Press

23rd Street is a premier spot for quick-serve restaurants (QSR) whether a local pizza shop or a chain like Chipotle. The QSRs mostly compete for lunch business as the area dies down after 5pm. Press is among the QSRs in the flatiron section on 23rd street (close to 5th ave).

I decided to venture around the area as "family meal" at work didn't look all that appetizing. I thought of sitting down and getting something nice, but I finally thought something quick would be best considering I didn't have that much time. As I walked around East on 24th, nothing really jumped out at me. I then turned around and headed to 23rd street as I knew I could find something.

I was actually on my way to try out Energy Kitchen as its based off a similar concept of Muscle Maker Grill--one of my favorite lunch spots. I figured I could use a healthy meal and its close to work. As I'm walking I came across Press, which always caught my eye when walking on 23rd street. I figured Energy Kitchen could wait, so I went in and tried it out.

I was impressed by the idea that you build your own wrap, but more impressed with the whole idea of fresh dough being pressed into a tortilla wrap. They break down the process of creating a wrap much like Chipotle, but they have different options for fillers.

So I started by picking the rosemary wrap. The guy behind the counter pressed the fresh dough into a wrap then we started. The first step to making your wrap was picking the fillings. I thought this was a bit strange as I thought the protein would be the first step. How could I pick the fillings if I didn't decide on a protein? Anyway, I decided to get some fried onions and mozzerella cheese. On my next step, I picked steak as my protein. The guy at the counter yelled to the man at the grill, instructing him to throw on some steak. The last step was to pick a sauce, so I decided on BBQ. I grabbed a Orange Cream Soda to wash down my customized steak wrap.

I wasn't very impressed with the wrap. I thought the dough to make the wrap was chewy to eat. The steak was fresh and the onions were good, but the wrap itself killed it for me. I was a bit taken back because I figured the "fresh" pressed wrap would be the best part. The bottled orange cream soda that I got was pretty good, but not good enough to go back. Good thing 23rd has more options!