Midtown Lunch

Always Hungry has taken on the massive task of finding the best slice of pizza near the Empire State Building, and all I can say is… wow. They visited a ton of places, including Little Italy (on 33rd and 5th), Sabina’s aka Kabab and Grill (on 36th btw. 6+7th), Cafe Rustico II (on 35th btw. 5+6th), Aroma (the Kosher spot with the fake pepperoni on 36th btw. 5+6th), Arome (on 32nd btw. 6+7th), and even the pizza inside of Gyro II (on 7th btw. 33+34th). Their verdict… Squisito (on 34th btw. Mad+Park) beats out Little Italy for the top spot.

Related:
Little Italy Pizza Proves You Can Get Good Pizza in K-Town

Last week Lunch’er Bill tipped us off to the Munch Truck, a brand new street vendor parked on 56th & Park: “New Clean and very large looks like a catering truck but is open to the public complete with a satellite tv to watch while they are cooking… Husband and wife team… We can only wish them the best but you may want to check out and do a write up? I haven’t eaten there yet…”  All the standard Midtown cart food is accounted for (falafel, gyro, chicken over rice), but they’ve got a whole bunch of not so standard items as well.

Check out their menu after the jump…

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On the Left, My Lobster Roll; On the Right, the Twittered Lobster Roll

Shame on Urban Lobster Shack! I enjoyed my under $10 lobster roll at the newly opened Urban Lobster Shack inside the basement food court on 3rd Ave. btw. 49+50th. But I was a little surprised by the lobster roll photo they tweeted last week. I didn’t really notice any significant amounts of claw meat in my sandwich, but check out their bad ass claw filled lobster salad sandwich.  Not quite lobster-gate, but whoever got the sandwich in that photo was a lucky lunch’er if you ask me!

Related:
Urban Lobster Shack’s $10 Lobster Roll Is Worth the $$ (But More Importantly, the Price is Permanent)

Back in October Kwik Meal owner Muhammad Rahman got some competition from an unlikely source when his brother pulled up his “Fahima Hala” cart to 45th and 6th to sell chicken and lamb over rice right next to the Kiwk Meal cart. The brother didn’t last long at the spot, and Muhammad brought in the Kwik Pasta cart to try and keep him away.  Well from the looks of things it didn’t work because according to Lunch’er “Victor” Fahima Halal, which had been parked on 42nd btw. 8+9th for the past few months, spent last week (and today) parked on 45th and 6th.  Anybody try the food.  I’m curious how it stacks up to his brother’s.

Related:
Kwik Meal Kin Stirs Up Weekend Vendor War

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 Tat (aka Streetmeasonsumer3008) a street meat fanatic who wonders if anyone will recognize him on the streets after he appears as today’s profiled lunch’er.

Name: Tat but very few people even call me that.

Age: 29

Occupation: Corporate Tax on weekdays, Lazy Hobo by night & weekends

Where in Midtown do you Work?: In a cubicle with my face glued to my desktop, located inside an office building between 51st & 52nd and Park Ave.

Favorite Kind of Food: Italian, Tex-Mex, and Chinese. I’m always down for healthy servings of pizza, hard-shell tacos, empanadas, paella, noodles/pasta dishes, congee, fried chicken, bacon cheeseburgers and steak/home/waffle fries. Street Meats was one of my favorite meals when I started working in Midtown but lately I’ve grown tired of eating it. Throw salads into the mix? Hell no! Unless the leafy greens are covered in a pile of fried chicken or grilled lamb. I also tend to over-season my food with black/ white pepper and hot sauce. I can’t say I’d measure up as a Phall monster but I do enjoy spicy and flavorful foods. And there’s no turning down chocolate cake for dessert.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Poorly executed orders of street meats since I’ve grown to be highly critical of Halal carts food after eating it often. I know it’s cheap and I shouldn’t be nit-picky but I am still paying for it. Then again, poorly excuted anything will be disappointing to anyone when you’re paying for it. I’m also not the biggest fan of Thai food but will eat it with friends for lunch. If anything, I’m game for Malaysian which is similar. I use to be against curry but now I’m willing to give most foods a chance. I don’t like raw celery or raw onions but would eat either vegetable thoroughly cooked/ grilled/ fried.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: XPL‘s Chicken & Lamb with basmati rice or their lamb on pita, and a Philly cheesesteak with Fries at Gourmet 53 (3rd btw. 52+53rd) are my top lunch choices around my office. My infrequent favorite lunches in Midtown would have to be the hakata ramen at Menchanko Tei (55th btw. 5+6th), Carnegie John’s (on 7th Ave. and 56th) grilled chicken with rice covered in tzatziki sauce (my favorite type of white sauce in the Street Meats world), and anytime I can devour a Big Mac, McNuggets and fries. Let’s not forget about Popeye’s (on 40th btw. 7+8th) and 53rd and 6th Famous Guys remains a favorite lunch Halal cart despite not eating there all the time.

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Two weeks ago, Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) challenged the Midtown Lunch community to come up with special sandwich ideas for each of the next three months. (Cer Te has had a “special sandwich” every month since we launched the ML Sandwich Challenge last January.) Well… they got a ton of entries, and after careful consideration here are the three winners!

February: Warm, Soft, Crust baguette holding tender orange coated roasted duck meat slices with cilantro, a bit of hoisin sauce and a dab of chili, topped with cucumber and pickled radish strips (Submitted by Lunch’er Cindy aka ChubbyChineseGirl)

March and April are after the jump…

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Korean fried chicken fans will be super excited to hear this news… yesterday Metromix discovered that the plywood has been taken down from the soon to be opened Kyochon on 5th btw. 32+33rd. But even more exciting than that is the place Eater discovered last week just a few doors down. Apparently Midtown is getting a place called K! Pizzacone. Aren’t familiar with the concept of a pizzacone? School yourself here.

Related:
Kyochon Finally Bringing Korean Fried Chicken to Midtown for Lunch!

Photo Credit: Eater