Take A Look At The Sprawling New Urbanspace Food Hall In Midtown

News of a shiny new food hall might elicit little more than a shrug these days, given their abundance, but the launching of a whole bunch of new lunch options is always welcome in the heart of office-tower Midtown. Especially when the roster of vendors includes crowd-pleasers like Roberta's pizza, Harlem's great LoLo's, and miraculously, an Eisenberg's sandwich shop, the first-ever offshoot of their Flatiron outpost.

The spacious venture, opening today on West 52nd between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, is from the seasoned food-hall pros at Urbanspace, and it features a bounteous total of 15 new and familiar restaurants, plus a full bar in a lounge-y mezzanine. There's seating for about 250 across the 12,000-square-feet, both upstairs, and at a few tall tables throughout, and in a small dining area near the second bar, run by Seamore's. And though it's an obvious resource for area workers, the location is also pretty ideal for a pre-theater/post MoMA meal. [Editor's note: Or perhaps for when you are just basking in the Midtownaissance.]

We attended a press preview this week and ate a ton of food from most of the vendors—there's a lot to be excited about, but the biggest news is surely the opening of a new Eisenberg's, which has been slinging first-rate sandwiches since 1929. Their menu up at Urbanspace 52 has been truncated for the space, but know that the glorious Tuna Melt is here, as well other classics like Pastrami, a Ruben, Liverwurst, a Breakfast BLT, and their legendary Egg Salad.

There are several other interesting offshoots here as well. Call Me Pasta is a spinoff of Sola Pasta in SoHo, offering, among other solid choices, a wonderful Spaghetti with Cacio e Pepe.

Lolo's from Harlem is also here, focusing more on chicken than fish, with a Curry Goat special that really satisfies. And maybe my favorite bites came courtesy of City Tamale, the South Bronx outfit that brought a half dozen of their best varieties to Midtown, including a fiery Pork Salsa Rojo and a delicious, vegetarian Rajas con Queso. Their guacamole is awesome, too. If anyone can steal some of the Mexican street-food spotlight from tacos and burritos and direct in onto tamales, it's these guys.

Other winning choices include Seamore's lobster rolls and raw bar (and booze bar); all of the crazy, loaded-up hot dogs at Coney Shack; and Brazilian treats at Cafe Patoro, like bags of Pão de Queijo, a variety of Tapioca Crepes, and, spectacularly, whole huge slices of fudgy Brigadeiro cake.

Roberta's has a slate of ten different pies on offer (yes, including the Bee Sting), the TabeTomo team came up from the East Village with splendid bowls of ramen and karaage plates at TomoTomo, and Pita Yeero has several appealing, deconstructed gyro-ish offerings.

The growing chainlet Black Iron Burger has your basic burger-and-fries needs covered, Go Fish is the move for sushi rolls and chirashi bowls, Dorado for Baja-style fish tacos, and vegans (or anyone trying to bring more plant-based meals into their week) will appreciate Plant Junkie, with their full line up of hearty sandwiches and bowls. Partners Coffee is in charge of keeping everyone caffeinated.

In addition to serving breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, dessert, and drinks, Urbanspace W 52 is making a big commitment toward only allowing reusable and/or compostable materials. Not all the vendors are on board yet (we spotted plastic straws and those aluminum to-go containers with plastic lids) but at least if you ask for anything to stay it should be served on a washable melamine plate, a system managed by a company called Keko Box, which functions as a kind of linen service, but with dishware.

Urbanspace W 52 is located at 152 West 52nd Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, and is now open weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m. (urbanspacenyc.com)