HELP! Moving to GM Building

Help my office is relocating to the GM Building - 59th Street and 5th Avenue and we need some place cheap to have lunch. Looking for all types of food within walking distance (3 blocks east/west and 5 blocks north/south), sit-down, stand-up, take-out, etc. and some place for Thursday lunch wine/beer/margaritas. Thanks!

[Peter Cherches]

55th & 56th Street between 5th & 6th:

Cafe Spice & Bay Leaf (lunch buffet) for Indian
Menchanko-Tei & Menkui-Tei for Japanese noodles
Joe's Shanghai (though very overpriced)
La Bonne Soupe (not bad; after all these years I finally got there last month)

http://petercherches.blogspot.com

[debola]

I used to work on Lex at 57th, so was willing to head further east.

The Japanese grocer, Katagiri on 59th between 2nd and 3rd has good bento boxes, reasonable sushi and puts together soba/udon to go.

Teodoro 57th just east of Lex has excellent homemade pasta and other treats

Opia became my de facto "nice lunch spot" with friends because menu was wide enough to satisfy many appetites

And if you want a great view, good food and can handle a "ladies who lunch" scene, check out ASTRA in the D&D building (979 3rd Ave), Charlie Palmer's catering business serves lunch weekdays, and since you pay in advance you can get in/out quickly.

[kersie]

Any new options around here? I'm not looking for anything great, just a quick lunch option... but reading this and the other thread from a few years ago -- http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/... -- I'm thinking I may just have to stick to the in-house cafeteria, which is a truly depressing prospect. I will, however, try out the greek cart!

I don't know if it qualifies as cheap, but lately I've found Aquavit Cafe to be a great value for the quality-$20 lunch...I love the herring plate.

Link: http://www.aquavit.org/flash.html

Your go-to spot should be the greek street cart on 62nd just west of Madison. A truly amazing chicken platter. REALLY GOOD.