Black Shack!

Black Shack is a hole in the wall joint on Lexington Ave, between 39th and 40th Streets. You need to be careful going in and coming out of the place because they don't have an actual step but a short barely noticeable ramp (like they started to make a step but changed it to a slope instead).

Once inside, you need to wait on line to order and the menu is at the front in tiny, grayed out forms. Very annoying if you just want to pick out what you want to order while you wait at the back. Also bear in mind that you will not be able to have bleu cheese on your burger if you get the basic. It's only for specialty burgers.

I opted out of cheese and ordered the basic with just fried onions - not raw. Victoria ordered the burger with cheddar but they gave her american anyway.

Though friendly, staff is not too quick on the uptake sometimes.

We shared onion rings.

Clothed burger

My fried burger was fantastic - well-done just the way I like it with delicious fried little onion rounds throughout. I stuck with ketchup on mine. Loved it.

Nooo don't undress me!! Fried onions on the well-done.

Victoria's burger was medium well and it was perfectly cooked. She said it was absolutely delicious for a way cheaper price than the other burger joint closer to our respective jobs.

Fried Onion rings - the real ones!

The onion rings were true onion rings - not the powdered White Castle variety...They were crispy and delicious!

They were relatively quick and we made it back in plenty of time!! So it was a less than 1 hour lunch.

They do pack up quickly so be sure to go before the lunch rush. Their delivery service is too slow though.



Black Shack
320 Lexington Ave (Between 38th and 39th Streets)
New York, NY 10016
tel. 212-213-0042
Hours:
Monday - Sunday 11AM - 10PM

Happy Hour: M-F, 3-7pm $1 off beers & special menu!

A little bit of bliss at Nirvana

For lunch, Dave boxed us into Nirvana, a little Indian place on Lexington.We were literally forced to go because he got a craving for Indian food.

From the outside, it did not look very inviting - dark and cavernous. But once you went up the stairs, you were at a lovely open space with a few tables spaced throughout and very friendly staff. There was minimal clutter and the tables actually was well spaced with plenty of space to walk to the buffet table.

High ceilings give this a spacious feel

Fresh baked naan is served at the table. It is served hot, which is like a big plus. I wish I thought to take a photo of the buffet table but I didn't - so next time I will need to remember to do this.

Fresh baked bread

My heaping plate of yums - the buffet is $12, I think. I took some cabbage fritters, potatoes with chickpeas, saag paneer, rice, chicken tikka masala and something else.

Bunch of yums

Delicious! The tikka masala was white meat with a delicious sauce - chicken was not dry and the sauce was awesome. The saag paneer was uber-yummy with a good blend of spinach and spices which is very delicious. The cabbage fritters actually made me want to eat cabbage...which everyone knows I don't really eat.

I loved the chickpeas with the potatoes and the rest of the items were really delicious. The tandoori chicken was not so good for me so I actually didn't really like this chicken tandoori...but everything else was really delicious.

For dessert was just a tiny bit of selection, the rice pudding was very soupy - but very refreshing and lightly sweetened. The bread dipped in was actually tasty.

Rice pudding

I thought it was quite a bargain - for about $15 bucks each, we ate a lot of different Indian food where as normally, you just get one dish for about the same.

If you liked great and friendly service, Indian food and buffets, then this is the place for you!



Nirvana
346 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10016
tel.212.983.0000
Hours:
Sun - Thurs, Lunch 11:30 am - 3 pm, Dinner 5 pm - 10:30 pm
Fri - Sat, Lunch 11:30 am - 3 pm, Dinner 5 pm -11 pm

Out for lunch with the boys

Hane is atypical of pseudo Japanese joints that dot the midtown landscape.I believe previously I had reviewed their tough grilled meat.

This time, I went and had lunch with Suanstein and Dave at the restaurant. Suanstein actually was willing to eat outside his cubicle!!! Amazing.

Service was fast and friendly. As usual, the tables were pretty much squashed together so be forewarned. However, they were big enough to have room to eat...which most places do not bother with.

The bento lunch specials come with miso soup and shumai If you got the regular bento special - it comes with soup and salad.

The miso was very very bland - like water...and not clean water at that. I didn't bother with a picture because it was just watery, with bits of seaweed and tofu floating in its murkiness.

The salad was typical green lettuce...with ginger dressing over it. Nothing special.

Now...the shumai. Suanstein was right. It tasted just like some pre-frozen stuff from the supermarket aisle, reheated to a tepid warmness and prettily arranged for your visual pleasure. It came with six, generous serving size, but rather tasteless.

Shumai

Suanstein ordered a teriyaki box so I didn't take photos but Dave ordered this beautiful row of lobster tartar, cooked lobster with wasabi aioli sauce. It tasted decent to me but I do prefer a good lobster - whole or chopped as opposed to this.

Lobster Tartar

I went with fried chicken. Basic, and yet, it was very tasty. And I lied - there is the teriyaki bento special in the back with rice. Salmon teriyaki - a basic dish in these restaurants but I hear that this place makes a decent salmon - not crazy fishy tasting.

Teriyaki in the background! My bad! I did get a shot!

Here is the fried chicken, with shredded seaweed. Pretty presentation, I must say but the chicken was very tasty. There was no rice but you do not need it with all the shumai!

Fried Chicken, Yum!

Hane is decently priced for the area but nothing special. As always, I prefer sushi/sashimi in an authentic Japanese joint and that means going further away from work, which is why we always end up at these type of places!



Hane Sushi
581 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10016
tel: 212.682.8388
Hours: Still I haven't remembered to find it.

Ali Baba for lunch

Turkish, anyone? 

In midtown/Murray Hill or just plain Manhattan, you can find a number of decent Turkish restaurants selling the same thing but not quite the same as being in Turkey... But it is indeed decent fare at a semi-decent price for the most part.

As I was craving some Turkish - I decided to order from Ali Baba on 34th St. Usually, I get the chicken adana, which seems to be more flavorful than their kebab. Still nothing beats Istanbul...nothing...for kebabs and bread.

Free but delicious bread

Ali Baba always serves a big - very big serving of bread with their meals. This bread typically is warm, layers of dough and goes very well with babaganoush - an eggplant spread with a garlicky base that is very very good. And I don't like eggplant but I'll eat this...every time!

Babaganoush!

My meal came warm, with salad - and my serving of adana with a big roasted pepper and half a tomato. The tomato goes well with the adana - a nicely spiced piece of white meat chicken. Their rice is most flavorful and delicious !

Chicken Adana with rice and tomato and pepper

Ali Baba
212 East 34th Street 
New York, NY 10016
tel.  (212) 683-9206.
Hours:
Sun - Sat: 11 am - 11 pm

El Parador

El Parador is a Mexican restaurant on 34th street, near the NYU Medical Center.

I went to lunch with Ravi, David, and Jane.

We had toyed with getting the prix fixe lunch special but decided to not get it. Good decision all around.

They served nachos with very fresh hot salsa, with the right amount of tang, spice, and herbs.

Just these chips with the salsa was worth the visit!

Jane got the tostada salad, of course. Ravi got the chicken enchiladas and David got chicken burrito. All were really good. Their plates were practically licked clean. (＾ｰ^)ノ

Jane's Chicken Tostada Salad

David's Chicken Burrito

Ravi's Chicken Enchiladas

I got the camarones al ajillo. The six shrimp were very clean. But the sauce was not as garlicky as I would like. I kept the pot to grab the sauce because I needed more to flavor the rice.

Camarones al Ajillo

It was good but not as good as Agozar's. And what appeared to be just a smidgen of food turned out to be a lot. I was stuffed.

El Parador
325 East 34th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel.212.679.6812
Hours: Monday - Saturday, 12 noon-Midnight

Closed Sundays in August and major holidays.

Afternoon Tasting Hour Special

$5 beer, sangria & house margaritas; 1/2 price select appetizers. At the bar only.
Monday-Saturday, 3-6 PM

Chicken parm

For a quick bite outside the office, we went to Abitino's on 2nd.

We all decided to have the same thing - chicken parm sub - to stay and drinks.

Abitino's is one of the many pizzerias in Manhattan. The decor is non-existent and the tables and chairs are distressed. It looked like they may be planning to spruce up the place or the menu broke because when we were there, we did not see the menu.

The chicken was pounded flat, breaded and fried. The chicken was placed on a toasted bread. Then a slightly seasoned tomato sauce was poured or in this case, lightly brushed on.

It was rather dry for me. The sauce was not that fantastic and it was actually bland and had little by way of flavor. Oh and mozzarella was rubbery where it had cooled.

It settled in your stomach like a brick. I think next time, I will stick to the stuffed shells, lasagna or calamari.

Abitino's Pizza
733 2nd Ave (between 39th St & 40th St)
tel. 212.661.1919
Open: M - F 9.30 am - 10.45 pm, Sat 10 am - 10.45 pm, and Sun 11 am - 10.45 pm

Delicious Rolls from Hiroshi

I had no idea what I wanted so I just ordered three rolls from Hiroshi.

I ordered the sweet potato tempura roll, pumpkin tempura roll, and avocado cucumber roll. Two rolls would have been sufficient. But I did my best to finish.

Three rolls from Hiroshi

The pumpkin was very good and it was not too sweet.

The sweet potato roll was wonderfully sweet and delicious.

The avocado cucumber roll was refreshing between the two tempura rolls.

Hiroshi
585 3rd Ave #38
New York, NY 10016
tel (212) 661-9288
Hours:
Lunch: Mon - Fri, 11 am - 3 pm
Dinner: Mon - Fri, 5 pm - 11 pm
Lunch & Dinner: Sat - Sun, 2 pm - 11 pm

Energy Kitchen

I got Energy Kitchen's five egg whites, turkey bacon on honey wheat English muffin and their C boosting smoothie blend.

The sandwich was good and still warm even though they were so slow in delivery. The turkey bacon was just the right crispiness - not burnt and not floppy soft. The egg whites were firm and the cheese is decent for american cheese...

Honey Wheat Muffin with Egg whites, turkey bacon and cheese

The smoothie was delicious but the only size is a filling 24 ounces. The Vaccinator is their vitamin c booster, and it was very tasty. It was made with orange juice, strawberries and banana.

Vaccinator

Energy Kitchen 

300 east 41st street (at 2nd ave)

New York, NY 10017

tel. (212) 687-1200

Hours: 

Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 10:00pm

Saturday, 9:00am - 9:00pm

Sunday, 10:00am - 9:00pm

Breakfast @ Panini Tozt

We all know Tiffany's doesn't serve breakfast but Panini Tozt does. I used to go there all the time but  I don't pass by it any more.

Croissant with egg, cheese and turkey bacon

Now I order from them instead. This time I went with a turkey bacon cheese and egg croissant and a vanilla yogurt parfait with fruit and granola.

Croissants in NYC are never as good as in Paris. This croissant was neither flaky nor buttery. But my turkey bacon was extra crispy as I like it and the egg was scrambled and fluffy. The cheese was plain old American fake orange stuff.

The parfait was made with vanilla yogurt, kiwi slices, strawberries, pineapple, and granola.

Fruit Parfait

I also has an Earl Grey tea with splenda and skim milk. They always get it right with the right amount of milk.

Panini Tozt

589 1st Avenue 
New York, NY 10016-6413
tel. (212) 213-9199
Hours: 24 hours a day

Quickie Japanese Lunch @ Aki's

Friday, we went to lunch with Ravi. At first we were going to Hiroshi but ended up at Aki aka Tony's for their bento box.

Aki is typical pseudo Japanese fare made by Chinese chefs. The place is clean, according to their rating.

Salmon Teriyaki Bento Box for $8.95

Service is so-so. Our waitress did not pay attention to David as he asked for tea for the table. But she got both our drinks and orders right.

Ravi and I got curry shrimp bento boxes and David stuck to the salmon teriyaki box. 

I can't comment on his bento but it looked good. I don't generally eat teriyaki as good as it may be.Nor do I eat salmon.

Curry Shrimp Bento Box for $9.95

I can say that the California roll was fresh and the shrimp shumai has always been my favorite from here. Just the right amount of seasoning and soy on it. I did not need any more seasoning or soy.

I got shrimp curry which was over white rice. The shrimp was clean - about six were included. There were sliced onions, green peas, and diced carrots. I ate all but the onions, as usual. There was also some green veggie too.

They were in a medium spicy curry - I am not sure it was true Japanese curry but it was good. The rice soaked in the curry so it was quite tasty.

The bento came with a bland miso soup and a few pieces of lettuce drenched in their ginger salad dressing which I never eat. At $9.95, it was a quick and filling lunch.

Aki Sushi
720 2nd Ave
(between 38th St & 39th St)
New York, NY 10016
tel. (212) 922-1168
Hours: Your guess is as good as mine. They do not list this on their site. But you can order through Delivery.com, Seamless.com and their own site.

Lunch at Patsy's on 3rd Ave

So lunch buddy, David calls me up and invites me out to lunch with Victoria and himself. Of course, I said yes when I heard it was Patsy's.

Patsy's serves darn good pizza and salads in an area full of bars and bar food.

The restaurant was still empty when we arrived. The place is decorated with pictures of celebrities, fake windows and a lovely copper ceiling.

The waitress was nice and checked in every so often with us. She was also understanding when we got the giant salad instead of the smaller portion we could handle. She took it back and gave us the small one very graciously!

It was nice to get out of the office and sit at a real restaurant to eat instead of going out and buying food to eat at the desk while still dealing with the phone ringing, emails and work.

Anyway, we started off with the salad. I do admit it took a while for them to prepare the plate but it looks darn good, doesn't it? It is the insalada siciliana, which is divine - a green salad made with mozzarella cheese, roasted peppers, black olives, capers, carrots, tomatoes and artichokes with homemade italian dressing. Oh, and if you do not omit it - anchovies. We ordered without anchovies, even though I totally admit not having eaten many anchovies before. The small appetizer is enough to serve three people well. The family size is too big and we ordered it accidentally and had to send it back to be cut down to this more manageable size. It is absolutely tangy, with the saltiness of the capers cutting into the sweet of the greens, tomato and cheese. It is so good!! 

Insalada Siciliana

Since we were all good with any toppings, we ordered a half sausage, half olive pizza pie. It came piping hot from the brick oven in the back and it looked absolutely divine. There were fresh basil leaves through the pie - with a nicely laid tomato sauce. The sausage was not very oily as it is at other pizzerias and it is crushed into little bits strewn throughout. Perfectly seasoned meat! The olives were cut into smaller pieces and spread through out the lovely thin crust. It was absolutely divine. We ate too much, I think because as we walked over, I felt my stomach expand and my weight gained by 5 pounds. It was totally worth it. :) I liked the decor and I love their pizza and salad!!

Half Sausage, Half Olive Pie - Thin Crust

Patsy's Pizzeria
509 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10016
(between 34th and 35th Streets on 3rd Ave)
tel. (212) 689-7500

Hours of Operation:
Mon - Fri 11:30 am - 9:45 pm
Sat & Sun Noon - 9:45 pm 

 

Quickie lunch

I had no idea what to eat so I ended up getting the Virgin chicken from Best Wingers on 2nd Ave and 38th St. I took a picture after I quartered it and ate a portion but at least you see the chicken. It is fried battered and flattened chicken breast with their own sauce, ketchup, lettuce on a roll. I removed the tomato. It is nicely seasoned and tasty but not for everyday.