I am always looking for a new lunch spot or light supper pre-theater
and a couple years ago discovered FIVE NAPKIN BURGER on 9th Avenue at
45th Street. I headed there yesterday before a matinee of a wonderful
(and quite controversial) new musical by kander & Ebb called "The
Scottsboro Boys." Lunch was not up to the level of the show, though. I
loved my burgers there before and opted for the ITALIAN TURKEY BURGER
which comes on a sesame egg roll (which is great) with Melted
MOZZARELLA and a Spicy Tomato Marinara Sauce as well as Vinegar
Peppers. The burger was, alas, on the dry dry side (as turkey bugers
are wont to be), but was redeemed by the marinara, cheese and peppers
which were sublime. I opted to "upgrade" my fries from the regualr to
TUSCAN which have spices and Parmesan cooked in. Don't bother as the
regular fries are just fine and the added spices don't do much more
and the Parmesan is minimal. A glass of nice Puppeteer SHIRAZ from
Australia is decent (at 8$) and goes great with the burgers. I am not
sure if I'll head back soon as the place is indeed so noisy and
crowded. I did have a reservation and boy was I lucky I did, as the
folks before me were told the wait was 30 minutes (at 1:30pm on
Sunday).
On the other hand, all over New York can be found dozens of HALE &
HEARTY (www.haleandhearty.com) soups and sandwiches and salads and I
love this place. There are twnety o0r so soups in varying sizes and
they are all quite good and many divine. On Saturday for lunch I chose
the ARTICHOKE MUSHROOM which was tasty (it needed a dash of salt) and
had it paired with a half sandwich--a super TURKEY on Ciabatta with a
superb WALNUT PESTO. there are salads as well and you can create just
about any meal, although the prices can get high..but the quality is
great.
If you are in NY often, get a frequent diner card...after 9 trips,
your 10th soup is free!
