Sammiches

The best Summer lunch is going to be one of two things... a hefty salad or a loaded sandwich.

We'll get the salad later on... but this post is strictly about that sandwich where it will never steer you wrong.

We lunchladys LOVE  a tasty, cheap sandwich. And the best way to obtain such sandwich is to make it yourself!

There's a new Trader Joe's in town. I'm not going to be the one to let the cat out... we don't want it to get crowded. Get your lunch buddies together and $30 is all you need for a weeks worth of delicious, filling sandwiches.

Any good sandwich needs:

• cheese (we chose asiago, but we're not opposed to provolone or cheddar)
• meat (in our case it's smoked honey turkey) (Veggie is fine too, just don't leave out the cheese!)
• bread (something grainy, adds a nice crunch, especially when it's toasted)
• avocado (spread it on one side of the bread)
• hummus (something with red pepper, spread on the other side of the bread)
• fresh cilantro
• and tomato (preferably on the vine since they taste better)

Nothing better to side this sandwich but some potato chips. kettle cooked with sea salt. (not the healthiest, but definitely the tastiest).

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMM
Happy lunch sharing,

Olivia & Maryam

We still eat lunch

Whoops!

So basically nothing spectacular has been had lately. Nothing. I'm lying. We're slacking.


Rin Thai is good. Filling. And cheap? $8 for most of the lunch specials.

The lunch special comes with an appetizer of your choice:

Crunchy dumplings with chicken and shrimp with an awesome sauce.

And the entree:

Chicken pad thai. The chicken is hit or miss. Rather all their meats are. But it's decent.

And the leftovers from someone else's food:


Mixed veggies with brown rice. (came from the marinated chicken entree). YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM

Until we eat again,

Olivia

Hot Hot Not

When it's hot like this (100 degrees in NYC), you definitely want to stay away from the super hot foods.

I ordered in with Mission Impossible... from Eva's ... and now I'm so full that I just want to sleep.

We both got the Falafel Special, which just includes the falafel sandwich, a 16 oz beverage and your choice of fries, brown rice, or soup. The fries are bleh and the homemade ice tea is bleh. The sandwich is good... but I hate when places use the cheap pita bread that falls apart too easily.

I love the hot sauce and tahini. But my sandwich is hardly a sandwich with that pathetic pita.

A side of some decent hummus.


YUUUUUUUUUM
Total = $20 split two ways including the tip.

Too full to continue,


Olivia

Take-In

I tweeted about the lunchladys inability to go to lunch together due to errands.

So, Maryam went by Energy Kitchen to pick us up some healthy, yummy lunch.

BBQ Chicken Quesidilla- $7.99

Bison Cheese Steak wrap - $7.99
YUUUUUUUUM
Maryam wasn't too fond of the taste of Bison.. so the hot sauce helped. Not super cheap, but still good. And good for you. (Ok so I don't know how any of this is "good" for you.. but it's from Energy Kitchen, so it must be, right??!)

Quite satisfied,

Olivia

We hate getting paid twice per month

With that being said... here's a blog about our free lunch at work :)

They feed us, sometimes. And sometimes it's delicious. The theme was BBQ party.. mixed sort of with a beach party theme...

Hence, the beach ball & hoola hooping

The spread consisted of; pernil, fried chicken, potato salad, some pasta salad, grilled veggies, and some fruits.





And for dessert... ICE CREAM

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUM,

 Olivia

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Thai me up!

I got over Thai Food about 6 months ago. I don't know about you, but I'm just like "eh" about it. I find vietnamese, malaysian, and taiwanese much more interesting. But, occasionally I get that urge for Pad Thai, or a curry puff. Like today.

Fortunately for "Thai Chaiyo" they make it hard to pass up their lunch special. Located on 233 Ninth Avenue (Between 24th & 25th Street) in Chelsea; it's nothing special in comparison to any other Thai place in a 20 block radius, but $7.95 for a salad, an appetizer, a main dish, AND a soda is astonishing.

Olivia ordered the Crispy Egg noodles and I ordered the Pad Thai. They say you can tell a good restaurant by how they execute the staples. The Pad Thai was DECENT (in a good way), and the Crispy Egg Noodle was good, except I don't think we expected them to be as soupy as it was. Crispy Noodles are not a great summer choice.

Not just a great deal, this place has excellent service, and the food came out within 15 minutes, giving me enough time to go to The Gap and try out some sans culottes.

All in all I have to say BIG OLE' YUUUUUUUUUUUM to you ChaiYo!

Worth the dime, worth the time.

Caio,

Maryam

Sandy Dessert

I feel as though the (second) dessert needed its own post.

We stopped by this little homemade ice cream shop on our way back to the city.

The menu is amazing... tons of options for all different taste buds.


I think it was on Route 36N in NJ.


Let's take a moment to recognize the fact that my partner-in-blog closely resembles the character they use to advertise.

They have a 'fan' page on facebook, too .. but ... ya know.

Not tolerating my lactose intolerance,

Olivia

Sandy Lunch

The Lunch Ladys went mobile last week. We took a day trip to Sandy Hook on an earned flex day from work.

I'm not going to review the food they have there (hot dogs, burgers, fries) although I'm sure it is delicious (?). Instead we brought our own goodies to stuff ourselves.

Definitely have to shout-out Trader Joe's for some of these items. And our own creativity for the rest.

No beach trip is complete without a variety of sandwiches, fruits, chocolates, and wine!

Try pairing some brioche with sliced, fresh mozzarella, tomato, and fresh basil. Or try using the same bread with some turkey, vegenaise, Monterrey jack, and avocado.

Matter of fact, just bring those ingredients with you and you can't go wrong with whatever sandwich concoction you come up with.

Throw in your fav bag of chips with salsa (in our case corn with chili .. soo good), red wine (mixed with a dash of san pellegrino), and some chocolate and fruit for dessert.

happy beaching,

Olivia

Baby Got Baoguette

Bao chicka baowow!

"I'm singing in the rain, I'm singing in the RAIN!" I'm singing, because I'm happy.

Thank you Baoguette for making me happy.

After a disappointing Bun at Baohaus, we decided to try our luck in the asian fare sandwich realm.

Unfortunately, even though we want to LET BAOHAUS HAVE IT, we can not make an honest comparison. They just arent on the same level.

But if they were to duel, Baoguette would win.

$5 dollar sandwich people. That's right, $5 for a fresh, real meat, real baquette, real sandwich. And they don't hide the good leafy greens underneath the counter so you don't add them to your sandwich.

AND WE ARE STUFFED.

So at this point it has these highlights:

1. Close to work

2. $5

3. it's a sandwich in Manhattan for $5

4. it's fresh, healthy, and tasty

5. possibility to split a $5 meal is real

We coupled our sandwich with SUMMER ROLLS-Vegetarian Kung Pao Soy Protein, vermicelli, Herbs ($6).

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM

But what else they got?

I'm coming back for the Sloppy Bao (Signature) Spicy Curry Beef, Green Mango, Basil, Lemongrass ($7). Also gonna try the Chicken Salad Grilled Chicken, Napa Cabbage, Herbs, Lime Dressing ($6). Something that already has me going is the Sticky rice with chinese saussage & chicken ($8). All of theses items will be consumed soon.

Baoguette: MURRAY HILL - 61 Lexington Ave (between 25th St & 26th St) Nearest Transit:

23rd St-Park Ave S (6) 23rd St-Broadway (R, W) (check website for other locations!)

Let's leave you with some pictures and hope you go there real soon.

Baobye!

Maryam

Most Confusing Deli Ever

One thing I hate is going to a "neighborhood" deli and not know what/how to order.
Not only is it a matter of what to order, but how? I don't want to mess up the flow of the other patrons. My goal is to not stand out as much as possible.

Goal: FAILED.

First off, who closes lunch at 2:30pm?? The lunchladys work from 10am to 6pm... in order for our day to go more smoothly, We try take a late lunch as often as possible.

Benvenuto Café makes that difficult. We've passed here a bunch of times and never thought to go in since it doesn't appear cheap.

We made the unfortunate mistake o f venturing here yesterday. We were duped into believing that our panini came with a $2 soup. Only the HALF sandwich does. Then we found out that our lobster bisque cost and extra $3 with the panini (half or full?? I think). This is all fine and dandy if the man that took our order would have provided the same information.

We ended up splitting this $14 soup and sandwich disaster.

This girl is not going back,

Olivia

Dear car owner, we tried to stop them, but it was the police...sooo...ummm

WHERE THE HELL HAVE WE BEEN? Oh, ya know, just watching people get their cars towed.

It's been a slacker week yall, pay day is friday- today we popped a squat on a bench and called it a day with a sandwich and some sushi. Nothing special, just your local whatever feed me kinda thing. But this post is for whoevers car this is. My bad dude, this sucks.

Lunchladys tip our hats to you, we morn the loss of all 5 of those Benjamin Franklins you're gonna lose on this one.

Good bye little red car, we hope you weren't stolen so that we can be all F the police style.

this footlongs for you,

Maryam

What? Where?

No, we haven't stopped eating.

(In case anyone, anywhere was wondering.)

We've definitely been lunching....



Think of the week before pay-day as a treasure hunt. A hunt for the cheapest (often free) food we can find.

Leftovers, samplings from whole foods, even subway sandwiches can get thrown in there.

Yuck!

We will return with the most amazing and delicious blog you can imagine... as soon as we find the right spot.

Patiently awaiting the best spring lunch,

Olivia

Bao, Bao Booooooring

I refuse! To talk about how wonderful this place is; if not for the simple fact that I like to be counter to everything. Hahah yeh right, that's what u thought! I'm a lemonade out of lemons kind of marmalady. But this place, although pumpin some SERIOUS flavor is a rip offffffffffffffffffff.

Baohaus reminds me of some things white people like. Like Jacking up the mutha fuckin price! And although I like to be able to claim white when its convienant for me, I aint white on this one.

This one is like this: don't believe the hype.

Although super yummy, I am not! Travelling outside of my work zone to get some yummie taiwanesse street food that has taken advantage of the price of the lease on the street ur on. I don't care how much u pay in rent or what type of peanuts u got!

I make peanuts, so fill my belly with somethin else. I would have had to spend $15 to get something close to be filling, and that's not a lunchladys attitude. They have done a good job with PR hyping them bigger than they should, and kudos to utilizing social marketing to get customers. But, I'm over that.

It reminds me of what happened to Ox Tail. Ox Tail used to be the meat that was thrown out from butcher shops, and then the impoverished found a way to spice it up and make it yummy. Now it's the most expensive dish on the menu! PORK BELLY has become the new foodie food, and it was once declared utter waste of meat. Now, beafed up and blogged outta control to a point its a delicacy. Puhlease....what are broke people supposed to eat now if even the discarded meat is outta our league?

Lemme speak it in ur language. (To the tune of baby got back)

'U aint got none on the cheaper buns hun. I aint comin back."

 

I might come back for one of these sodas though....

 

I dare you to say somethin'

 

Maryam

What’s rain got ta do got ta do with it?

Rainy days are no reason to break the bank. Bring in your delicious lunch (from your own hood - it's usually cheaper, unless you live in Manhattan).

Enter: The sandwich
Chew spot: The cubicle

O- Multi-grain hero with turkey, salami, provolone, mustard, lettuce, tomato, oil and vinegar. $5
M- Multi-grain hero with turkey, swiss, lettuce, tomato, and mayonaise. $4

Two bags of chips- $1

YUUUUUUUUUUM

BYOSandwich,

Olivia

It's ALL Good

There are times in your life when all positive realms align and it’s all good.

Aids Walk was this weekend, and the Lunchladys plus Mission Impossible decided since we were technically working, we technically lunched, but literally brunched. We treated ourselves to Petrossian, an uppity place that is on 911 Seventh Ave (between 57th and 58th St.)

Why some uppidty place? Because bitches walked, we were in serious need of a mimosa and some eggs

Lunchlady Olivia & Mission Impossible had:

Pain Perdue $15.00 thick slice of Homemade Bread dipped in a Flavored Egg Mixture, Scrambled Eggs, Crispy Apple Smoked Bacon, Maple Syrup, Jam, Coffee or Tea(The Batter has a hint of Grand Marnier).

Lunchlady Maryam devoured her:

Petrossian Breakfast $14.00 Slice of Smoked Salmon, Scrambled Eggs, Jam, Toast Points, Orange Juice, Coffee or Tea.

YUUUUUUUUUUUM.

Not the best brunch I ever had, and honestly overpriced, but worth the experience.

The best part of this meal, was taking a stroll in the park. It’s THAT season again!

People are falling in love, making BBQ’s, women slowly unveiling the skin with short shorts and sundresses. Skin brings on the hootin & hollerin season, which brings us to sandal wearing, beach babes, drinking under the moon outdoors, deciding to activate that gym membership again, and GET THAT BIKE FIXED season.

It’s that time of year where people are alive. So go be alive.

Ciao,

Maryam