Midtown Lunch

Last week I got an email from Lunch’er Kyle asking me if I had tried the new chocolate corn bread muffins from Piece of Chicken, the just out of bounds soul food take out place on 45th btw. 8+9th Ave. where almost everything on the menu is $1 to $3.  Why no.  I haven’t tried the new choclate corn bread muffins, was my reply.  Clearly I needed to revisit Piece of Chicken, and see what was going on.

To be completely honest though, I had ulterior motives.  Chocolate corn bread muffins sounded pretty good, but what I really wanted to try was the fried chicken and waffle and fried chicken livers, two items on the Piece of Chicken menu which always seemed to be sold out every single time I stopped by for like two weeks straight last year.  Well, it’s been awhile- but I returned to Piece of Chicken a few days ago, and both items were available.

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Hallo Berlin (on 54th & 5th) is the latest cart to get their own episode on VendrTV, and watching Rolf Babiel work the cart while simultaneously answering the host’s questions is a sight to behold.  I learned the hard way not to take anything Rolf says seriously, but he ends up being pretty well behaved for most of this video- talking about how growing up poor in Germany taught him how to run an extremely efficient cart. The funniest bit is actually an outtake at the very end where he explains how Germans like to be spontaneous… like with sex. (Bonus Reveal: Rolf claims to have had sex in the store room and on the beer barrels at the restaurant.)

See the video for yourself, after the jump.

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Photos uploaded to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Pool by Pabo76

I guess TGI Friday’s isn’t the only one following Subway into the $5 lunch game. Midtown Lunch flickr friend Pabo76 just posted about the new $5 lunch special being offered through the end of May at Shilla (on 32nd btw. B’way+5th). Unfortunately, the special menu is only in Korean- so you may want to check out his post, which translates the whole thing (and includes photos.) The stews and soups being offered don’t look gigantic, but banchan is included for your $5- so it sounds like a good amount of food for the price (and looks pretty damn tasty.) [The Pabo Page]

Some people start blogs to get a real writing gig, or a book deal.  Some do it to get invited to events and openings and score free food.  My only dream in starting Midtown Lunch was that one day I would get to be a judge at the Vendy Awards (the Academy Awards for street food.)  Well, this year they have been suckered decided to make that dream a reality.  But even more exciting than the news about me, is that this year you can be a judge too!

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And the Baja Fresh invasion of New York City continues… thanks to Midtown Lunchers “Michelle” & “Mike” for sending along this great news: coming soon signs just went up for a second Baja Fresh on Broadway btw. 40+41st. in the old Zest space. As for the first Baja Fresh location (in the old Zen Burger space on Lex btw. 45+46th), the official signage went up at the end of last week and they had an open house for prospective employees yesterday… so we are clearly just a few weeks away. UPDATE: Eater is reporting that the Lexington location will open the day after Memorial Day, and the Broadway location will open sometime this fall.

A photo of the new signage on Lex is after the jump…

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When the Indian buffet Apna Taj took over the former East Ocean space back in March (on 55th btw. Lex+3rd) I noted that for just 45 cents less (they charge $10.50) they probably weren’t going to siphon off any business from the popular Indian buffet next door, Darbar Grill (which is $10.95).  Clearly they got the message, because they just lowered the price of their all you can buffet to $9.50. As anybody who reads this site regularly knows, I find something very appealing about all you can eat buffets that come in below that $10 threshold (they are dwindling by the day, so to see one drop the price is very exciting.)  Now, I will definitely be trying Apna Taj very soon.

Last month I went to 55th st. looking for some Indian buffet action and Darbar Grill was the obvious choice. Always pretty crowded, a ton of options, 3 (!!!) dessert choices, and of course- the infamous make your own dosa station. Photos of that meal, are after the jump…

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If you don’t mind spending over $10 for a quality steakhouse burger for lunch (or reading about the lengths PR people will go to get publicity) you’ll love this one. A few weeks ago, Benjamin Steakhouse (on 41st btw. Park+Madison) offered bloggers the chance to come in and try their burger side by side with the burgers of their competitors (picked up and delivered by Benjamin Steakhouse, of course.)  Well, three blogs took them up on the offer, and the results are in.  Blackbook was the first to weigh in, allowing the Benjamin Steakhouse PR people to deliver all the burgers to their office.  The winner: one person chose the BLT Burger as the best, the other four… Benjamin Steakhouse!

Josh “Mr Cutlets” Ozersky, from the Feedbag, chose Wolfgang’s as the best, but very nicely explained that Benjamin Steakhouse only lost because it wasn’t cooked medium rare. Finally our good friends over at Wined and Dined, who seem to relish promoting these little PR things- between eating Walgreens Sandwiches and greek salads from the 100% Halal & Healthy cart, also had nothing but nice things to say about the Benjamin Steakhouse burger. The whole thing wasn’t without some controversy (aside from the fact that the challenge was orchestrated entirely by the Benjamin Steakhouse PR team.)  Commenters on the Feedbag seemed to think that Mr. Cutlets might have mistakenly thought the BLT Burger was the Benjamin Steakhouse burger!  Not so says the Feedbag… they just didn’t label the photo properly on the post. Way to try and poke holes in the one post that didn’t choose Benjamin’s Steakhouse.

Here’s an idea… rather than spend all this money on PR people, and free burgers for bloggers- why doesn’t Benjamin Steakhouse offer an under $10 lunch special for the good people of Midtown!  That, we could all totally get behind…

Related:
Benjamin Steakhouse Doesn’t Quite Get “Midtown Lunch”
A.J. Maxwell’s Gives You Good Steak for $10

Photo courtesy of The Feedbag