My experience has always been that the closest place to the office should always be avoided. It always tends to be drab overpriced food for office workers. And it always annoyed me that people insisted on going to these places, day after day, even when much better and cheaper food was readily available at a greater distance. Somehow, convenience usually trumps everything.
Now, though, the closest place to where I work is Maffei's.
It's a great pizza, pasta and sub joint on the corner of 22nd St. and 6th Ave. The pizza is not among the city's best, but a nicely made greasy slice. I love the grease. I almost always get the pizza, even though about one out of every five slices I get is unbearably chewy (I mean this in a bad way). I don't know why this is.
I hate to compulsively go to the same place, but for some reason I ate there every day this week. Let's review:
Monday, I just wanted pizza. So I went to Maffei's, which is where I usually go if I'm by myself and want pizza.
Tuesday, we had lunch in the office. The lunch was fairly poor, it was a choice of chicken drowned in a white sauce, overcooked tuna in a tasty sweet sauce, or huge slabs of pork in a unknown sauce. I had the tuna. But there was no bread in sight! I had to have something else to tide me over, so I went down to Maffei's and got a grandma slice, which has plenty of nice tasty carbs.
Wednesday, I went to the farmer's market at Union Square. I wanted to go somewhere different for lunch, so I picked l'Annan, a Vietnamese place near there. I ordered the Pho, of which I didn't have high expectations. Places that only have one menu option for Pho generally don't have good Pho. The more menu options, the better it usually is. Anyway, it comes out, and it is completely, completely tasteless. I do not exaggerate. It had no taste at all, it was like water. I'm not sure what happened. But I hate to complain at restaurants, so I dumped some salt in it to make it taste better and ate the meat and noodles. On second thought, I should have complained. After the meal I was dejected, so after buying some tomatoes and strawberries at the market, I went over to Maffei's for a good old dependable slice. Thankfully, it was good. If I had gotten a too-chewy slice, I would have probably broken down in tears.
Today, Thursday, errands this morning took way too long, and I had no time to spare at work. Down to Maffei's it was. This time, I had a nice pasta.
It's a good place. But I'll be damned if I'm going back tomorrow.
Posted by ahyatt at October 7, 2004 05:11 PM