Midtown Lunch

As much as I’m embarrassed to admit it, I used to be a Grateful Dead fan in High School.  This may not be that funny to you (since you only know me as a fat guy who likes to stuff his face at lunch time), but most people who know me would be pretty surprised to hear that.  What nobody would be surprised to hear is my favorite part of going to a Dead show was these gigantor fatty egg rolls that would be sold outside beforehand.  They were huge, and stuffed fat, usually with shredded carrots and cabbage and they would give you a little packet of duck sauce so you could walk around squirting little bits into the egg roll before you took a bite.  For $3 it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, and I’ve never seen them anywhere since.  Man I miss those things.  (Where have you gone strange Grateful Dead following hippie giant egg roll makers????)

Anyway, you can imagine my excitement when I walked by Aron’s Kosher Restaurant on 48th btw. 5+6th the other day and saw this outside their door:

Sure, they weren’t gigantic, and the guy selling them was some Jewish kid who was probably not a hippie.  But they had the little packets of duck sauce, and for only $1- I had to get one.

The inside of the egg roll, links to Midtown stuff you definitely want to know about and the a preview of next week’s reviews- after the jump…

The egg roll was about as good as you would expect a Kosher egg roll to be.  Being a big fan of pork- I felt it was… how would you say “missing something?” (namely pork).  But it was only a buck, and I do love buying things from unmarked tables on the sidewalks of NYC.  It wasn’t even close to being as good as one of those Grateful Dead Parking Lot egg rolls (and only a third the size)- but it still brought back some nice memories. (Next time I’ll probably go with one of the more traditional kosher pastries they sell at the table!)

MIDTOWN LINKS:

• Three star Greek Restaurant coming to Midtown??? [Grub Street]
• Want an different kind of after work bar?  Izakaya is the way to go… [Chowhound]
• A special kind of Philly Slim’s Sandwich near NYU (but there is also one on 9th ave. in the 50s!) [Grub Street]
• Gordon who?  If you are a Hell’s Kitchen Fan (TV show, not the neighborhood) and have an expense account… [NY Sun via Eater]
• Kyotofu is open… and it is good!  [NYCNosh]

Next week is a short week… but we’ll still be here.  I still haven’t decided where I’m eating today… so feel free to leave suggestions as comments, or email me at zach@midtownlunch.com   (I guess you’ll find out on Monday where I decided to go) Have a good weekend…