Midtown Lunch

My kid at the OTB. What… is that wrong? A lady working there did give
me a big frown and a “No you didn’t” looking head shake

• The SVP is trying to convince the city that expanding the number of street vending licenses would be a good way to help end joblessness [City Room]
• You can try Red Mango’s new flavor for free on Saturday Noon to 4pm [Grub Street]
• A look at the mint whoopie pie from Joe and the Art of Coffee in Grand Central [Blondie and Brownie]
• Kathy YL Chan finds her favorite Korean pastry at Cafe Ele on 32nd Street [Serious Eats: New York]
• The just out of bounds Tulcingo del Valle turns out an amazing version of chiles rellenos [Fork in the Road]
• Cutlets takes up the Benjamin Steakhouse Burger Challenge (I’m sure this will be be a fair competition.) [The Feedbag]
• There a new chef at Ariyoshi, an Izakaya in the East 50s [Word of Mouth]
• The proscuitto pie at Lazzara’s looks pretty damn good [BLD Project]
• If you were interested in stalking Lunch’er Jamie, you should have gone to Tehuitzingo earlier in the week [Fressa Girl]
• Sarah DiGregorio attempts to do Inakaya (in the NYT building) on the cheap [Village Voice]
• The Rafiqi’s on 32nd & Park has corn, cilantro, and olives as toppings [Ultraclay]

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” will 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. This past week, Mamacita was out of town, so she had a friend check in with this quick report from a visit to Black Finn.

I just got back from Chapel Hill, NC where I stuffed myself with pulled pork, pork ribs, hushpuppies, southern fried breakfasts and sweet tea. I plan on spreading my swine flu to all you midtowners! Due to my absence I was AWOL for any happy hours in NY with my friends. But like they say, when the cats away the mice will play. My favorite lush Scarlett took up the baton for this week’s happy hour and here is her lubricated take on BlackFinn, a bar where I guess all the midtown white boys rock out. -Mamacita

“That place was hysterical. My friend Kim told me there was a DJ but I kind of can’t believe it. I think the guy must have had Top 40 hit CDs– he would play ACDC and then Kelly Clarkson then an R&B hit, then Earth Wind and Fire, then Michael Jackson………. so funny. We got there at like 6 and by 7 it was elbow to elbow crowded with the WHITEST people I have ever seen in my life. Other than a few token asian girls, my gf was the only person who looked like they had any flavor in the joint.

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You know… maybe I don’t want to know. Some things are better left as “evidence of” as opposed to “actual sighting”. I had a pork noodle soup at Hing Won today (on 48th btw. 5+6th), and lord knows that place has seen its fair share of roaches. But they don’t have booths. Szechuan Gourmet has booths… don’t they? Do they serve pork noodle soup? I guess he didn’t specifically say it was Chinese food. Menchanko Tei (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd) serves ramen with pork in it. Technically that could be considered pork noodle soup… oh man, I’ve got to know!

This, you’re not going to believe. (Not so much where, but the “what happened next”)

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Quick lunch at Hing Won (on 48th btw 5+6th), followed by a couple of wagers on the Kentucky Derby at the OTB right next door. Who says you can’t spend part of your lunch hour at the OTB! In addition to the 48th st location, there is one on 3rd Ave and 44th, plus you can place bets at Inside Track on 53rd and 2nd, the Playwright on 35th btw 5+6th, and Winner’s Circle on 7th Ave and 38th. Good luck…

Oh, and go Desert Party!

Gee, do you think Midtown Lunch’ers would be interested in a truck that sells sandwiches modeled after the Rutgers grease trucks?  Uh… I’d say so.  Papa Perrone (on 55th btw. Mad+Park) answered the call of the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge yesterday by serving up a chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, and french fries sandwich with marinara- a well known combo made famous by the Rutgers grease Trucks.  I showed up just after Noon to get mine (knowing that if Papa Perrone only had enough mozzarella sticks and french fries for 20 sandwiches, these things were going to run out fast.)

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It just goes to show, you can’t believe everything you read… from the owners of the new Baja Fresh (opening on Lex btw. 44+45th): “We will definitely not be opening the week of May 11th.  We are hoping to open the week of May 19th, but it might not even be until the week after that.”  They claim to have no idea how that reporter got the May 11th date, but wanted to make sure there weren’t a bunch of disappointed Midtown Lunchers come the week of May 11th.  As soon as the staff is trained, the gas is on, and food is ready to be served, they’ll let us know. (Me thinks we might be building this up a bit too much… I hope they don’t disappoint.)