Midtown Lunch

NYC Cravings Truck Gets a New Look. Photo courtesy of Ultraclay!

• The Go Go Curry lines weren’t quite as long after 3pm yesterday [NYColor]
• Check out this new chocolate bar inside a jewelry store on Madison Ave. [Wandering Eater]
• Henry Kissinger was spotted at Kolache Mama!?! [NYDN]
• $12 is a little steep, but Galway Hooker’s burger is one of the better in NYC [Me So Hungry]
• Dave Cook tries out a halal cart on 28th and 10th [Eating in Translation]
• The noodle bar at Woorijip disappoints another blogger [Ramen & Friends]
• Looking for vegetarian Korean?  HanGawi is the spot [High Low, Food Drink]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” posts about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

You know, all my single friends are always complaining that there isn’t a good place to meet men. They keep hitting these clubs, and fancy bars, when all along burly men were right under their noses at Bravest on 38th. It’s testosterone heavy and the bar maids are sharp tongued and quick to put you in your place, even if that place is a seat at the bar where you get treated like family. Open since 1978 in various incarnations, Bravest has been owned and patronized by New York’s local firemen. From their website:

Its early start was as Suspenders, owned by New York Firefighter Larry Fitzpatrick who died while on duty. It then became the internationally popular Full Moon Saloon whose owner honored and preserved his memory and it still remains a favorite gathering place for New York’s bravest. Today’s Bravest on 38th continues in that same spirit, and is owned by a retired FDNY Fire Marshall.

Read more »

Serious Eats New York hits up Mad For Chicken (on 5th Ave. btw. 31+32nd) and determines something that Midtown Lunch’ers confirmed back in May when the switch was first made.  The owner/operators didn’t change, just the name, so the chicken is pretty much exactly the same as it was when it was Bon Chon (except the spicy chicken might be a little spicier?)

The real taste test will happen when Bon Chon and Kyochon finally open their new Midtown locations, and we can have a three way death match!

Related:
Bon Chon Publicly Severs Ties With Mad for Chicken
Bon Chon is So Not a Midtown Lunch… But Damn That is Some Good Chicken

Those of us who love eating street food, but hate taking lunch back to our desks, have a common problem.  Where should we eat?  There are a number of indoor pavilions and outdoor seating areas scattered across Midtown, but sometimes I just wish there was a place right next to the carts to just saddle up and tuck in.  Well thanks to Pratt Grad Student Ali Pulver, now there is.  For her thesis she is developing a couple of tools to make it easier for us to eat on the street.  And after testing out the “Lunch Shelf” and the “Hydrantable” last week, I’ve got to say these could represent the greatest advancements in street food technology since the invention of chicken and lamb over rice!

Read more »

Our Downtown Lunch man Daniel Krieger is taking some time off (he’s busy being a professional photographer!), so I’m turning to a couple of new Downtown Lunchers to pick up the slack. This week Lunch’er Kevin hits up Yips.

Yips could be a Manhattan restaurant empire, or “yip” could just be a Chinese word for restaurant. I am absolutely clueless. Either way, there are a lot of them. There’s the Yips that Zach wrote about in Midtown (plus Ho Yip), and The Google has listings for three Yip’s downtown as well a Yip’s Dragon Style Kung Fu on the Lower East Side. So while there’s nothing apparently “Dragon Style” about the Yip’s Restaurant on Beaver St. between Broadway and Broad, its sprawling pay-by-the-pound buffet is chock full of ways for cheap Chinese addicts to get their fix.

Read more »

Go Go Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th) is as much a Midtown shrine to Hideki Matsui as it is a popular spot for Japanese curry (go means 5 in Japanese, and 55 is Matsui’s number.)  So the day after Godzilla was named MVP of the World Series, it should be no surprise that GGC was a complete madhouse, with lines stretching down the block.  (5 free toppings coupons certainly helped.) CBS2 News filmed a segment, as did Fuji TV, and NHK World News.  Plus the New York Times reported wait times of up to 40 minutes for food, and asked owners what would happen if Matsui left the Yankees (his contract expired at the end of this season.) Their response? Go Go Curry isn’t going anywhere, but if Matsui leaves New York they will probably stop giving away the free topping coupons for all his homeruns.

I think I speak for all Midtown Lunchers when I say the Yanks should give the man whatever he wants!

Related:
Go Go Curry Hits a Japanese Curry Grand Slam

• Holey Cream is bringing “outrageous doughnuts” to Midtown West [Eating Outside Midtown]
• Know where I can find one of those “Hot Soup” carts? [Midtown Eating]
• Tourist needs help finding Thanksgiving week lunch [Midtown Eating]
• Are both Korean carts missing? [Midtown Eating]
• Dos Toros Taqueria is now open in Union Square [Eating Outside Midtown]
• In N Out Burger rip-off coming to Flatiron? [Eating Outside Midtown]