Posts tagged lunch

Meatloaf Sandwich @ Chock Full o’Nuts

I went to the Chock full o’Nuts diner with my friends from work. This is where I got their signature Nutted Cheese Sandwich. This time I was surprised how much a big shot my friend Roland was here. I guess he’s a regular and they all know him. I felt like I was dining with a mob boss.

I got the Meatloaf Sandwich. Dang, this thing is heavy duty. It was like eating a loaf of bread. I wonder why I got it, since I’m sorta on a low-carb diet. Although you wouldn’t have guessed from my posts. I ate the whole dang Meatloaf Sandwich anyway, because it was kinda good with the cheese …and I like mushy things. But now that I look at my photos, I should’ve dunked it in that bowl of gravy that was in front of me.

Chock Full o’Nuts – 25 West 23rd St (btwn 5th Ave & Broadway) New York, NY 10010

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HIT Deli & Korean Food

This tiny deli is inside a building. I guess most are in New York, but I mean you have to go inside the building and down a hall to get to it. The thing that interests me is that they have Korean food. So I gave it a try.

I got the most expensive meal – Bulgogi Deopbap Beef Box $12. The other Korean boxes are cheaper at around $9. It came in a hefty platter sectioned off neatly –with potatoes, cellophane noodles, salad, rice and the Korean sliced marinated beef.

The food was alright. Looked pretty, but didn’t impress me. It got me stuffed though. The soup was too salty, but I’m not sure if it’s one of those things that you pour over the rice? I don’t know. That makes more sense.

The people were nice in there. They seem to have regulars like this old guy who apparently gets coffee all the time. In my photo, it looks like he doesn’t have a head. No photoshop.

HIT Deli & Korean Food - 150 W 28th St (btwn 6th & 7th Ave) New York, NY 10001

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Nasha Rasha Russian Restaurant

Sam took me out to lunch because I won a sports bet. We went to a relatively new Russian restaurant in our work area –Nasha Rasha. From the outside, I thought it was a little too intimidating for a lunch spot. But on the inside, it’s sorta kitschy with neon red communist signs, walls of vodka and cute waitresses in folk uniforms.

They also have a decent sounding lunch Prix Fixe for $15, which turned out to be pretty awesome. Came with soup, salad, drink and entree. The Borsch beet soup was great. Olivier Salad (famous russian salad of potatoes, vegetables & bologna& mayonnaise) was decent potato salad. The drinks were awesome. Sam had the Kompot and I had the Uzvar. Both fruit drinks. Both delicious. I haven’t drank fruit drinks since Hi-C.

Then the waitress brought out our dumpling entrees with these big Russian dolls on top. I didn’t know what was going on when they came out. Cool presentation. I recommend the Pelmeni over the Vareniki. The meat texture was better. Vareniki filling was cat food like. I ate it all because it tasted good with the melted butter at the bottom of the bowl and sour cream. Maybe I like cat food.

Very filling all in all. I’m glad I won. The bill came in a neat box.

I’m trying to think of a good way to finish this post off. All I can I think of is that time Rusty and I let some Russian girls stay over because they Myspaced our band page. Now that I look at that old post, I guess it was a little racist. But it’s probably fine. They locked Rusty out of his room.

Nasha Rasha Russian Restaurant & Vodka Bar – 4 W 19th St (btwn 5th & 6th Ave) New York 10011

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H Mart’s Korean Lunch Box Meal

I was strolling back and forth on 32nd Street trying to decide on which Korean restaurant. Only thing was that I didn’t want to sit down to eat …wanted it to go. Main option seemed like Woorijip, but it was packed.

I walked into H Mart (Hanahreum Supermarket), thinking I was just going to get a container of kimchi …but they had some prepared food in there. Looked like some omelets and this lunch box I got for only $3.99. It’s like the complimentary sides you get when you eat at a Korean restaurant. Sometimes when I dine in, that’s really the only thing I want to eat.

The box had kimchi, greens, ham & green beans, and pollock fish. All good and spicy. Fish had them bones. I should have taken photos of that, because it looked cool.

Surprisingly, I was stuffed. I didn’t think I would be. Nice lunch for $4 …with none of the hassle.

H Mart – 25 W 32nd St (btwn 5th Ave & Broadway) New York, NY 10001

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Bhatti Indian Grill – Lunch Special

Oh dang, this was a great lunch special. You pick vegetarian $8.95 or meat $9.95 and they bring you a bunch of different food –unlimited all you can eat.

They first brought me a plate of chicken and kabab meat and a plate of chickpeas and chutney. I was wondering if that was all I was going to get because I was by myself. Everyone else was in groups and they had bowls of different curries, rice and bread. Luckily, they brought me that stuff and I was a bit amazed how much they gave me.

There were five bowls of curries –two chicken ones, lentils, vegetables, saag paneer. They were good and a bit of heat. I had to take off my sweater. Fluffy naan bread was perfect for mopping up the oily curry sauces.

This was so much of a better lunch than the place I tried two doors down the week before. I do like picking my own stuff, but that other place, I was standing behind two people that were super slow and in the way of the buffet. I think I was waiting five minutes for them. That’s a long time for a buffet that’s about 5 feet wide. That was $10 too and just vegetarian.

Good food here at Bhatti. Got super stuffed on lunch. Didn’t even need to ask for seconds. I did pay for it later on the toilet, but it was worth it.

Bhatti Indian Grill - 100 Lexington Ave (@ 27th St) New York, NY 10016

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2 Bros Pizza Plus Raises The Prices

Recently, one of my favorite cheap lunch spots (2 Bros Pizza Plus –see Jerk Chicken, see Pizza, see Ribs, see Fish and Chips) raised the prices mostly 25cents on each dish. Pizza slices are still $1. Still a really good deal though.

The guy behind me in line was “Oh man, they raised their prices? Why did they do that?” I turned around and looked at him like “yeah, I know. Right?” Then he kept asking me seriously, “Why did they do that?” He really wanted me to explain to him why they raised their prices 25cents. He couldn’t understand why.

Then the guy in front of me pointed at the Fried Chicken and asked if that was the Baked Chicken. Then he asked which one was the Baked Chicken. Then he got the Fried Chicken.

It was strange. These two men did not look old, poor, or stupid. They looked like me. …Oh shit.

2 Bros. Pizza Plus – 601 6th Ave (btwn 17th & 18th St) NYC 10010

2 Bros Pizza Plus new menu prices 2 Bros Pizza Plus Raises The Prices

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Chock Full o’Nuts – The Original Nutted Cheese Sandwich

Before being a coffee brand, they used to have Chock Full o’Nuts lunch counters all around NYC dating as far back as the 1920′s. This is their first lunch counter/diner in about 30 years.

Sam got breakfast and I got their signature Nutted Cheese Sandwich (date nut bread & cream cheese). It tasted like what you would think date nut bread and cream cheese taste like. A simple sandwich. Makes you realize how much lunch portions have grown from back in the day.

A big plate of fries is only $2 more with a sandwich. Although that simple Nutted Cheese Sandwich is a whopping $6. Used to be a nickle for a nutted cheese sandwich and a coffee. Inflation.

Chock Full o’Nuts – 25 West 23rd St (btwn 5th Ave & Broadway) New York, NY 10010

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Apna Punjab Restaurant

I’ve been waiting for this place to open up for a while …I guess because I’m missing the hole in the wall Indian spots around the Curry Hill area. They’ve all become trendy. Well Apna Punjab is a little hole spot. Not a whole lot of selection compared to say Chadni or La.Sani. I got the Goat Curry with Chicken Biryani ($8). I don’t think that’s a common combination, but he gave it to me anyway. I think a meat and veggie over regular rice is $7.

The meat was tender. Maybe dry overall, but the green sauce helped that. The flavors were good though. The Biryani was flavorful with spices and dates. Much better than the Biryani I got from a street cart a week before, which I swear was the same exact thing as halal chicken over rice with maybe ground pepper for an extra dollar more than chicken over rice.

In the end, I feel like Jerry Seinfeld wanting to help Babu succeed. I want the little guy to win. But dang, it’s hard to give an endorsement. $8 lunch at a tiny hole and with so many good Pakistani restaurants a few blocks away. That being said, I feel like a very very bad man. … The food is good enough though. If it was next door to my office, I would eat there again.

[update: I just found their business card in my back pocket. They are open 24hours 7days a week. I'll give them an extra star for that]

Apna Punjab Restaurant & Grill – 203 E 25th St. (btwn 3rd & 2nd Ave) New York 10010

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