Archive for June 2009

In the ML Forums

Here what lunchers are talking about right now in the forums

Street Meat Palooza 2 is in the Books

Just wrapped up the judging for the second annual Street Meat Palooza. 30+ lunchers just converged in Bryant Park and palooza’d the hell out of street meat from 15 different Midtown carts. There were some crazy new developments this year, and my hunch is a new winner is going to be crowned. Stay tuned… results will be posted next week.

Related:
Your Chance at a Spot in Street Meat Palooza 2
Street-Meat-Palooza: A 13 Cart Chicken/Lamb Over Rice Showdown

Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is Here: Thanks to Blondie & Brownie (of course) for pointing this one out. The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck is parked in front of TD Bank on 36th & 7th right now. Enjoy!

PROFILE: Midtown Lunch’er “Teresa”

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Teresa, the girl responsible for the amazing Wah Mei Pork Chop Fast Food delivery story last week. I wanted to see what other tricks she might up her sleeve!

Name: Teresa

Age: 26

Occupation: QA Analyst (just started 6 months ago and still don’t really know what I do exactly).
Where in Midtown do you Work?: TheMarkets.com around 53rd and 7th

Favorite Kind of Food: So far, my favorite is street food in Taipei. The food is so tasty and cheap. Whenever I visit Taipei, I make sure to have noodles almost everyday. Also, they have their famous soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung. The dumpling skin is much thinner than what I get here in Chinatown/Flushing. This summer I’ll be visiting Japan, so I hope to find some new favorites.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Mushrooms, sea cucumber, abalone, clams, oysters, mussels, most of the “exotic” seafood in a typical Chinese banquet.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Tonkotsu or Curry Ramen at Men Kui Tei on 56th btw. 5+6th (I found out sadly they don’t serve Mabo Ramen for lunch), Fried Chicken Curry Udon at Teriyaki Boy (on 7th Ave. btw. 48+49th), Beef Soft Tofu Soup at Cafe Duke’s (on 51st btw. 6+7th), and the unlimited salad at Stage Star (on 55th & 6th).

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Last Day for Certe’s Soft Shelled Crab; Thursday is $9 Lobster Roll Day

DSC02657It’s the last day of June, which means today is your final chance to for Certe’s delicious soft shelled crab sandwich (on 55th btw. 5+6th). I’m not sure if they are doing a July sandwich, but Thursday they *will* be serving the “make-good” $9 lobster roll they promised last month.  For those who don’t remember… on May 22nd Certe offered their Friday lobster roll for the special one day price of $9. Sadly, the sandwich didn’t live up to the standards of what some lunchers would consider an authentic lobster roll (it was a wrap, and had corn in it.)  Certe responded by saying they would offer a $9, authentic lobster roll, right before July 4th weekend to make up for it. So here it is.  Certe’s “authentic” lobster roll, this Thursday, take out only, for $8.95.  Enjoy!

Biryani Confirmation: The Trini Paki Boys cart is planning on having biryani every single day this week. Today's flavor: goat!  Awww yeah. (Dahi bala fans will have to wait until Thursday though. The Pakistani snack is a ton of work, and is still a one day a week a special.)

Is Baja Fresh Ripping Off Kogi? (And More Importantly How Soon Will The Midtown Branch be on Board?)

bajakogi
Photos Courtesy of OC Mexican Food Blog

There have been scores of Kogi BBQ Truck Korean taco imitators, both in LA (where the truck is based) and here in NYC (where we hope one day a Kogi truck will be based.)  But none are as big as this:  The OC Mexican Food blog is reporting that a Baja Fresh in Irvine is now selling something called “Baja Kogi”, a menu with a Korean style burrito and Korean tacos complete with “sesame salsa” and “kimchi slaw”.  The Kogi BBQ Truck rep I spoke too hadn’t even heard about this yet, so it’s unlikely it’s been officially licensed by the company- and right now it’s only at that one Baja Fresh location in California.  I just hope Baja Fresh adds it to their Midtown location (on Lex btw. 45+46th), before they get sued and have to scrap the whole thing! (Although technically “kogi” is just the Korean word for beef meat, so I’m not sure if it’s illegal to use it in this way.)

Ever since Momofuku Ssam Bar stopped selling their namesake dish, there has been a Korean burrito hole in my heart, and you know I’ll take Korean tacos however I can get them.  Bring it Baja Fresh! [via Food Section Twitter]

Related:
At Lunch Now: Live Coverage of the Kogi BBQ/Dessert Truck Midtown Mash-Up
New York City Baja Fresh Nails the Baja Chicken Burrito

99 Miles to Philly is Closed: This just in thanks to lunch'er "ecoli":  The just out of bounds location of 99 Miles to Philly that opened on 2nd Ave. and 52nd Street has closed.  It looks like the original EV location is still open, which means that it's just this space that's cursed.  Zip Burger barely lasted two years in the same spot, and- I don't know if you know this but- hamburgers are really popular in NYC.

More Fashion Soup: “There Are Two Sides to Every Story”

Fashion Soup, Midtown NYCGot this in the old inbox re: this morning’s eulogy to Fashion Soup: “I know someone very close to the landlord of 1440 Bway (Fashion Soup building) – here’s their side of the story – it was typical lease renewal dispute. The Fashion Soup lease was up, she (the owner) wanted generous relocation terms (e.g. 6 months notice to break lease and move out), and the building wouldn’t give them to her. They say she also seemed tired of running the business due to razor thin margins and lack of summer customer flow and is unlikely to relocate (thus the fire sale of the equipment). Two sides to every story I suppose, and I hate to see an independent with a good product give up, but that’s business.”

Street Sweets Creates Coffee Shop/Art Gallery in front of MOMA

ATT00001

This morning Lunch’er Lee sends this update on the whole Hot Dog Carts vs. Street Sweets truck showdown on Friday:

I took another picture of the Street Sweets Truck at the end of the day when I left work (about 6pm). Looks like they sorted out whatever they needed to. What I find interesting, is that the space where all the hot dog vendors were parked at 9am, became the space where all the art vendors set up during the day. I think Street Sweets may be on to a truly symbiotic relationship by creating an impromptu coffee/art space, which, we can all agree, makes more sense than a hot dog/art space!

I love it.  Although a coffee/art situation could theoretically compete with the cafe inside MOMA, leading them to “pull a Bistro Milano” and call the cops. Clearly the truck worked something out with the hot dog vendors: Street Sweets is back on 53rd btw. 5+6th today.

Related:
Hot Dog Vendors Gang Up on the Street Sweets Truck
Will the Street Sweets Truck Ever Learn?
The Man Wins: Street Sweets Forced to Find Another Spot