Midtown Lunch

My first trip to El Rey Del Sabor, the Mexican cart on 60th and 3rd Avenue, consisted of a taco and a huarache.  It was enough to know that this place was the real deal, and I posted immediately about the new-found gem.  But that lunch was not nearly enough to satisfy my own personal desire to eat everything on their menu. I mean, the food I had was good… but what about their tamales?  Or the fried empanadas?  Oh, and most importantly the mole.  I love mole poblano (the thick, dark, spicy, chocolaty sauce) and this cart serves up a version made from scratch by the owner’s sister.  How could I not?

Enchilades topped with mole, tamales, and a new off the menu creation that is pretty crazy- after the jump…  Read more »

I hit up the new by the lb. buffet at Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) for the first time on Friday, and here’s the damage.  It was a little over $6.  Not too bad, but not great either- and I think Sun Yip/Ho Yip on 45th btw. 5+6th is probably better (plus they have the price drop at 2:15, which can’t be beat.)  I think I’ll probably stick with the right side of the counter when I go to Hing Won, and order things off of their more authentic menu.

I did, however, break one of my cardinal rules of by-the-lb. buffet eating.  Can you spot it? What’s wrong with this picture? (If you want to cheat, you can look at my rules for by the lb. buffet eating.)

Crumbs’ Cupcake Giveaway. Photo by Food in Mouth

• Danny gets a free baba booey cupcake from Crumbs, and proclaims it AWESOME! [Food in Mouth]
• A stop by stop sampling of all the election day treats [Blondie and Brownie]
• Wafels and Dinges dropped the price of their WMD to $6 [Grub Street]
• Peter Cherches really likes the roast pork at Kar Won on 60th btw. Mad+Lex [Word of Mouth]
• A new Chipotle is opening up on Madison btw. 39+40th [Eater]
• (And because it’s been awhile… and I know you guys love him) Superman bestows praise on the hot dog at Five Guys [NYC Food Guy] 

Got this bad news about Jimmy’s Corner, one of the Midtown Happy Hours we posted about a few weeks ago:

“Thanks to some idiots, You can’t bring food into Jimmy’s any more because they were abusing Jimmy’s hospitality. Apparently Virgil’s would get so packed that you couldn’t even eat at Virgil’s bar, so people would order take-out, then go over to Jimmy’s and pig out on barbecue while using the JC facilities and only ordering a soda or asking for free water, which was wasting the JC crew’s time for almost no money (How much do you tip on free water?). They’ve since rescinded their policy of allowing food, with no exceptions. Thanks to the idiots for abusing the system and causing Jimmy’s fans to pay the price. It’s only $3 for a bud or $4 for whiskey/bourbon on the rocks, and you can’t throw them some real money?”

Another reason to hate tourists. And Times Square. And Virgil’s. And Times Square jerks who eat at Virgil’s.

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe the site should have a happy hour column. Every Friday we post 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. For this week’s recommendation we’re back to Profiled Midtown Lunch’er Kate.

This week we travel to the second floor of a hotel to find one of the more intimate bars I’ve seen. It’s the Upstairs Bar in The Hotel at Times Square, dubbed ‘the biggest little bar’ on their inconspicuous sandwich board outside the main entrance. It was initially that sandwich board that attracted me, boasting a happy hour that included $3 drafts, $5 cosmos, and $5 house wine. So yesterday after work and before dinner I ventured up a curved set of black marble steps to this tiny midtown oasis.

Read more »

Photo added to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Photo Pool by nycblondieandbrownie

Blondie and Brownie accepted the Murray’s Salami challenge, and proved that you can put together a tasty looking sandwich in the Grand Central Terminal Market for under $10. Ingredients: coppa from the newly opened Murray’s Salami, mozzarella from Murray’s Cheese, and bread from Corrado’s Bakery.  Also, Eater is reporting that if you spend more than $25 at Murray’s Salami, they’ll give you a four pack of Niman Ranch hot dogs.  It may be time to round up three friends, and head over to the Grand Central Terminal Market (entrance on Lexington and 43rd).

Crif Dogs isn’t the only hot dog place celebrating Tuesday’s election results. Yesterday, the Gray’s Papaya on 8th Ave. and 37th St. started selling “Obama Dogs” for 99 Cents. I guess the President-elect is already having a positive effect on the economy- it was less than a month ago that Gray’s announced that they were raising the price of their recession special.  No word on how long the $1 hot dog deal will last, but if they keep it up for as long as people are giddy about Obama’s victory, it may be awhile.

I dreaded dragging my ass out of bed early enough to make it to Crumbs (on Madison btw. 52+53rd) at 8 a.m. this morning for their free cupcake giveaway (I don’t even like cupcakes that much)… but luckily Dessert Buzz did it for me!  “As of 8:45 a.m… there is no line.”  Maybe these 1000 cupcakes will last a little longer than we thought…

It’s one thing to read about the new Department of Health subway ads online, it’s another thing to be face to face with one while riding the subway today.  A few thoughts I had while staring (sadly) at this sign:

1. If 2000 calories is all most adults should eat daily, I think I’m in big big trouble.
2. In response to the question at the bottom of the sign… I ask myself that every single day, and the answer is always yes.
3. This would seem to be an attack on Chipotle, but according to their posted calorie “ranges” a burrito is only 420-918 calories. I don’t know where the DOH gets their craaaaazy numbers from!
4. Maybe this isn’t Chipotle. Who could afford to get guacamole in their burrito *and* a side of guacamole! Wouldn’t that cost like $17.
5. I’m really glad they didn’t make one of these signs for eating at a Chinese buffet.
6. I don’t think I like these ads. (Ignorance is truly bliss.)