Most New York worker bees have an hour to grab lunch, if that, but increasingly many of them are spending their time waiting . . . and waiting to get midday sustenance at casual spots that are supposed to be quick and easy but are anything but.
Last week, Umami Burger opened in the West Village and lines quickly formed, with people waiting almost an hour — at lunch — to get a bite of the city’s buzziest new burger chain. It follows the New York debut of salad chain Sweetgreen and the expansion of Xi’an Famous Foods to Midtown, two other new spots that have challenged New Yorkers’ allegiance to the quick convenience of Pret A Manger and Chop’t.
“People now are willing to wait for something really special,” says Zach Brooks, founder of food blog Midtown Lunch. “People are beginning to have better tastes . . . You’re going to wait in line for good food.”
We braved the line at the hottest new lunch spots to see if they’re really worth the wait.
Even on a rainy afternoon, people line up for Umami Burger — under the awning of a neighboring business. (Astrid Stawiarz/NY Post)
Make sure your smartphone is charged up before you leave the office. You’ll need it to entertain yourself while you waste your lunch break at Xi’an Famous Foods. (Christian Johnston)
SWEETGREEN
22 MINUTE WAIT!
1164 Broadway, 646-449-8855
The not-so-fast food: This trendy Washington, DC-based salad chain opened its first New York location last month next to the NoMad hotel. With locally grown produce, 100-percent organic cold-pressed juices made from whole fruits and vegetables ($9.50 per bottle) and “signature salads” like “guacamole greens” ($9.65) — organic mesclun, avocado and lime-cilantro vinaigrette — it aims to be a few lettuce leaves above your average salad bar.
The line: On a recent weekday, the 10-deep lunchtime line along the sidewalk chugged slowly but steadily toward the door. Friendly employees took the sting out of the holdup by distributing complimentary house-made watermelon lemonade to a group of mostly young professionals, the majority of them female. Once inside, another line stretched to the far end of the counter, where salads are composed assembly-line style. It took 22 minutes from the start of the line to the time we settled up at the cash register.
The takeaway: Waiting more than 20 minutes for a healthy salad might seem a bit crazy, but Sweetgreen’s salads are tasty and surprisingly filling for a plant-based meal, plus they come with complimentary Sullivan Street Bakery bread. And the overall vibe — blaring indie rock, eco-friendly packaging, artful photographs of rock stars and farmers on the walls and organic farro and quinoa on the menu — makes Sweetgreen feel decidedly cooler than other “quicker” salad chains like Chop’t or Just Salad. Plus, it’s one of the few healthy lunch options in the once sleepy neighborhood, where it’s far easier to get a box of Korean fried chicken than a bowlful of kale.
That’s what has kept Michelle Pack, a 29-year-old who works in marketing, coming back, despite the line. “It’d be nice not to have to wait at all,” she says. “But that’s not realistic in New York.”
Insider tip: Place your order online (sweetgreen.com) and pick it up in a special line near the entrance with much shorter waits.
UMAMI BURGER
55 MINUTE WAIT!
432 Sixth Ave., 212-677-8626
The not-so-fast food: California’s much-hyped Umami Burger burst onto the New York scene last week with the first of several hungrily anticipated NYC locations. (Battery Park City and Williamsburg are planned for early 2014.) The name refers to the so-called fifth flavor, a savory, meaty taste sensation, and Umami’s menu is packed with opportunities to experience it, from “The Original” burger ($12) topped with sauteed shiitake mushrooms, sticky caramelized onions and a Parmesan crisp to the “21-U Club” ($12), a garlicky nod to the Bloody Mary, scattered with a special “Umami Dust” made from mushrooms, kelp and spices.
The line: On a recent gray, rainy weekday, people still lined up for a taste of the city’s buzziest new burger. It took us 25 minutes to get a table (takeout isn’t yet available) — not quick, but better than the three-hour waits we’d heard about. Once seated, service was speedy: A waitress took our order and the food arrived in about 10 minutes.
On a sunnier afternoon a few days later, the wait was significantly longer and more typical. West Villager Richard Weldon, 64, waited 45 minutes just to sit down to lunch with friends — food takes another 10 minutes. “It’d better be worth it,” he said, as the hostess informed him a table was available.
The takeaway: While many have compared Umami to Shake Shack in a West Coast versus East Coast burger battle (and the two may have long waits in common), Umami is more upscale with table service and fancy, flavor-dense toppings, like bacon lardons. That, of course, comes at a price — Umami burgers run upward of $12 while you can get a classic ShackBurger for $4.60. And while some burger purists may fuss about the squishiness of Umami’s buns or the loosely packed patties, customers we talked with were quite happy with Umami. Troy Pieper, 41, a Long Island attorney, stopped by for lunch with his father and brother and said it was worth their 20-minute wait for a table. While his father’s favorite restaurant is still Peter Luger Steakhouse, he said Umami Burger “could now be a close second.”
Insider tip: Convince a less-busy co-worker to grab a burger for you; while there’s no takeout, those dining-in can order up to two additional burgers to go.
XI’AN FAMOUS FOODS
28 MINUTE WAIT!
24 W. 45th St., 212-786-2068
The not-so-fast food: Based in Flushing, Queens, Xi’an Famous Foods is known for its spicy, regional Chinese specialties. In April, it opened a new, minuscule location in Midtown, its third in Manhattan, and neighborhood office workers started lining up, desperate for a break from the many — and much faster — corner delis and Pret A Mangers in the area. Lamb figures heavily on the menu, from the Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles ($7) to the Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger ($3), a cheap delight featured on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” when he visited the original location in Flushing.
The line: A single line that stretches out the door and up 45th Street services both to-go and to-stay orders. The wait can be painful; we waited 16 minutes on the sidewalk, just to slip inside and place an order, and an additional 12 minutes to actually get our food. While there are 18 backless stools in a cramped back room that has all the charm of a fast-food bathroom, most patrons take their orders to go.
On another recent weekday just after 1 p.m., Oliver Gray, 36, tagged along with a co-worker to try the place for the first time. Gray was cheery as he waited in the long queue, but said: “I generally think it’s crazy. I don’t wait in line, that’s what tourists do.”
The takeaway: Xi’an’s authentic, robust Middle Eastern-meets-Sichuan Chinese is unlike anything else in Midtown and the prices are hard to beat. A filling bowl of thick, doughy hand-pulled noodles is just $6, and a couple of lamb burgers will set you back barely a fiver. Those in the know make a point of arriving before noon or after 2 p.m. That’s what Liza Zhoi, 29, a financial analyst, usually does, but on a recent Tuesday around 1 p.m. she found herself in the middle of the long, prime-lunch-hour line. “I hate waiting,” she lamented, but “my boss is on vacation today, so I can come.”
Insider tip: There are no call-ahead or delivery options, so your best bet is to opt for a very early or very late lunch.