Dining Out, Lunch, Manhattan, Midtown EastKerry Alaric CheeseboroApril 02, 2010banh mi, brittle, butter, carrots, cilantro, cookie, cucumber, daikon, Dining Out, Lunch, ma peche, midtown, paté, peanut, prok, sandwich, spicy, terrineComment

A Peachy Good Midtown Lunch

Má Pêche (Momofuku) | Chambers Hotel · 15 West 56th St. (bet. 5th & 6th Aves.) | 212.974.5656 | www.momofuku.com/ma-peche/

[mappress]

MY FRIENDS AND fans always ask me how I find out about certain places I visit and right about here; I inform them that I find out about these places the same way they do: Somebody tells me.

And the food blog universe—as catty and competitive as it could—is very forward and supportive about sharing its newest and hottest foodie info with the rest of the world, if, for no other reason, it drives traffic back to their site.

So it was with one of my email newsletters (I forget which one, but it could have been Grub Street, Eater, Serious Eats, Tasting Table, Urban Daddy, etc.) that I saw a link to Midtown Lunch's blog post about a place called Má Pêche, and that not only was it set to open any day now at the Chambers Hotel in Midtown, but that it was also currently serving a "Midtown Lunch" in the hotel's mezzanine, and only for 10 bucks on top of that!

Luckier for me still was that I was headed to that neighborhood to pick up a check from a client; so, assuming that with the new news of lunch being served, I would get an early lunch in at 11 a.m. before running the rest of my errands.

I recognized the hotels front doors from when housed a resto called Town, and got a quick look at the "under construction" work that was happening right next door before I went in.

I walked upstairs and was sat by a hotel front window while I surveyed my general and immediate surroundings.

So, I wondered, what is ten bucks going to get me...?! Their table top menu offered some yummy looking options, including either of two types of bánh mí (a traditional Vietnamese sandwich), a rice noodle with pork ragout dish, or a squid salad.

I ordered the maison ("house") bánh mí sandwich, and after a good wait—affording me ample time to have a fun dialogue with my attractive and sweet server, Beata!—it come out looking like a work of art on the plate

Fresh, bright, crispy, crunchy, smooth, creamy, hot, warm, cool, porky, salty, sweet, spicy, herbal, acidic, heady, yummy! Those were the words that not only best describe how tasty and fun-to-eat this sandwich was, but also prompted my to remember them so I could include them all in this post!

I hated having to be in a rush (it was about 11:45 a.m. and not only did I have to stop by a client's bar/lounge 3 blocks away, but a sudden text message expressed a demand to have me be back at my apartment on the Upper East Side by noon!), but I was so curious about the Momofuku Milk Bar Peanut Butter Cookie, I had to order that as well.

Má Pêche Peanut Brittle-Peanut Butter Cookie

David Chang, the man behind the whole Momofuku empire (Noodle Bar, Ssäm Bar, Ko, Milk Bar), loves to indulge tastes that evoke nostalgia—his and/or yours!—and this cookie definitely devolves your spirit into that of a 10-year old. I left the Chambers Hotel taking small bites of the cookie, promising myself that I would at least save half for the client I was about to meet (a cakemaker whose website I'm creating), but the cookie never made it.

But, hey, I'm a blogger; at least I can tell her about it...!

Bun Apple Tea!

.kac.