It’s no secret that Midtown brick and mortar businesses don’t like street trucks, and we’ve seen them go to great lengths to chase vendors away. Obviously we are completely against calling the cops or moving street planters, but how can we be mad about free food! Yesterday via @aschwartz:
Free dumplings from Oxford Cafe on 52nd and Lex, doing battle with the Rickshaw Truck
Posted by Amy Cao at 9:30 am, March 17th, 2010 under Street Vendor Issues.
Some of you might have already heard that NYC’s Board of Health voted Tuesday to rate cleanliness in the city’s “25,648 food-service establishments” with a publicly posted letter grade. Grades range from A to D and while personally this news brings back memories of cramming for tests in High School, this isn’t really as controversial as foodies may want to dramatize it as. I was a kid in LA when restaurant grades were first introduced and after a year or two of getting used to it, their influence on the eating habits of the population reverted back to normal. Hell, even Zach made one of his first LA Eats a B-student lunch. Where would you stop eating at if they only got a B or C? I’ve got my eye on you Tads!
Posted by Mamacita at 8:30 am, March 17th, 2010 under Closed by Health Dept., News.
Posted by Mamacita at 3:30 pm, March 16th, 2010 under In the Forums.
March Madness Nonsense: Have bracket fever? Pump Energy Food has created a NCAA tourney pool on CBS that anybody can join (Password is pump52nd). Winner gets a meal for 10 at the new Pump on 52nd. Don't like basketball? The Wandering Foodie has set up a NYC restaurant bracket to determine... well I don't know what it will determine. But there are prizes in that one too!
Posted at 2:30 pm, March 16th, 2010 | 0 Comments
Photos Courtesy of ML Correspondent “Ultraclay”
While we were urging people to give Kyochon some space yesterday, Eater was doing the opposite- posting a Good/News bad news about the chain on their first day of lunch service that seemed to fall mostly on the bad news side. Is this the case of a chain breaking off a bit more than they can chew? (The new K-Town location is the largest location they’ve attempted to open in the U.S.) Or do they just need some time to get the place operating properly? One thing is for sure, they spent far more time planning out the decor than training their staff on how to handle a lunch rush.
More photos of the Day 1 weekday lunch, are after the jump…
Posted by The ML Team at 1:30 pm, March 16th, 2010 under Kyochon.
Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. Today it’s Jason, an investment banker dude who (like the rest of us this week) wishes he was lunch’ing in Austin.
Name: Jason
Age: 30
Occupation: Programmer Analyst
Where in Midtown do you Work?: Investment Bank in Midtown proper – 47th/Madison
Favorite Kind of Food: Sweets. Dinner last night was a dozen cookies.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Vegetable matter.
Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Onya (on 47th btw. Lex+3rd) has become my winter friend – I love the fresh noodles here. Oleg and his schnitzel truck broke my heart when they left 48th/Park but I occasionally track them down. With spring approaching I’ll get back to Daisy May’s (on 50th btw. 6+7th), Kati Roll (on 39th btw. 5+6th), Cafe Cello (on 46th btw. 5+6th) and similarly distant locations (5th to 6th is the longest block ever).
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:55 am, March 16th, 2010 under PROFILE: Midtown Lunch'er.
Curry Shrimp Special: It's ML Twitter Tracker time... Cravings is hiring, Cupcake Stop is on 52nd, Street Sweets is on 50th and taking orders for St. Paddy's day treats, Cer Te has potato and cheddar pizza today, and the Jamaican Dutchy is on 51st with curry shrimp.
Posted at 11:37 am, March 16th, 2010 | 2 Comments
On my walk back to the office from lunch last week I noticed Buk, a new Balkan restaurant on 55th Street. Their menu is solidly on the pricier side of the ML scale, only the flatbread sandwiches and salads were $10 or under–and in my book you better make a damn good sandwich if you are going to charge $10. But I did see their window advertised a 30% off “your next fine dining experience at Buk” and they had a table top sign outside promoting $2.50 pizza slices. As luncher “high temp” reports in the forums, the early “reviews” on urbanspoon are of dubious authorship. Any reactions from early adopters?
Buk Balkan Bistro (55 W 55th St, btw 5 + 6th), (212) 541-4723
Posted by Brownie at 10:30 am, March 16th, 2010 under 55th btw. 5+6th, Buk Balkan Bistro.
This morning’s New York Times has an article on the rising popularity of the two major $1 pizza empires in New York City… 99 Cent Fresh Pizza and 2 Bros. Some interesting tidbits… $1 pizza has “delighted, dismayed and disturbed pizza lovers, food bloggers and rival pizzeria owners” (who knew!?), the Manager of DiFara thinks “it’s great… for the people that aren’t interested in high-quality product” (ouch!), some businesses buy the pizza in bulk and resell it for twice the price (really?), and the inspiration for the original 99 Cent Fresh Pizza place behind Port Authority was wanting to help homeless people (I actually believe that.) The article didn’t mention the brand new 2 Bros that just opened on 8th Ave., but it did break the news that 99 Cent Pizza will be opening a new location on 34th Street and 3rd Ave. next month. Nice.
Related:
A New 99 Cent Pizza Battle Surfaces
$1 Slice Alert: St. Marks’ 2 Bros. Pizza is Officially Open
99¢ Fresh Pizza (Expands its Mini Empire!!!)
Posted by The ML Team at 9:15 am, March 16th, 2010 under 2 Bros. Pizza, 99 Cent Fresh Pizza.
St Patrick’s Day Baked Goods?: There's nothing we hate more than bloggers who write about the free food they score (and honesty isn't an issue- we as readers just don't want to hear about the free shit that you got and we didn't). That being said, Yvo keeps our forums well stocked so I feel obligated to point you to her round up of St. Paddy's Day treats being offered at Grand Central.
Posted at 8:30 am, March 16th, 2010 | 9 Comments
