Doing lunch

Besides an attractive job, what’s the best part of working in New York City?

Lunch!

After 30 years of mostly brown bag and cafeteria lunches in New Jersey, I’m taking advantage of the chance to eat lunch out almost every day in midtown Manhattan. I’ve been to over 60 different eateries in a year and half, but it feels I’ve hardly scratched the surface of possibilities.

The people who prepare lunch in these establishments are consummate New Yorkers – fast, good, pleasant, proud and from diverse backgrounds. As an Asian-eyed man at a Madison Ave. deli told me with a Spanish accent recently when I complimented the way he prepared my salad, “I a professional.”

Virtually any type of food is available within a few blocks of my office. The biggest surprise is that the lunches are relatively reasonable (usually under $10). Another surprise? How easy it is to get any kind of salad imaginable, also for reasonable prices.

Of course, I’m not referring to restaurants where a hostess seats you and a waiter takes your order. In the places I typically patronize, you order your meal at a station, pay a cashier, and then find a place to eat inside or a plaza to sit at outside – an attractive option on a nice day.

My favorite lunch spots? Margon on 46 St. between 6-7th Ave., and Sophie’s in the atrium on 3rd Ave. between 49-50 St., both which serve great Cuban food. At Margon, it’s like having a homemade meal in a bustling lunchroom. At Sophie's, you can listen to a pianist and hear a waterfall in the indoor atrium. Not surprisingly, it’s hard to find an empty seat at either place.

Surprisingly, though, I haven’t gained a pound since I began working in the city!