is New York City dead?

apparently i never mentioned an incident from my nyc trip last april

it was a cold windy day and, being in the area, i decided to see how bad hudson yards really was. the mall was a lot of wasted space, the vessel was foreboding, and something -- either the vessel or some of the residential buildings under construction -- were channeling the wind in a way that created this ungodly howling noise

maybe the vessel just screams? something's haunted

"the vessel just screams" stealing this song title for my metal band

'The Vessel Screams' also a solid name for a metal band.

I'd tweak to "This Vessel Screams" but yes

afaict the streets of midtown during the work day is just tourists asking other tourists for directions

hey some of us are walking to the least abysmal place we know of for lunch

are the corporate feeding troughs still basically places where you can order your own salad to spec, mixed in a big metal bowl, or alternatively order a panino? or is that like 15 years out of fashion by now?

My office used to be right across the street from rockefeller and sometimes a couple of us would walk together to the other building in times sq or to get lunch/run errands. It would be hilarious if one of the ticket touters approached us because unrehearsed all of us would yell "DO WE LOOK LIKE TOURISTS!?!" This usually only happened though when the NJ'ian was vaping.

it was an odd time to visit, compounded by my complete mental fatigue after three full days of training. got to see a mostly-empty high line, and after completely failing to notice my dinner location was next door to the empire state building, i was able to instantly go to the top with no real line! even the high line was relatively empty

fwiw I was both tourist and direction-giver to the confused older visitors

obviously i visited the high line, and my brain may in fact be mush today as well

xpost it is still a ton of salad/sandwich places or the ones that have both of those and pasta, udon, sushi, hot bar options.

I am not a sandwich person but there is this newish awesome cambodian sandwich chain that I would go to sometimes. Num Pang. And also a Lebanese wrap chain, Naya. Both super good.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/04/business/sweetgreen-salads.html

pushing the envelope of midtown mass salad prep. love it. the best minds.

is there anywhere else that people wait so long in line and spend so much money for a lunchtime salad? ( I have never been to sweetgreen)

I have to say in all about the updated and rebranded “Dig” formerly known as Digg Inn who serve serious chicken thighs. Cava also ranks highly in the lunchtime fast casual scale.

buy lunch? those days are gone for me

I brought my lunch (salad) to work 95% of the time and hate ate that salad at my desk. I hate salad.

I am not a sandwich person but there is this newish awesome cambodian sandwich chain that I would go to sometimes. Num Pang. And also a Lebanese wrap chain, Naya. Both super good.

― Yerac, Monday, January 6, 2020 4:13 PM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I know this is the most obnoxious possible take but num pang was better before it morphed into a chain

(the actual best, for some value of "best," of the somewhat overpriced fast-casual-cafeteria chains with shitty exclusionary no-cash policies is mulberry and vine)

I am looking up which one was first (around NYU?) The one I used to go to was around 48th St. in 2013-14ish.

the one that used to be on 12th street

(maybe 13th? in that area. it might still be there, I haven't been in years)

I think first num pang is the one on broadway around 19th. I used to like it. Would get pork and noodles but they don’t do that any more.

The Num Pang near University Pl is still there

agree that num pang quality has declined over the years. there was one day where the tofu salad container switched from ~8x8" square to a ~8x5" rectangle with no corresponding price decrease = do you take me for a fool num pang

i have many thoughts on the horrible lunch options around union square. long ago i worked way downtown and the breadth and quality of falafel carts and sandwich shops etc was strikingly better.

The best food in union square and flatiron was Taste of Persia which closes end of this month. So if you haven’t gone, go.

What’s good there?

another vote for DIGG/Digg in here

taste of persia is great, i hope that dude finds another spot quickly. the eater thing i read said that the new owners of that nondescript pizza place are kicking him out! why would you get rid of the only interesting thing about your anonymous pizzeria half a block off the avenue!?

calstars he has a couple different things every day but dude will be happy to describe each thing in effusive detail. never had anything less than good.

The chicken thighs are good at Digg but the sides tend to be a bit oily. I kind of like the grilled salmon at Little Beet, but it’s a bit pricey.

I was happy to stumble into Xi'an Famous Foods on my last trip after having heard about it and it hit the spot

they are pretty good for a chain

Xian is another one where it seems portions have shrunk while prices have risen. Its still good but seems pricey for essentially a snack. Other decent chains include Kati Roll, Dos Toros, and Toasties.

generally if i'm eating for under $10 in midtown it's a deal. i had some $9 noodles at xi'an last week and they were delicious and filling

Hey I ate at X'ian recently too! I think general standards of US Chinese food have risen enough that it didn't stand out for me, but it was good and a plate of those noodles is definitely a full meal for me

I think the competitiveness of NYC food raises the bar to the extent where a local NYC chain is probably tastier than a lot of single establishment restaurants in smaller cities :(

I hate Dos Torros. Would rather stick with Chipotle.

For taste of Persia I always get the kebab and one is the other dishes. Greens or lentils with beef usually. Persian meatballs etc. it’s all good and he’ll give samples time permitting.

Other things I eat a lot of? The spam onigiri or roll at Enju.

xp I feel just the opposite, I have always experienced NYC as a place where the propensity of people to eat every meal out means just-OK restaurants have a better chance of survival than they do in smaller places where people won't pay unless the food's good.

also a fair take

xi'an's an exception imo

agreed that dos toros sucks but in a fight with chipotle no one wins

ennju donburi are another go-to for sure.

dan do you fuck with rainbow falafel? that's my first choice if i have cash in my pocket and i am down for some heartburn

Oh X'ian is definitely well above the standards of chain restaurants, what I'm saying is "even in my small city there are now hand-pulled noodle places that are really good, which wasn't true 10 years ago," so I'm saying X'ian is now merely "as good as the best Chinese places in small cities w/o large Asian populations," not "much better than the best Chinese places in those cities" as it would have been formerly

National chain restaurants in NYC always seem to be full of people (whether you're in a tourist area or not)

Never done rainbow because I don’t eat pita or tahini so options limited. What I do do is bistec encobollado w avocado and jalapeños from great burrito on 23rd. I love when you find real Mexican home in the walls surviving in Manhattan. There’s another on 6th ave below 14th.

I like x'ian but for office lunch it's definitely a mandatory teeth brushing x's 2 after and it doesn't travel the greatest.

ohhh, I love spam musubi and spam ramen. I hadn't seen it used much in ny.

it doesn't travel the greatest.

Yeah I really like that they have a sign up in the restaurant that basically says "our food is not gonna taste very good if you eat it after it's been cooling in a plastic container for 35 minutes and that's on you, you lazy asshole"

almost walked into that Great Burrito but i'm always skeptical of mexican places in Manhattan xxp

It’s not gourmet but can be surprisingly good. Refreshing to have that in that area.

Tariqs cart on 19th and park is a good one.

Sammys on 4th and 6th is great obv but not quite as good as the original one in Jackson heights.

Xian is another one where it seems portions have shrunk while prices have risen. Its still good but seems pricey for essentially a snack. Other decent chains include Kati Roll, Dos Toros, and Toasties.

― o. nate, Tuesday, January 7, 2020 11:35 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's funny you say that because I like xi'an but almost never go because it's heavy enough that I feel like I have to set aside an entire day's food consumption for it, and if I'm already setting aside an entire day's worth of food consumption to eat somewhere I'm probably going to pick somewhere else

That’s understandable. It’s small compared to a gut bomb like a Dos Toros burrito, which I’ve been known to enjoy on occasion, but it is a decent amount of noodle at least. The amount of meat seems to have gotten skimpier over time.