Midtown's best side is DEFINITELY when viewed from the east. And the picture was taken from somewhere in Jamaica, near the train station. That white building in the sort-of foreground under the ESB is a structure in St. John's Cemetary, and the trees in the near foreground are those in Forest Park. That puts the shot at taken from about 9 miles out of the urban jungle.
EDIT: here's the white foreground building: