The Roaring 40’s
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
(3 out of 5 hot dogs)
Loading ...Urban Lobster Shack
805 3rd Ave (at 49th)
Time: All the time
Price: lobster roll, coleslaw and salad, $10
Urban Lobster Shack is located in a secret underground food-court. It’s sort of a lunch-speakeasy for people who have boring office jobs in midtown. When you enter the discreet office building location, a security guard gives you the evil eye as you turn left and go down an escalator into the seedy underbelly of Manhattan. The “Shack” is less of a shack, and more of a kiosk that could easily be converted to hawk bedazzled cell phone cases during other business hours. The lobster roll is tasty, although it fills you up only about as much as a hotdog (coulda eaten 3 of ‘em). The side salad and a mini-cup of coleslaw are fine too, but don’t do much to curb that terrible hunger that is slowly, minute by minute, engorging my body and soul.
After the rum incident last meal, Mim and I decided to keep it classy with a lunch special sans booze. JoJo (pronounced with a refined soft ‘J’) was crowded because of Veteran’s Day, and all the people with real jobs had the day off and apparently wanted to go out to lunch too. Lame. But the hostess was sweet, and was able to seat me and my nearing-95-year-old-dining-companion in two minutes despite our lack of reservation. The meal began the best way possible: with a basket of warm, toasty bread. My first course was shrimp steamed on a mesclun salad with button mushrooms. It was delightful. My second dish, salmon with truffled mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts was good as well. I then excused myself to use the restroom, but Mim informed me that in her time it was much too vulgar to say so. She always says “I need to go check on the girls.” So after I checked on the boys, our dessert was served, for which we both had the warm chocolate cake with ice cream. Spectacular start to finish. Take advantage of Jean Georges’ Autumn Promotion, a top-notch $26 lunch available at all of his restaurants in NYC!