent coffee. I buy the beans and bring them home.
Omar’s Mediterranean is a solid spot for salads and proteins. They do a brisk lunch. Lot of traffic. Since we are near the diamond district there are a bunch of halal and kosher options nearby.
Mitr Thai is on the street and always packed for lunch. Ippudo for sit down if you have time.
Margon is blasting music and always packed. You can never go wrong with a cubano or a plate.
^I worked in Rockefeller center for some time. Omar’s is definitely solid! Don’t sleep on the lunch specials at Wu Liang Ye. $7 for Dan Dan noodles with minced meat, Chengdu wonton soup for $6, rare to see a deal like that these days especially in Midtown. Peppercorn Station if you want a lunch special with something more authentic across Bryant Park. Ace’s Pizza is in the Rockefeller concourse below for some solid Detroit style za. You have restaurants there as well from the Atomix and King team and more. There’s solid spots in the area but I would not try to break the bank during lunch.
Golden HOF. Korean “fusion”? I dunno but the food was universally very good and would go back. Maybe the best dish I’ve eaten all week is the rose rigatoni. Not very Korean-ish other than the rose sauce which is all the rage now with Buldak. We added another order.
Very well fried crispy chicken. I didn’t love the Szechuan flavor but somebody at the table really wanted. Just kinda tasted like cumin. The general Sam’s was great.
Need to give this place a go. I got suckered into coqodaq instead on my last trip and it was my most unpleasant service/vibe/meal I’ve had in a long time
From the golden diner team - his parents owned that spot on 48th for a long time before passing it down. Also another restaurant called NY Kimchi is below Golden HOF. Definitely on my list for next visit!
I’m not one to complain too much about loud restaurants - but it had a DJ so it was uncomfortably loud on purpose. The servers were just clearly untrained and uninterested in answering questions or ever dropping by your table.
The food was fine! The chicken was definitely good, but mostly accompanied by cloying sauces in squeeze bottles that overpowered it. Some of the banchan was great - the cold noodles were also nice. Some was just…so underseasoned and didn’t add to the chicken set. The ice cream was a crystallized mess.
Thanks for the heads up. Will add to the list. Went to Le Rock and it was just ok. I’ve pretty much exhausted all my nicer work lunch options in the area.
The 2 that I felt were consistently worth it in that area are NARO and Avra for a nicer but not too expensive prix fixe menu. For NARO, if you don’t wanna do the whole shabang, sit at the bar have a drink and a spicy fried chicken sandwich from the Atomix team, hard to beat. I think every lunch at Avra is paid with a corporate card, it’s that type of spot (they make $$$$, can’t imagine that rent though) but you’ll leave feeling satisfied from their hummus, chips, and quality seafood
Damn I totally lied. Had no idea about Naro. Looks like a fun menu and would have totally picked this over Le Rock. Avra is one of our top choices for corporate lunches.
(this is pretty much the general nyc atp thread, right?)
One of the two lunch sets at Jō NYC: Hamo sudachi soba.
By Chef Hiroki Abe and owner Shuichiro Kobori, both formerly of Kajitsu (Shojin Ryori).
Remarkably clean and refreshing. I found the sudachi to almost have a medicinal fragrance (but pleasant). Delicate and mild hamo (one or two tiny crunchy bone bits - fun). Real winner was the rice with the chirimen and sansho berries.
Wholeheartedly recommend for lunch. Also have kaiseki seatings at 6:00 and 6:30 PM and kappo hours starting 8:30 PM (which I’ve seen recommended quite a bit).
Feel quite alright with these prices.
Unagi bowl at Fukuno ran about 48 last I saw (though it might be more generous).
Still, I overheard (bits and pieces because my Japanese is basic) the chef talking to the 2 Japanese customers about how sorry (a lot 申し訳ありませんでした) he was for the prices as the cost of everything has gone up across the board + a presidential name drop.
Other snippets I could make out:
A lot more American customers than they expected - nearly the majority of clients.
Closing Mondays next month so they can rest + no one has an appetite for kaiseki on Monday (kappa seems fine on the other hand).
Relative unpopularity of hamo amongst Americans. Nearly everyone orders the unagi set (made me feel special). But the hot summer has helped introduce a couple folk to the hamo.
Mildly weird atmosphere this lunch, with all the non-Japanese folk eating their unagi bowls in absolute dead silence (lotta reserved solo diners), but the jazzy music was nice and I like kitchen noises.
