Midtown Lunch

I fell like every time I have ever brought up my quest for a real gyro here in Midtown, one out of bounds place has always come up in the comments: bZ Grill in Astoria. “bZ Grill this, bZ Grill that.” “You could make it out to BZ Grill and back in an hour” “bZ grill has the best gyros, hands down”. Well last weekend I finally made it out to Astoria for a little bZ Grill action, and I must say… if there is a petition to get these guys to open a branch in Midtown, I’d like to sign it.

You can order a gyro sandwich, and be pretty content- but I’d recommend going with a friend and ordering the mix grill… or as I liked it to call it, the “Big Mamma Jamma”.

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The El Rey Del Sabor cart that got kicked out of their spot on 43rd and 6th appears to have made the transition across 6th Ave. into a new spot.  They’ve been on the NE corner of 43rd and 6th all week long without any problems, and have added a menu with prices (since it is required by law.) They plan on parking there for the foreseeable future, but sadly there is still no word from the hot dog vendor lady.

Yes that’s a giant plate of Jerk Chicken from the Jamaican Dutchy

This morning the CBS Early Show aired the piece on the Vendy Awards that Bobby Flay was shooting last week, and as an added bonus the chef was live on 59th and 5th this morning at 8am with the Wafels & Dinges Truck, and food from the Biriyani Cart and the Jamaican Dutchy. It was all to promote the Vendys (aka the biggest street food event of the year) which happen tomorrow from 2-7pm at the Queens Museum of Art. If you were hoping to score your tickets at the last minute, you are out of luck- the event is now completely sold out. (Although if you’d like to follow along at home, I’ll be twittering live from the event using the hashtag #vendys)

If you want to see the Early Show video with Bobby Flay visiting the vendors, it should be posted on the Early Show website at some point this morning.

Related:
Bobby Flay Goes on Vendy Crawl for CBS
2009 Vendy Award Finalists Announced!

• We need a Chinatown style Chinese food cart [Miscellaneous]
• Day 2 and Midtown Maoz’s manager already has a secret admirer [Midtown Connections]
• Sushi Deli Box has decent sashimi takeout near Bryant Park [Midtown Eating]
• Anybody need Vendy Awards tickets? (Below face value) [Miscellaneous]
• Dinosaur BBQ sucks… [Eating Outside Midtown]
• … and Melba’s is better than (her Aunt) Sylvia’s [Eating Outside Midtown]
• The $5 TGIF promotion is over (according to 46th St location) [Midtown Eating]

Here’s a quick update on “Pizza by Cer Te”, the new “green” pizza place being opened in the old Quizno’s space on 56th btw. Park+Lex.  Lunch’er Peter forwarded along this this photo, and we’re hearing that they hope to open in Mid-November.

Related:
Cer té Opening Green Pizza Place in Former Quizno’s

I’m not ashamed to admit it (well, maybe a little bit) but I love the iced tea at Crisp, the unconventional falafel place with two locations in Midtown (40th btw. B’way+6th, 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th.) They have a bunch of really good flavors like passion fruit/roiboos, strawberry/green, and pear/white, plus they add sugar syrup to order (so you can ask for it unsweetened, lightly sweetened, or fully sweetened). And they’ve just announced that in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint, they will be selling plastic Crisp bottles that entitle you to free refills of iced tea for the rest of the year. The bottles cost $22, and included in the price is all you can drink iced tea until the end of 2009 (at which point I think you’ll be able to pay to “renew”.) Considering that the iced teas are $2.25, you’d really only have to drink one a week between now and the end of the year to make it completely worth it.

Related:
Crisp: Abomination… Or One of the Best Falafel in the City

With October just one week away, it’s only natural to start craving a little bratwurst with German potatoes, and sauerkraut.  And for those of us in Midtown, there’s only one place to go for that… the Babiel Brothers’ famous Hallo Berlin Cart on 54th and 5th Ave.  But what if you want beer with that brat?  Or spaetzle?  Or potato pancakes?  For that, you’ll have to head a bit out of bounds to Hallo Berlin Express– the small brick and mortar version of the cart located on 9th Ave. btw. 50+51st.

It’s been open for almost a year and half now, but yesterday I had lunch there for the very first time.

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