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!

James, Jalisa's dad

For over a year after I started working in midtown Manhattan, the first smiling face I would see on a typical day was that of James, the security guard in our building’s lobby. James had an infectious smile, the kind that made you feel glad to finally arrive at the office after a long commute. There was a slight space between his top two front teeth, and that gap made his smile seem wider across his face.

The happiest I ever saw James was when he announced he had just become a father. He explained that his daughter, Jalisa – a combination of the names of her parents, James and Lisa -- was born the night before and she was doing just fine. Our office chipped in for baby gift, and he was delighted and grateful.

James was also a beaming father one day when he surprised us by bringing Jalisa into our offices. He smiled non-stop, and Jalisa seemed just as happy to be in her dad’s arm. Although only a few months old, we could see she had inherited her father’s great smile.

James was not so happy another time when he confided that, because of a fallout with Jalisa’s mom, he had moved out of their home and not seen his daughter for several days. He was nearly as sad the last time I saw him earlier this spring, when he explained the circumstances that led to his no longer working in our building or anywhere else yet.

Near the end of our conversation, however, when I asked him how Jalisa was doing and if he was seeing her regularly, James again flashed his familiar smile.

“Oh, she’s doing just fine, thank you.”

What’s this about?

Some people have said my status updates on facebook are too short, not realizing these write-ups are bound by the 140-character limit of twitter, where they are typically first posted. This blog is simply a way for me to expand on some of the observations I share on facebook and twitter.

If you’re curious about some of the people, places, and events that I see while working in midtown Manhattan, relaxing at the Jersey shore, or living in Mercer County with my family, I hope you will enjoy my occasional blog posts -- and, occasional they will be.

What’s the significance of the title “1400 characters”? First, it indicates that these blog posts will be about ten times longer than my typical facebook and twitter write-ups. Second, it represents what these write-ups will probably focus on: the many interesting people I cross paths with, especially when I’m in New York.

I don’t particularly like writing about myself, nor do I think most people care much about what I’m up to on a typical day, which is why my facebook and twitter posts are usually written in the third person. You can expect the same with these blog posts, just with more characters, and typically more about characters. Once a journalist always a journalist, I guess.

Thanks for indulging me as I continue enjoying what I’ve always taken great pleasure in: writing. I’ve reached 1400 characters -- time to go!