Park Avenue Tavern

I've worked in Midtown East near Grand Central for many many many years now, so it's pretty embarrassing for me to admit that I actually don't know many good places for lunch in the area!  Lucky for me, a former coworker who relocated to LA last year (VL come backkkkkk!) stopped by the office for a quick visit.  No better excuse than this to go out for lunch!  It was raining cats and dogs out so we went right across the street to Park Avenue Tavern!

When you walk in, you'll see a big bar in the middle of the room and booths/tables throughout.  There is also a room in the back so the place is pretty big and can accommodate a decent crowd for lunch. 

Big square bar area in the middle of the space

Booths!  It may be the Jersey girl in me,but I looooove booths!!

Looking at the menu, I love that there is a pretty big menu available for lunch. While I love all the Japanese options in the Midtown East area, its great to find a place with classic American offerings at reasonable prices.  Sometimes you just get a hankering for a great salad, burger, chicken...

Lunch special options

Lunch menu - so big!

 For our entrees, we all ordered a pretty good variety:

Crab Cake Sandwich w/brioche bun, tartar sauce, red pepper conserve, chips - decent and does the job

Spinach Salad w/granny smith apple, blue cheese, almond, crispy shallot, balsamic vinaigrette - basic salad for a light lunch

Hot Ham & Cheese w/brioche, parm cream, sunnyside egg, baby mixed greens - rich and tasty but the bread was a bit too thick.  I only ended up eating half of the bread (can you imagine?!)

Stuffed Peppers w/braised short ribs, pecorino cheese - fun presentation!

All the food came out at a reasonable time (for those of you who also want to come for a quick bite at lunch) and was served hot and fresh.  All the goodies were good - nothing original or mindblowing, but definitely solid and does the job for a decent lunch.  While I probably won't make the trip here just to eat, I wouldn't mind stopping by for a quick lunch during the workweek, especially since its just across the street! 

Piggy says eh...

Park Avenue Tavern 

99 Park Avenue (btwn 39th and 40th St)

212-867-4484 

Thanks for reading - Piggy KK