Midtown Lunch

It looks like the Go Go Curry Eating Championship isn’t the only competitive eating game in Midtown this month…  Baja Fresh will celebrate Cinco de Mayo by holding a 10 minute burrito eating contest.  The winner will get free Baja Fresh for a month (winner can come in and order one entree and fountain soda, once a day, every day, for one month.)  To qualify for the May 5th final contestants will need to finish a Dos Manos Burrito Enchilada Style in less than 30 minutes at either of the Midtown locations.  Thanks to Lunch’er “Andy” for the tip and the photo.

Photo courtesy of @Remy

Is there any truck in Midtown that gets into more trouble than the Schnitzel & Things truck? There was the fight with Mister Softee, the catching on fire, having their tires slashed, and having the cops called on them by Fox News.  But this could be the craziest.  According to Business Insider (via Grub Street), they were forced to leave their spot on 54th and Lex after somebody from the Citigroup building called the cops and claimed they were a terrorist threat.  Sure, the aftermath of a schnitzel burger could be considered a dirty bomb of sorts- but terrorist threat?  That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?

Even though they packed up and left on Friday (it was the end of lunch service anyway), the truck doesn’t seem too deterred.  According to this weeks schedule they’ll be back on 54th and Lex again this Friday.

Photo courtesy of the Chubby Chinese Girl

• How to turn street meat into fried rice [Chubby Chinese Girl]
• The city is considering turning 34th St. into another pedestrian plaza [NYTimes]
• Another look at the Mia Dona meatball cart [Phude-NYC]
• The fries are the best part of the Frites N Meats Truck [Tasty Eating]
• Kyochon sucks (if you order a sandwich and a salad instead of the actual fried chicken!) [Puff List]
• Sultan’s delight is a good choice at Akdeniz [NYC Foodie]
• Nick Solares doesn’t recommend Burger Heaven [AHT]
• Want to take your parents on a 24 hour food tour of NYC? Midtown is a good place to start [Wined and Dined]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so every Friday afternoon our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

Two exciting news items came through the wire from Hell’s Kitchen best dive bar, Rudy’s. First was “There’s new duct tape on the booths!” Sweet! The old tape was getting mighty gummy. Then, the true shocker, “We’re serving food!” Rudy’s bar? Serving something other then greasy wieners?

Let me give you a moment to let that percolate in your mind… Think historic old watering hole… Seats mummified in red duct tape… The fat of a thousand free hotdogs seasoning the rollers of a 7-11 style flat grill… A bar with the thick patina of sweat, tears and stale beers…. Floors that have shuffled in the best of NYC sidewalk effluvia and taint… Now consider a barman cooking you some grub behind this bar, tantalizing isn’t it? Well, thankfully that’s not what you should expect. No cooking is involved here, instead Rudy’s now brings in a pocket-change meal that ideally quells the momentous wrath of a prodigious binge: $1 Fried chicken and a $2.50 bowl of chili with cheese. It’s not healthy but lord knows you’ll need it after a few $7 pitchers of Rudy’s blonde ale.

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Ouch! We heard Famous Dave’s BBQ (on 47th btw. 6+7th) was hit or miss when it first opened– but worse than the by the pound buffet at Smiler’s!?! Come on! Fork in the Road has released their weekly top 10 list and today it shines a spotlight on the 10 Worst Things to Eat in Times Square. Seeing as how Midtown Lunch is devoted to finding the best food around Times Square (and beyond) we’re proud to say we haven’t tried a single one of the ten things.

Thanks to Lunch’er “Larry” for passing along this one… looks like Midtown East is getting *another* $1 pizza joint (on the SW corner of 44th and 3rd).  For those who are keeping track, that’s right around the corner from both 99 Cent Fresh Hot Pizza and 99 Cent Fresh Pizza and only 10 blocks away from the other 99 Cent Fresh Pizza opening soon on 34th and 3rd.  We are kind of intrigued by the “hot dog” part of the equation though…  no word on when it’s going to open.

UPDATE: We’re also hearing the 2 Bros on 46th btw. 5+6th will be opening in two weeks.

Now that Downtown has its very own section of the site, what are we going to post on Fridays at 10am? Answer… how about a new column devoted to those lunches just south of the ML boundaries. Every week we’ll post about a lunch in Murray Hill south, Gramercy, Flatiron, and everything in between… or as we’ll call it from now on: Flatiron Lunch.

Hey folks, I’ll be taking over for Jason on the weekly Flatiron Lunch column. I work at the southern end of Midtown, near the Empire State Building and often end up going out of bounds to find something worthwhile to eat. From now on, I’ve got a good excuse to go exploring even more.

When I first started thinking of lunch spots to cover for Flatiron Lunch, Waldy’s (800 6th Ave btwn 27th & 28th) was one of the first to come to mind. I’d tried out their flatbread pizza last summer and had been looking for an excuse to make my way over there again ever since.

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