A fancy-pants, foreign-sounding name can’t save this place from slumming it with low-grade meat and bargain basement accoutrement. What does that all mean in English? My one and only time at this joint, I ordered a not inexpensive turkey sandwich on a baguette with some sort of corn-type relish, and everything–from the bread on down–stunk it up. The turkey was cold and slimy. The roll was as hard as crusty, old boat shoe. And the relish might have actually contained ammonia and/or lead paint chips. Add to that the fact the thing was a much lower temperature than any proper sandwich should be, and you have what amounts to a big old bummer of a meal. Odd, as there always seems to be a steady stream of patrons lining the front registers. I think location and tourists have a lot to do with that, as the thing sits smack dab at the entry to the Rock Center food concourse. It’s a crowd of serendipitous advantage. I have this sneaking suspicion that there just isn’t a whole lot of repeat patronage. Of course maybe I’m just releasing my venom because of one bad sandwich and there is, in fact, some decent stuff here. Too bad I’ll never find out. [MF]
30 Rockefeller Center
212/332-7630