Midtown Lunch

Like a heroin addict who can’t stay away from the methadone, my addiction to cheap Chinese food often manifests itself in my inability to eat at a mall food court without getting bourbon chicken. Sure, “technically” it’s not Chinese food- but who are they kidding? We all know bourbon chicken (and its many permutations) was invented so all the non-Chinese food spots could lure those with the same affliction as me away from the one Chinese food option in the food court. (Plus, it works as the perfect free sample.)

So you can imagine how excited I was to discover that the people who ran the “Cajun Cafe” in the now closed Manhattan Mall Food Court, have reopened their food court stand as a brick and mortar shop- replacing Pow Wok on 7th Ave. btw. 36+37th.

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Somebody commented earlier in the week that they had heard a rumor that the new Koreatown location of Kyochon (on 32nd & 5th) was open (this despite Grub Street’s report that they weren’t opening until June.)  The comment piqued my interest enough to call the location, and I ended up having a pretty strange conversation with the guy who answered.

Me: “Are you guys open yet”
Him: “We will open April…” and then he was cut off by somebody speaking in Korean in the background. He came back and said: “July”
Me: “So, you are opening in July?”
Him: “August”

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So by now you may or may not have heard about KFC’s new “Grilled Chicken” (being hawked by B list Food Network celebs.) Knowing that few would probably pay to try this stuff, KFC is giving away free grilled chicken this Monday, April 27th (one piece person) at all participating locations. Sadly though, all the KFC’s in Midtown are owned and operated by Riese, which has a pretty bad track record of participation in these things.

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Yesterday we reported that (retired) professional eater Don “Moses” Lerman has entered the Go Go Curry Eating Championship with an amazing preliminary qualifying time of one minute. Today, Lunch’er Lydia informed us in the comments that there is video proof of Lerman’s time. And folks… it is ugly.

If you were considering entering the competition, thinking it would be a fun way to show your friends how much you could eat (and possibly win $500 for doing it) this video might make you reconsider. Some might say Lerman’s presence puts a damper on the whole competition… after all who is going to want to enter knowing they are going to lose to a pro eater. But I look at it a different way. No matter how much you love basketball, you are never going to get to go one on one with LeBron James. But if you love to eat, this is your chance to go toe to toe with one of the greats! And who knows… maybe there will be a Buster Douglas moment.

The very intimidating video is after the jump…

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Check it out… Margon (the amazing Cuban/Dominican lunch counter on 46th btw. 6+7th) is Roadfood’s “Restaurant of the Day”.  I’ve never fully understood Roadfood and its criteria- after all, who is going to pull off the freeway to eat at a place in Times Square?  But it’s cool to see Margon getting some love from such a popular site.

They’ve also been recently added to the Not For Tourist Guide, and I’m kind of into their one line description.

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I have nobody to blame for this but myself.  Do I think Goodburger has the best combo meal in the city?  Obviously not… but I did post those words on the site (unsurprisingly they didn’t care that it was a half-sarcastic attempt to get Midtown Lunch on their wall of fame.)  Of course they left out the “if only it was cheaper” part, a crucial impediment to fully enjoying Goodburger.  And, the quote is completely misleading now- because at the time I wrote it, it was meant to be kind of a joke- since they were the *only* burger place to offer combo meals in Midtown.  (Since I wrote that, City Burger has appeared with combo meals eerily similar to Goodburger, but Burger Joint and Five Guys still don’t offer them.)

Oh well.  You live and learn.  Now I’m immortalized on their wall as saying something nobody would agree with. (At least I am in good company.)  Awesome.  Well, as long as I’m here I might as well try their Steak & Egg Burger- which was just reintroduced to the menu as a lunchtime item (and an official entry in the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.)

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Like Tom Collichio returning to the kitchen of Craft… Muhammed Rahman has returned to the cart that made him famous: the original Kwik Meal cart on 45th & 6th.  He has spent the better part of the past few months manning two new Kwik Meal carts- Quick Delight (on 45th & 3rd) and the hilariously named Meal Obama (on 37th and 7th).  All four of his carts are still in their normal spots… but if you worked near the original Kwik Meal cart, and have been missing Muhammed’s smiling face, this is the week to hit up Kwik Meal for some lamb over rice.

You had to know this was coming: following the success of Papa Perrone’s entry in the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge, now you can get any sandwich from the truck (on 55th btw. Mad+Park) on garlic bread.  We’re also hearing rumors that the special sandwich (meatballs and eggplant parm on garlic bread) has morphed into a baked ziti & eggplant parm on garlic bread ($7.50)  The hits just keep on coming…