Midtown Lunch

I had heard about the mysterious take-out only lobster roll offered as an occasional lunch special at Certe (on 55th btw. 5+6th), but at $11.75 it’s usually out of the Midtown Lunch price range… except for tomorrow. We’ve gotten word that for one day only (Friday, May 22) Certe will be offering their lobster roll for $8.95 (take out only.) There is nothing like a lobster roll to get your Memorial Day weekend kicked off right… except maybe the bacon implosion. This could be a really tough decision. Anybody had the Certe lobster roll before? Let us know in the comments if it’s worth it.

Been getting a lot of emails about the new cupcake truck launching in NYC tomorrow.  No sign of Midtown on their preview schedule– but the truck was started by a couple of NYU New York Law School grads who couldn’t get lawyer jobs, so I’m guessing they’ll want to flaunt their new business in the faces of those that spurned them. In other words, it’s only a matter of time before they start parking outside Midtown law firms. UPDATE: SENY is reporting that they plan on parking in the Herald Square area from 9am to 5pm.

There are two kinds of lunchers in Midtown.  Those who will travel (us), and those who won’t (the people who eat at Cafe Metro.)  And within the group of people I like to refer to as Midtown Lunch’ers (those who travel) there are two sub sets of people:  those who are just looking for good lunch at a decent price, and those who treat every lunch as some sort of adventure.  Adventure lunchers are the ones who flocked to the 38th St Restaurant and Bakery (now Ying Du) after I wrote this post. Adventure lunchers are the ones who used Street Meat Palooza as a personal checklist (stomachs be damned!)  Adventure lunchers are the ones who would choose grossing out their co-workers over their own personal well being.  And yes, some of them will even eat the Walgreens Sandwich. (Although there are a lot of people who will eat a gross cold cuts sandwich from Walgreens, but wouldn’t eat at Ying Du… and those people are lame.)

It was with that attitude that I ventured into Kashmir Buffet on Tuesday, determined to finally try what is now the cheapest all you can eat buffet in Midtown.

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It’s official! This just in from Chef David Conn, from Channel Four (on 48th btw. 5+6th): “Starting this Friday (5/22), Bacon Implosion Sandwich: Two slices of our smoked, pork filled Implosion grilled and topped with green tomato chow chow relish and served with house fried spicy potato chips. $9.95″ Whoever said it was time to retire the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge was clearly a crazy person!

Last night was the final preliminary time trial for the Go Go Curry Championship, so the finals are now set. Here are the 5 finalists that will be competing for the $500 first prize:

1. “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti (:37)
2. Paul Arcaria (:53)
3. Masato Tomita (:55)
4. Don “Moses” Lerman (1:00)
5. Dale “Mouth of the South” Boone (1:07)

So, with four out of five of the contestants all having some pro competitive eating experience, this event is shaping up to be a battle between “Gentleman” Joe and Don Lerman- who apparently are still feuding over something that happened years ago. The lone darkhorse appears to be Masato Tomita, the only name out of the five that when google’d doesn’t turn up some random gross eating competition.

The final round will take place on May 30th, inside Go Go Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th) at 5pm. The place is tiny, but they do have four audience member spots to give away (plus their guests.) If you’d like to enter for one of those spots, email ggc@notionsunited.com

Related:
Is Go Go Curry’s Eating Championship Turning Into a Parade of Pro Eating “Has Beens”?
Go Go Curry Launches Annual Eating Competition

53rd St. & 6th Ave at 12:30pm; SW Corner/Imposter (On Left), SE Corner/Real Deal (On Right)

In all my years of Midtown Lunch’ing this is the first day that I’ve seen the lunchtime line for the halal cart on the SE corner of 53rd & 6th rival that of the “imposter” cart on the SW corner of 53rd & 6th.  As any longtime reader of Midtown Lunch knows, the cart on the SW corner of 53rd & 6th during the day is not related in any way to the famous Halal cart that is parked there at night.  In fact, if you want the famous halal during the day you have to go to the SE corner of 53rd & 6th or the SW corner of 53rd & 7th.  Best way to tell if you are at the right cart… look for the yellow bags with the famous halal guy logo on them. It’s good to see that folks are finally getting the message.  Whatever you do, though, don’t OD on the stuff.  According to Lunch’er “TC”, if you eat at the cart on 53rd & 6th every day you will definitely get sick of it.

Related:
Debunking the Myths of 53rd & 6th, the Most Famous Halal Intersection in New York City
Famous Halal Cart on 53rd & 6th, Adds Another Cart on 7th

To say I was inspired by this post on Fork in the Road about a pork chop stuffed bo lo bao would be an understatement.  Mesmerized? Entranced? Seduced?  Whatever you want to call it, seeing a pork chop sandwiched inside a sugar topped Chinese pineapple bun stirred up feelings in me of extreme desire. But how to get one of these creations?  The piece mentioned that this treat is indigenous to Macao- but nothing about where to enjoy one here in New York City!  Clearly I would have to take matters into my own hands, and go to the one place in Midtown that I knew had buns and pork chops: Ying Du (on 38th btw. 7+8th).

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