As I've mentioned in a past post, the casual, sit-down restaurant is hard to come by in Midtown Manhattan. But I have a few places up my sleeve for when I need a change of pace from the usual deli. One of these was Havana Central, but after my bad experience there last time, the jury is still out if I'll go back. Unfortunately, one of my other safeties Spanky's bugged me out yesterday...literally.
I may not be the typical Southern belle, especially after living in NYC for almost 5 years. Even so, I still love the occasional Southern meal, especially BBQ. Something about that cuisine is so comforting to me. Guess that's why they call it comfort food! There are dozens of BBQ restaurants in the city...some are trendy, some are chains, some are just gross. So, it's hard to find ones that aren't over-hyped, but still serve really good food, with the key to Southern food...a great BBQ sauce. That's why I was so excited to have discovered Spanky's last year. Spanky's had everything going for it...location (1 block from my office), a fun atmosphere, great (and different) food, great prices, and small crowds (despite basically being in Times Square).
So, as I said, I went to Spanky's yesterday for lunch. Everything was going smoothly at first. I usually get the same thing every time...the hacked BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. But, I decided to change it up yesterday and got the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich with a great Cajun mayo. The sandwich was really good, the fries were great as usual, and (possibly my favorite part), the waitress had just brought out refills on our Diet Cokes. I was content. For those of you who may not know, free refills are VERY hard to come by in Manhattan. Quick aside...I learned this the hard way in my first month in New York. I had 2 refills (3 glasses total) while out to brunch one day, and when the bill came, the sodas cost me more than my entree. As much as I love (and am addicted to) Diet Coke, it's really not worth $12!!!
Where were we? Oh right...just as I finished my sandwich, I saw this awful looking bug crawling across my plate. I threw down my sandwich, jumped out of my chair, and screamed. I'm pretty sure the entire restaurant was looking at me. Now, this is New York after all. So, as terrible as it sounds, it's not horribly uncommon to see flies in a restaurant, or maybe even a roach scurry across the floor. But, this was a bug I had never seen before...AND it was on my food.
The bus boy quickly came over and cleared the food away, so noble of him. But, as he walked the plates back to that station where they keep the dirty dishes and condiments, etc., he knocked the bug off the plate, onto the floor, and then stomped on it....in pretty plain site of all the customers. The manager came running over apologizing profusely, and offered to comp our meal. He said that the restaurant was sprayed last night. Seems to me like they need to hire a new exterminator!
Another Midtown disappointment. I'm upset that another one of my favorite work-week lunch spots has to be crossed off the list...at least until I am no longer skeeved out! Guess I better turn to the folks at Midtown Lunch for some new lunch inspiration!
Spanky's
127 West 43rd Street
b/t 6th & Broadway
website
Menu Pages listing
I may not be the typical Southern belle, especially after living in NYC for almost 5 years. Even so, I still love the occasional Southern meal, especially BBQ. Something about that cuisine is so comforting to me. Guess that's why they call it comfort food! There are dozens of BBQ restaurants in the city...some are trendy, some are chains, some are just gross. So, it's hard to find ones that aren't over-hyped, but still serve really good food, with the key to Southern food...a great BBQ sauce. That's why I was so excited to have discovered Spanky's last year. Spanky's had everything going for it...location (1 block from my office), a fun atmosphere, great (and different) food, great prices, and small crowds (despite basically being in Times Square).
So, as I said, I went to Spanky's yesterday for lunch. Everything was going smoothly at first. I usually get the same thing every time...the hacked BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. But, I decided to change it up yesterday and got the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich with a great Cajun mayo. The sandwich was really good, the fries were great as usual, and (possibly my favorite part), the waitress had just brought out refills on our Diet Cokes. I was content. For those of you who may not know, free refills are VERY hard to come by in Manhattan. Quick aside...I learned this the hard way in my first month in New York. I had 2 refills (3 glasses total) while out to brunch one day, and when the bill came, the sodas cost me more than my entree. As much as I love (and am addicted to) Diet Coke, it's really not worth $12!!!
Where were we? Oh right...just as I finished my sandwich, I saw this awful looking bug crawling across my plate. I threw down my sandwich, jumped out of my chair, and screamed. I'm pretty sure the entire restaurant was looking at me. Now, this is New York after all. So, as terrible as it sounds, it's not horribly uncommon to see flies in a restaurant, or maybe even a roach scurry across the floor. But, this was a bug I had never seen before...AND it was on my food.
The bus boy quickly came over and cleared the food away, so noble of him. But, as he walked the plates back to that station where they keep the dirty dishes and condiments, etc., he knocked the bug off the plate, onto the floor, and then stomped on it....in pretty plain site of all the customers. The manager came running over apologizing profusely, and offered to comp our meal. He said that the restaurant was sprayed last night. Seems to me like they need to hire a new exterminator!
Another Midtown disappointment. I'm upset that another one of my favorite work-week lunch spots has to be crossed off the list...at least until I am no longer skeeved out! Guess I better turn to the folks at Midtown Lunch for some new lunch inspiration!
Spanky's
127 West 43rd Street
b/t 6th & Broadway
website
Menu Pages listing
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