Ten Favorite Midtown Manhattan Delivery Lunches

My location: High east 40s Manhattan

Meals listed In reverse alphabetical order by restaurant

'Wichcraft
*Chicken Salad Sandwich: Walnuts, roasted tomatoes, pickled red onions, and frisee on multigrain bread
*Mixed Organic Greens and fennel with lemon vinaigrette
*Peanut butter cream'wich

Tsushima
*Lunchbox special with spicy teriyaki chicken, assorted sashimi, and spicy tuna roll
^My vote for best lunch value for quality proposition in Midtown east

Sushi Tei
*Hot vegetable tempura soba
*Green salad
*Chocolate Pocky

Recharge
*BBQ Plate: Grilled chicken, potatoes, and brown rice in bbq sauce

OMS/B
*Set A: Any 3 rice balls + soup
-Green Tea Salt Shrimp Tempura: Fresh shrimp tempura with green tea sea salt on top of soy sauce flavored rice
-Balsamic Salmon: Smoked salmon with balsamic vinegar, onion, and lemon peel on top of olive rice
-Chili Beef Ball: Deep fried chili ketchup rice ball filled with ground beef

Mambo Italiano Express
*Grilled chicken, mozzarella, and arugula sandwich on round whole wheat rosetti
*Pasta Fasoul soup

Jaiya
*Lava chili beef lunch special with papaya salad

Bread & Olive
*Shish Taouk Sandwich: Chicken cubes marinated in garlic, lemon, olive oil and tomato sauce
*Two mini spinich pies: Chopped spinach leaves, onion, sumac, and lemon
*Fasoulia: Giant Peruvian lima beans marinated in lemon, olive oil, and garlic

Boi to Go
*Chicken Pho: Star anise broth, flat rice noodle, shredded chicken, fresh lime leaf, cilantro, and scallion
*Curred chicken meatball rice bowl with red hot pepper sauce
*Black rice coconut bean pudding

Asia Grill
*Bo Luc Lac: Stir fried teriyaki steak cubes served over tomato, taro chips, and baby greens

The Secret Lives of Restaurant Food Delivery Tippers

Tipping protocol is a constant subject of conversation, debate, and controversy in New York. Parking lot attendant extortion, unsolicited "help" hailing yellow taxis, doorman ties to the mob, the massage parlor "invisible hand," gypsy cab negotiations (and whether this term is offensive to the gypsy population), dedicated sommelier tip lines, Christmas gifts for the highrise building family you never knew you had, and the bartender binary bill conundrum are a few of the many gratuity topics on the mind of today's metropolitan citizen. Most of the notes I've read on the topic are generalized guides, outlining the appropriate instances when prescribed roundabout percentages are owed to certain recognized service providers. But with the recent rise of purveyor instituted tip jars -- accompanied by gratuity induced prices engineered to maximize coinage returned from paper bill purchases -- it's become increasingly important to develop a more granular and robust thought process for gauging these subjective matters of social protocol.

Friends commonly ask me for opinions on appropriate tipping procedure expecting a singular hard-and-fast rule in reply. Very few tipping situations are as uniform and static as the posers of this question would like to think. And many, like the one I’ve outlined below, involve multiple considerations in order to tabulate the proper outcome. To give you an idea I’ve outlined a cursory “thought process” examination of the high-frequency, multi-variable tipping scenario of restaurant food delivery.

>Long a Floor / Short a Cap
Importance: High

The blind application of a flat tipping percentage will at times result in a payment shortfall or overage. On the low side, remote patrons who are consistent placers of near minimum charge meal orders should be tipping more than 15-20%. On the high side, the toro sashimi takeout party you and your ten closest friends decide to have shouldn’t require the full 20% on top of an already pricey bill. A floor/cap of $2/$10 for a reasonable payload carryable by one delivery person should override an otherwise 15-20% of bill baseline rule-of-thumb.

>Distance
Importance: High

Requesting delivery to the outskirts of a maximum territory boundary prevents workers from churning out additional orders. Reward distance. Conversely, don't feel guilty offering up a low side tip on deliveries from restaurants located within shouting distance of your front stoop.

>The Multitask
Importance: High

Reward delivery journeys that appear dedicated to your order alone. If the person shows up with multiple bags it’s likely that the oven-to-door time has been extended against your interests (though this is not always the case).

>Weather
Importance: High

Though braving the elements is technically part of the job description, an additional tip is appropriate to compensate for safer/slower delivery speeds, especially if the payload arrives promptly. This booster is countered partly by the fact that during bad weather there is likely more orders to deliver, thus more tips.

Sidenote: The opposite theory applies in regards to bad weather when considering tips for taxis. Yellow cabs generally operate "in stride" during inclimate weather. And since there is usually no shortage of riders I feel less compelled to bump up gratuities.

>Tonnage
Importance: Moderate

Unwieldy pizza boxes and heavy orders of cheap brothy soba deserve more credit than a lightweight bento box or portable dish of Thai protein. Reward tonnage.

>Stair Stipend
Importance: Low

Climbing two flights of stairs is easier than four. Delivery to the door of my fifth floor walkup apartment deserves a small scaling consideration. Reward height.

Brunch Wheelbarrows in The Weimar Republic

The scene is reminiscent of media depictions during chaotic months following the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse. Hordes of hungry people waiting in endless lines, clamoring to purchase bread, flour, eggs, milk, and other dietary staples. The only difference is that this isn't post-communist Russia, it's a typical Sunday morning steps outside my New York City apartment.

Surrounded by female clothing boutiques, vintage nic nak shops, and a truly fabulous eyeglass store sits the unmarked 9th Street Market, one of Downtown's elite brunching institutions. Elite in that hungry Manhattanites routinely wait for more than hour to secure seating at one of their 10 coveted tables. The menu boasts a stock array of hearty New American seasonal fare: Banana walnut pancakes, French toast dusted with confectioner's sugar, Goat cheese omelettes, Steel cut Irish oatmeal, etc. I've had the pleasure of dining there on multiple occasions, a few times for weekday breakfast and once for their lesser known dinner offering. The food is undoubtedly good but given the preponderance of quality restaurants in the vicinity it's astonishing to me why anyone would wait an hour and a half for a plate of Migas and roasted potatoes. If you’re considering a peak time Sunday meal here just think how silly you'll feel standing in the freezing cold amongst a restaurant-full size group of uninformed brunchers, clogging the sidewalk, and trying to ignore our incredulous stares. Do yourself a favor and opt for one of these lesser known neighborhood alternatives: Angelina Café, La Palapa, Quhnia, or Tree.

Most / Least Desirable NYC Restaurants (Hype Adjusted)

--Most desirable restaurants after adjusting for hype--
360
Aki
Anyway Cafe
Apizz
Bozu
Cafecito
Cha-an
Chiyono
Downtown Bakery II
Fette Sau
Franny's
The Good Fork
Kori
Little Giant
Locanda Vini E Olii
Los Dos Molinos
Marlow & Sons
Moto
Natori
OMS/B
Pizza Gruppo
Pho Bang
The Queen's Hideaway
Tides

--Least desirable restaurants after adjusting for hype--
'Inoteca
9th Street Market
Cafe Habanna
Clinton Street Bakery
Da Silvano
Danal
Dos Caminos
Frank
Katz's Deli
Koi
Kuruma Zushi
Lombardi's Pizza
Mama's Food Shop
Momofuko Noodle Bar
Morimoto
Tomoe
Veniero's
Waverly Inn (Note: I've never actually eaten here)
Una Pizza Napoletana
Union Square Cafe

East Village Restaurant Files

I'm very keen on updated my tired list of East Village & vicinity DELIVERY / TAKOUT staples. Listed below are my current "go-to" places surrounding my home near 1st avenue and 9th street. If you have suggestions to improve this situation please write me. (Help me.. Help me please)

*Japanese/Sushi*
Ginger
Natori

*Pizza*
Pizza Gruppo
Una Pizza Napoletana
Two Boots

*Italian*
L'il Frankies

*Latin*
Caracas Arepas

*Pan Asian*
Tara Thai
Republic
Pukk
East Village Thai
Kai Kai
Why Curry?
Cafe Himalaya
Thai on Two

*Indian*
Banjara
Royal Banglandesh

*Mexican*
Downtown Bakery
Paquitos
Benny's Burritos

*Middle Eastern*
Cafe Rakka
Moustache

*Chinese*
Red House

*Misc*
Westville East
Atomic Wings
Wai Cafe
Quantum Leap