Midtown Lunch

By now it’s no secret that the Godfather of Midtown is leaving us for the left coast. Like you could somehow find a pocket of deliciousness in L.A. that rivals Midtown Manhattan. As if! The one thing that we should all remember about the Godfather is that he has a penchant for cheap Chinese food. Those crunchy, left coast, salad eaters won’t ever convert him. He’ll always be a fat man at heart. There’s plenty of evidence pointing to Zach’s love of cheap Chinese food, so when an email from Lunch’er “Ethan” recently recommended the General Tso’s chicken from Alpha Fusion I knew it would make the perfect jealousy inducing post for Zach’s first day away from Midtown.

Technically this place is slightly outside the Midtown Lunch borders, but it came recommended, and you know we gotta show Zach what he’s gonna be missing in New York! The lunch special General Tso’s chicken comes in at an acceptable price point of $7.35. For the price, you’re allowed a soup or salad. Here’s where the real ‘fusion’ comes into play. The only soup option? Miso soup. Of course! I always knew that miso soup was the missing piece in any meal of fried chicken chunks… It’s a fairly average miso soup and you could probably do without it.

The other fusion-y part about Alpha Fusion is that in the back of a restaurant, there’s an area where they prepare the sushi. But this is Midtown Lunch and take-out makes it more authentic so I didn’t stay in the restaurant. Now with any fried food items, you have to make sure to eat it as soon as you can. If there’s to be any sort of crunch factor in the food, you gotta make sure you open up the container before the steam softens the chicken to a mush. While general tso’s chicken is generally a mushy dish, if you can crack into these chicken chunks in time, you’ll be greeted by a pleasant crunch to each bite.

I thought this was what set it apart from most general tso’s chickens out there. The breading was fairly minimal compared to some other places, and while the sauce was sweet, it wasn’t close to sweet-n-sour pork territory. One other note was that I only got white meat in my dish. Maybe that’s how they do it, so if you’re a dark meat fan, this might not be the place for you. And if you’re hoping for at least one serving of vegetable to go along with your fried goodness, you’ll be disappointed. There’s maybe three itty bitty bits of broccoli in the dish.

For those of you on the South Western edges of Midtown, this is worth a try. It might not live up to your favorite general tso’s, but we should all do our best to let Zach know that you can’t get this shit in L.A.!

The + (What somebody likes this place would say)

• Crunch with each bite of chicken
• Not your typical mushy American-Chinese take-out
• I like miso soup with my Chinese food
• White meat chunks are delicious

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• For 7.35 I want at least a spring roll or something
• I don’t eat American-Chinese food
• There are grimier places with larger portions
• I only eat dark meat

Alpha Fusion, 365 W. 34 St. (btw. 8+9th), 212-279-8887