There’s been a sudden profusion of afternoon delight in Manhattan, but not the kind Starland Vocal Band sang about. A growing array of eateries are squeezing in another meal, complete with new menus, to feed customers who turn up between 3 and 5 p.m.
Until recently, those hours had been a gastric wasteland, during which most restaurants closed to prepare for the dinner rush. Now they’re serving something that might be construed as “linner.” Or is it “dunch”?
“It’s a way to take advantage of the real estate,” says Justin Morel, general manager of Cookshop (156 10th Ave.). “We have the kitchen, we have the dining room, we have people coming off or going up to the High Line or on an art gallery crawl. It just makes sense to be able to offer them something to eat.”
Cookshop’s afternoon menu features some 16 items, ranging from a cutting board laden with a lip-smacking array of paté to a fresh salad composed of greens and huge sliced berries. There’s also a delicious selection of pizzas featuring ingredients seemingly plucked straight from the nearby greenmarket in Union Square. Not to mention the fresh oysters.
Several other restaurants, including Tribeca Grill and Pulino’s Bar and Pizzeria, offer similar menus. But frankly, who are these people who actually have time to eat when the rest of us are elbow-deep at work?
Some are tourists; some are patrons of the arts; some are college kids with good taste; others are simply night workers who need a bite before their shift.
“I’m a metal polisher,” says Rene Dioses, who dined at 4:30 p.m. on margherita pizza with his wife, Christine Avilas, at Pulino’s (282 Bowery). “I work what’s called the Third Shift — the overnight — so I usually eat ‘lunch’ around now. We’ve been looking at this place for weeks and finally had an opportunity to try it out.”
Pulino’s calls it a late afternoon menu, or “mini lunch.” But at a glance, the menu appear almost as lengthy as a full-service dinner menu, offering 12 different pizzas and nine appetizers.
“It’s funny,” says the Upper East Side’s Ruth Ellen Simmons, who at 3:42 p.m. dined at Cookshop with friend Margaret Thompson. “We were just wondering ourselves, ‘Who are all these people eating here?’”
And who, you might ask, is Simmons?
A consultant for senior-citizen services, on her day off, touring Chelsea galleries and the High Line.
At a table nearby, Harlem’s Crystal Green, 20, a retailer on her day off, had ordered a platter of oysters to share with a friend, Rio Castillo, 24, who was visiting — on business — from Mexico.
“We were surprised to find something open at this hour where we could get something substantial,” Castillo says.
Tribeca Grill (375 Greenwich St.), the famed eatery co-owned by Robert DeNiro, offers perhaps one of the city’s most substantial midday menus.
“It’s a combination of some of the most popular items from both our lunch and dinner menus,” says service manager Adam Cornelius, of the roughly 20 menu items, paired with a comprehensive wine and cocktail list. Entrées range from a nearly perfect Black Angus burger and soft-shell crab sandwich to roasted organic chicken breast and a sautéed jumbo lump crabcake over creamed corn and topped with crispy shallots.
“We’re here because it’s not that touristy,” says Natasha Miller, 21, a Columbia student dining around 4 p.m. with her friend Simone Wilson, visiting from Asheville, NC.
“Having a menu like this, at this time, is just a no-brainer,” says Tribeca executive chef Stephen Lewandowski. “People are hungry at all times of the day.”
Five 4 o’clock feasts
Other restaurants offering afternoon menus, and their signature midday dishes:
Spotted Pig (14 W. 11th St.)
A monument to meat, this collaboration between Mario Batali, A&R exec Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield offers a bar menu from 3 to 5 p.m. We recommend the char-grilled burger with Roquefort cheese and a shoestring fries. It’s a bit pricey at $17, but burger aficionados will understand why this is a belt-notcher. (It’s not on the midday menu, but it’s also worth asking for the Pig’s legendary Cubano sandwich.)
Stand (24 E. 12th St.)
This burger-centric joint offers cool smoothies (booze optional) and two-for-one burgers from 3 to 5 p.m., a seriously good deal. The most expensive burger is prime ground beef slathered with bacon, egg and cheese ($12).
Rue 57 (60 W. 57th St.)
Though it’s a bit touristy, this midtown brasserie includes its tasty kobe beef sliders with fries ($16.50) on its 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. menu.
Balthazar (80 Spring St.)
An extremely large late afternoon menu but offered only Mon. through Fri., 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Try the roasted eggplant sandwich ($14) with peperonata, arugula and shaved parmesan on ciabatta.
Plein Sud (85 West Broadway)
Executive chef Ed Cotton, a “Top Chef” Season 7 contestant, serves the tartine de gigot
d’agneau sandwich (above): roasted leg of lamb with herbed goat cheese, spicy arugula, tapenade and rosemary jus ($15).