Cheap Lunch Eats in the City (& Steve Kimock Band)

Manhattan is home to some of the most exquisite food in the nation. Being a city worker, my co-workers and I do not make the hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes to be able to eat out at magnificent restaurants every day for lunch. However, we do have enough to go out to the more reasonably priced lunching establishments. For those of you in the city who need a great place to eat, at a low low price with large servings, please read below!!!!

One Fish, Two Fish Resturant Bar and Grill

On the corner of 97th Street & Madison Avenue

http://www.onefishtwofish.com/

This restaurant is GREAT. Their lunch special is pricier then some of the restaurants you will read about below but worth every penny. For $9.99 you receive:

House salad: Garden or Cesar with oil/vinegar, Ranch, and Creamy French or Creamy Italian

1 Entrée: Salmon fillet, Seafood Alfredo, Shrimp & Crabmeat Omelet, ½ Garlic Chicken, Popcorn Shrimp, 8 oz. Burger, 8 oz. Cheese burger, Pasta Primavera, Chicken of the day, and Pasta of the Day.

1 Side: Coleslaw, Baked potato, French Fires, and Fresh Vegetables

One Drink: Half Carafe of Wine, Bloody Mary, Screwdrivers, Orange Juice, Soda, Iced Tea, lemonade, 2 Mugs of Beer, or 2 glasses of champagne, or 2 Mimosas.

I always use the house French dressing on the salad. Normally I do not like French but this dressing is very very good. As well, I almost always order the salmon fillet option, which is very large and I sometimes can not finish the entire thing. I change my sides up but since I am not big into hot vegetables, I tend to just get their French fries, which are thin and not greasy – I love that!

Bhawani has ordered the seafood omelet option, which was very VERY good. I thought it would be scrambled eggs with some imitation crap meat mixed in and other bits of seafood. However, it was an omelet with seafood bits folded over crabmeat stuffing. The flavor was exceptional and it was very filling, even for a guy haha.

Lesley has ordered the Seafood Alfred option numerous times. I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the sauce on this dish. Normally, restaurant attempt to make their own Alfredo sauce that consists of eggs, oil, cream, and whatever else. Its great when you are eating it in the moment but when you have a take home baggie and attempt to heat it up its just an oily mess. Do not get me wrong, I completely appreciate the fact that it’s "homemade" but it is absolutely not good to re-heat. The creamy Alfredo of this restaurant is just so nice to heat up the next day or beyond. It stays creamy, its not oily and its not homemade. I can dig a nice homemade Alfredo when I have a huge appetite but I would prefer an Alfredo such as this when I know I will have a doggie bag.

A little personal touch must always come into play because I have a ton of stories haha. My boss hardly ever eats. She picks at her food and moves it around the plate but never finishes her first serving. The circumstances contributing to her non-existent appetite are things that I will never "BLOG." Nevertheless, there is a waitress that almost always serves us. She calls us by our first name, she knows what we drink and she always jokes on Lesley about her eating habits, which Lesley of course take as a joke and giggles. She is a greathearted woman. Anyway, this might not mean anything to you all but it reminds me of a nice little hometown idea that people know your name and it’s a tight community. It throws me back into my thoughts of Virginia, where you can, or at least I can, walk around all over Williamsburg or Harrisonburg and see someone you know just out and about. I have yet to and most likely never will experience that here in NYC. Only because I was not raised her and my idea of a neighborhood is dramatically different in reality but not in theory. So, I appreciate how it is up here and I find little touches of daily life that is exactly like Virginia. And why shouldn’t it be! Yeah, so, that was my little personal touch to that restaurant hahaha.

Agra’s Indian Restaurant

807 Lexington Avenue Btwn 62nd & 63rd St

Talk about GOOD EFFING FOOD!!!! Pardon my language, but this place is one of my favorites for its food, atmosphere and great business lunch special. Plus, Indian food just has SO MUCH FLAVOR!!!

Agra’s business lunch special runs from 12 to3pm Monday through Saturday except holidays. This is what we always order and I couldn’t be happier because my boss normally always pays:

Special Business Lunch:
Choice of beef, chicken, lamb, keema, or vegetable curry. ($6.50)
Or
Shrimp/Fish Curry ($7.50)

Served with onion relish, Basamati rice, Dhal and Cabbage. Choice of Tea or Coffee.

I have to say that I freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE Indian food. It is not always the most pleasant experience AFTER you eat the food but during the nosh, it is DIVINE.

Before I talk about our main course, I have to tell you about their free starter. It is this crisp thin wafer (or waffle as they say) made with lentil and cumin. It is called Papadum. With this wafer, which is served on a simple white plate, they serve two toping. The first topping being this extremely HOT, or spicy rather, onion mixture that is a bright bright orange color. (OH YEAH - this restaurant is GORGEOUS in its colors. Not necessarily presentation, but the colors of the Indian cuisine are spectacular. ) The second side is this minty sweet puree. They are both complementary flavors: savory vs. sweet. And piled on top of that wafer, it’s just the best. I could eat it all day.

I have had have had everything from the above except the vegetable curry. I LOVE MEAT! The way it works is you pick the meat you want or vegetable curry if you prefer. Then you are brought that choice doused in this amazing Curry/marinara sauce. I am still confused as to want curry really is. IS it the paste sauce itself or just an ingredients, or spice, that makes the flavor? I have been looking for a good Indian Cookbook so I will know here soon!!

I tend to get the chicken because it comes right off the bone and I feel that I am trying at least to be healthy – haha yeah right. My boss normally always gets the seafood or fish. The seafood curry sauce is actually more of a seafood flavor based sauce. They are distinctly different. Bhawani normally gets the keema, which is nothing more then ground beef in the sauce. I do not know if we have had the lamb yet. I want to say yes because Lesley is always changing it up but I can’t remember. (There goes another example of why I write this blog to remind myself in the future of my experiences in the past, many of which I have already forgotten haha - so sad :( )

I feel as though I get much more food with the serving of chicken. You get a dark meat thigh and white leg (or visa versa). The dish the meat is served in are individual little silver long bowls. They are no larger then my hand so don’t go thinking it is this big huge portion. It is just enough. Especially once the "extras" come out.

The onion relish his what I am assuming is the same thing that is presented with the Papadom at the start of the meal. I never noticed that on the menu and I know what they normally serve with the meat choices so, hmmmmm. The Basamati Rice is just this fluffy, non sticky rice that you serve all this other yummy food over. The Dhal is just a bean mixture, maybe just pureed bean with a little bit of bean chunks and spices. Yummy no matter what. It almost has a really thick chunky bean soup texture. Finally, that Cabbage. Can I just say I HATE CABBAGE. However, I will eat this bowl of food up in seconds! I have NO idea how they make it or where it gets its flavor but it comes out in a small bowl in the liquid that it must have been cooked in. It is scrumptious piled right on top of all these other ingredients.

Seriously, I get my food and dump it alllll on the plate and mix that shit up and dig in. All the flavors and colors are overwhelming and for lunch…it feel very exotic. At least for me.

On a more critical note:

They are willing to cook your food as mild as you need or as spicy, Chris would like this haha. The food is always fresh and tasty.

Another cool thing about the restaurant, at least to me, is that is on the first floor of a walk-up building. You have to ring a button on the street for them to let you in. They you walk up these very steep steep steps, which would prove to be VERY challenging if you were drunk coming down, even tipsy. They are steep, but that adds to the adventure of the place, in my eyes. Once you are inside you can sit at a window seat and watch street's activities and all the adventurous people below.

The atmosphere is very inviting and relaxing. They actually just renovated since I have been going there. I can’t even remember what it used to look like previously. Currently, the walls are a bright but warm pink color. On the walls they have new little lamps and tapestries framed on a few choice walls. I do remember that their ceiling had been covered with draped Indian fabrics. Now it is just painted. Actually brightness the room and makes it appear larger since the drapes hung low and they were dark. The change is welcome and positive.

The staff is very attentive and just great in my eyes. They, of course, know us because we go there at least once a week. They bring us our drinks without asking and they always know that we will be ordering the lunch special haha. They are just nice guys who allow us to be loud and noisy in their small space. The waiters have also been there for a long time and are part of the same family except for a few. Granted, every time we are there its lunchtime but it’s the same guys. They are invested and that provides a bit more personal quality to the place.

A cute personal memory: Let’s just say that I have eaten there so much that when they changed their rice I called them on it and they were like DAMN how could you tell haha. They went from Basamati to Tiger rice. I am telling you, I know my food, I love my food and I ENJOY my food, so when something changes I notice. I love it, but I notice. I really should capitalize on this love. I would DIE to be a food taster. I would take all that fat that would come along with it also hahaha.

Saigon Grill

620 Amsterdam Ave. (Corner of 90th St)
http://www.saigongrill.com/

Now, if you like Vietnamese Food then this is the place for you. I freaking love love love it. Great food, fast service and cheap prices for lunch.

Their lunch special is under $8.00 and you get so much food, unless you’re a growing boy, you can never finish it all. I always always have lunch for the next day or dinner that night – and we all know how much I eat!!!

I was actually invited to a birthday party the other day and I was not sure were I was going. Thinking it was a bar, I arrived at another Sigaon grill downtown between 11th and 12th street at 91 University Place. Talk about upscale. Compared to the one we eat at for lunch, this branch of the store was elegant and expansive. It looked like a grand space. It was just so different and I can’t explain the difference, you will have to do it yourself.

When I was there I didn’t have to look on the lunch special menu, well, because it was dinner. I ended up ordering this appetizer that was so full of flavor, light and colorful at the same time!:

Goi Du Du, which is shredded green papaya salad, grilled beef, basil, and slightly spicy dressing with crushed peanuts.

When I am at the lunch location I tend to order the same few dishes, however I have tried just about everything on their 25 piece lunch menu. There is a wide variety of choices and served in large portions. This is my main fav dish:

Bun Xao, which is Stir-fried soft rice noodles with shredded vegetables, egg and crushed peanut, served with nuoc cham sauce on the side with your choice of Shrimp, Chicken, Beef or Vegetable.

Bhawani ordered this the other day and it was really good too but you have to really like basil :

Basil Beef: Sautéed beef with tomato, snow peas, lotus root, mushroom, squash, napa, bean curd and basil in our Chef's spicy sauce.

I would recommend this place to anyone all day long. I, however, and getting sick of it because I do not like vegetables when they are heated up and a majority of the meals are stirred in with green beans or broccoli or some kind of veggie.

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Steve Kimock Band
http://www.kimock.com/frames/index_home.html

Aside from GOOD food, GOOD music is what makes the world go round, at least in my life.

There is one guy who I have been trying to open the world's eyes up to. He has been around for years, in and out of numerous bands until finally creating his own. He is like Jerry Garcia, in the sense that he is part of many projects and plays many instruments. But it is his passion and insanely wonderful guitar playing that drew me in a few years ago.

Steve Kimock is one of the greatest guitar players of all time. He takes music and his notes crate a story, a novel of a song. You can hear the story in your head and feel the passion of the person playing. With Steve, it is always a good time. I would suggest seeing him at an of his Halloween shows. It is so worth it! I have inserted a picture of Steve at last years’ Halloween when Kelli, my friend Josh and I went to Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, NJ to see Steve.

Another great thing about him is that he is completely amazing, and I put my full endorsement behind him, but he is not as large as Dave Matthews so he can play at small venues which allows you to experience his music on a more personal close level. I have been able to download every show of his I have experienced since moving to NJ. I brought my sister, who hates hippie jam bands and she freaking CRIED during one of his songs. I am telling you – see him, love him, and listen to him. He will open your spirit to good things!!!