Midtown Lunch

When the new, just out of bounds, location of 2 Bros Pizza opened on 9th Ave. & 40th Street in April, lunchers immediately started wondering if and when they’d be adding the popular $1 fried chicken pieces that are served at their St. Marks location Chelsea location on 17th & 6th Ave.  Don’t know when it happened, but the $1 fried chicken has finally been added to the menu- along with french fries, rice, and a few other steam tables items.

Taking on 99 Cent Fresh Pizza, just one block away, was an interesting decision… but taking on Piece of Chicken (on 45th btw. 8+9th)?  Well, that’s downright nutty.

Related:
$1 Slice Alert: St. Marks’ 2 Bros. Pizza is Officially Open

I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…)

Photo of a Random Mr. Softee Vendor (Not the one being complained about)

Here’s a particularly bad email I got yesterday from a guy who was ripped off by a Mr. Softee truck yesterday, and on his birthday of all days!

“So yeah, the guy at 36th and 7th in the Mister Softee truck is a monster prick. I went up to him, asked him for a small cup. He hands it to me and I thought to myself “wow, that’s a huge small” – he didn’t tell me how much it was, but I gave him a 20. When he handed me $13 back, I said “$7? For a small?”

He claimed that he showed me the large cup and I said that’s what I wanted (that NEVER happened). I said “well, do you have a small cup?” and he showed me the smaller (presumably much cheaper) cup. I said “that’s what I wanted. I asked for a small cup.”

He then proceeded to get in my face about it…”

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Remember Tripie, the crepe cart that was parked in Columbus Circle a few weeks back before getting chased away by the cops?  Well they popped up on Grub Street yesterday, who has video of them in action. We knew they were now parking on 8th Street and 4th Avenue, but I didn’t realize how amazing their list of crepe fillings is (guacamole and candy bars!?!)  Looks pretty awesome… I wonder if we can convince them to come back to Midtown!

Man, I was really in the mood for street meat yesterday… and can’t for the life of me figure out why.  (Oh, that’s right.)  I decided to hit up the Famous Halal Cart on the SE Corner of 53rd and 6th to try their kofta kebab (which we reported about a few months back.)  Probably not the smartest move considering they had just come in 3rd place in Street Meat Palooza 2 , but the line moved quick, and I just had to get my fix.

Check out my chicken and kofta combo plate, after the jump.

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If you love the concretes they serve at the Shake Shack, but don’t have time to make it to the UWS or Madison Square Park on your lunch break, you’ll want to pay attention to this news. Spoon City, a tiny take out soup, sandwich, and ice cream window has just opened on 5th Avenue btw. 33+34th serving the exact same frozen custard they serve at the Shack. They’re not affiliated in any way, but according to the guy behind the counter Spoon City uses the exact same machinery, and the same ingredients vendor that the Shake Shack uses.

Normally I don’t know if I can tell the difference between ice cream and “frozen custard” (which apparently is a Coney Island specialty) but I do know this: the Shacky Road concrete from the Shack Shack is freakin’ amazing, and if this Spoon City can even replicate a bit of that magic here in Midtown, I’m all for it!

In other words, how could I walk all the way over there and not order something…

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Although recently they’ve been really good about it, I’ve given the Riese Company a lot of crap over the years for not participating in various free food promotions at some of their Midtown franchises.  Well after reading this news on the NRN Website I’m here to say I TAKE IT ALL BACK:

The Riese Organization, a longtime multi-concept franchisee in New York City, is converting all 13 of its Dunkin’ Donuts stores to the Tim Hortons brand… Riese said he plans to close the Dunkin’ locations on Friday and reopen the stores July 13 under the Tim Hortons banner.

According to a different article on NRN, Tim Hortons also has cut a deal to co-brand three Manhattan locations of Cold Stone Creamery with Tim Hortons (including the Times Square location on 42nd btw. 7+8th), which will hopefully clear the way for items like  “muffin ‘bowls’ (i.e., with the tops removed) to serve ice cream in, ice cream-based coffee drinks or donut piece mix-ins for the ice cream as potential exclusive menu items at the co-branded locations.” My lord.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Tim Hortons, it is basically the Canadian version of Dunkin Donuts started by a famous hockey player named Tim Horton (natch). I’ve only had it once (on a road trip to Montreal) and I can’t speak for their doughnuts- but based on their iced cappuccino alone I am pretty excited to welcome Tim Hortons to Midtown with open arms! It is like ice cold crack in a cup, and I will probably drink one every day between now and the end of the summer.

As for why Riese is no longer in business with DD, the original article goes on to note that Dunkin Donuts claims to have terminated their contract due to “violated health and safety regulations”. (Not a surpise to anybody who has walked into a Tad’s Steak.) I don’t care either way… I will take a dirty Tim Hortons over no Tim Hortons any day of the week. As long as they don’t screw up those iced cappuccinos.

A list of all Riese owned Dunkin Donuts locations (which will presumably become Tim Hortons locations on Monday) is after the jump.

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Got this frantic email from Lunch’er Steven today: “Hey Zach, I just saw like 5 people in yellow Chick-Fil-A shirts with those domino’s pizza heat bags filled with food I imagine, go into one of the elevator banks in 30 rock. WTF?! Where could this be coming from?”  Well Steven, I’d love to be able to tell you that the only NYC Chick-Fil-A, located in the NYU Weinstein Hall food court, was now doing delivery but it’s nothing that exciting. Midtown Lunch friend Lisa Fain, from the blog Homesick Texan, confirms that Chick-Fil-A was in town today bringing food to various “media outlets”.

Her anger inducing photo is after the jump…

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When I crave a little Japanese curry rice with fried meat cutlets I usually hit up Go Go Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th) or Yagura (on 41st btw. Mad+5th), but for a nice sit down splurge Katsu-hama is the jam (on 47th btw. Mad+5th.) which makes this news kind of exciting…  Matsuya Foods, the company that owns Menchanko Tei and Katsu-hama, is turning Onigashmia (the Japanese spot connected to the Menchanko Tei on 55th btw. 5+6th) into a second branch of Katsuhama.  I never tried Onigashima, so I don’t know if this is an upgrade or downgrade… all I do know is it’s good news for any tonkatsu fans working in the northern part of Midtown. They’re hoping to have the location up and running by the end of the month.