Midtown Lunch

Just got this message from Dylan’s Candy Bar (just out of bounds on 3rd Ave. & 60th Street): “I just wanted to let you know that Dylan’s Candy Bar will be giving out FREE ice cream scoops Noon-2 to anyone who’d like to watch and cheer on Julia Allison and the NonSociety ladies as they film their first official public Lip Dub, ‘I Want Candy’.”  Midtown Lunch Translation:  “Dylan’s Candy Bar will giving away FREE ice cream scoops Noon to 2 blah blah blah.”  The best part is, you’ll be right across the street from the El Rey Del Sabor Mexican Cart.

We’re hearing from the good folks over at Murray’s Salami, in the Grand Central Terminal Market, that they will be giving out free samples of Jamón Ibérico de Bellota on Thursday November 13th (tomorrow) from 3 to 7 p.m.  I’m sure the samples will be small, but at $100 a pound, I’ll take whatever they’re willing to give.

Speaking of buffets, if you were wondering what the answer to yesterday’s pop quiz was- it was most definitely the rice.  And not only did I take too much, I took two different kinds!  A shameful rookie mistake when you are going to have pay for what it weighs.

Todai, the sushi buffet on 32nd btw. Mad+5th has changed their name to Ubi Umi Ichi Umi and raised their price to $18.95. Super expensive, but I made the exception for two reasons. 1) It’s an all u can eat buffet (fat man like buffets.) And 2) I was invited there by 3 competitve eaters (no joke). Massacre is not a good enough word to describe what is going right now… full report coming tomorrow.

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week, it’s Ted- a web geek who is looking for a long lunch.

Name: Ted

Age: 32

Occupation: Web geek

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Rockefeller Center

Favorite Kind of Food: Anything pork-related or pork-adjacent. I’ll pretty much eat anything, except for…

Least Favorite Kind of Food: … Liver, kidneys, or any internal animal organs. Tripe I’ll eat tho.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th), hands down. And the yellow DOH stickers don’t scare me at all, though I get grief from my co-workers about it. (“Hi, co-workers!”) I eat there at least 3 times a week for breakfast and/or lunch. I’m also partial to El Rincon del Sabor on 47th btw. 6+7th (the morcilla is great!), Cafe Cello on 45th btw. 5+6th (mmmm, pork skin), Sapporo on 49th btw. 6+7th (miso ramen!), and the street meat cart downstairs from my building on 47th and 6th.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? Subway. Can’t go wrong with $5 footlong sandwiches. Although the knife in the bread incident a couple of months ago did turn me off for a few weeks. The co-workers go for Wendy’s, Cafe Metro, and Chipotle a lot as well, pretty much because it’s quick and close by.

Place(s) you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch? Sapporo, Cafe Cello, Cafe Spice (I’m as partial to buffets as you are, Zach), Cafe Duke on 50th btw. 6+7th (that soon tubu is great but burns you from the inside.) Oh and the BF thanks you for the Mexican Cart on the East side (60th and 3rd), and using a picture of him for your post. And I just checked out the Mexican Cart myself yesterday on my way to running an errand at the Container Store. Totally delish! Reminds me of the taco stands in Jackson Heights, except the tacos are $1 instead of $2.

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I don’t even know where to start with this one.  I post a story on Thursday, and yesterday CBS 2 “reports” the same exact story on their 6 p.m. newscast- pawning it off as their own discovery.  Kind of lame if you ask me.  I might believe that it was just a coincidence, if it weren’t for the reporter being a complete douche total idiot guy who doesn’t know what the world halal means.  I’m flattered you use Midtown Lunch to come up with stories for your newscast… but a little credit would have been nice.  Think I’m being a bit harsh?  Read what I wrote on Thursay.  Then watch the video of the newscast… and you be the judge.

The Midtown branch of Sakae Sushi (the conveyor belt sushi chain from Singapore that is hugely popular in Asia) has been permanently closed down.  I can’t say I’m entirely surprised… the prices were kind of high, the quality of the fish was not the best, and the place was never at capacity.  I’m still kind of bummed it didn’t work out though-  I do love conveyor belt sushi.  Their West Village location (on 3rd Street just East of 6th Avenue) is still open, so we’ll see if this overseas chain can make it work in the states.

Related: Sakae Sushi is Betting That You Care More About Fun Than Value

Photo Courtesy of Lukey Dukey

Friday night, CBS 2 cameras were spotted filming the famous Halal Guys on the SW corner of 53rd and 6th, less than 24 hours after this story about the cart went up on Midtown Lunch. Today, Lunch’er Peggy got this report from the cart: “I was just at the halal guys cart and I mentioned the other weasel cart getting the same color sweaters. They said Channel 2 had just interviewed them about the story and it’s going to be on tonight at 6pm!”

Is it even possible this could be a coincidence? Let’s see if they give Midtown Lunch credit for the scoop!

This terrible news was just sent in from Midtown Lunch’er Elizabeth about the Blimpie on 46th btw. 5+6th:

I know you’ve called out this Blimpie for the scary vegetarian sandwich, but I just went for my favorite ghetto lunch today, and there are signs saying it is closing. It sounds like it was supposed to close tomorrow but it has been extended through Thursday. So they are offering two specials: free combo with the purchase of a giant sandwich, or $1 combo with the purchase of a regular sandwich.

This is terrible news for all the fans of the “Indian” special spicy sandwich (with Doritos)… and bad news for any fans of Blimpies in general- which seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate. The Blimpie on 35th btw. 7+8th closed last month.