Midtown Lunch

Not entirely surprised that the Learning Annex is trying to profit off the food truck craze by teaching a live course about it, but some people might be a  bit surprised by who they chose to teach the class.  We love the Dessert Truck, but after this episode we didn’t think Jerome would recommend food trucking to anybody.  And Feed Your Hole has been open two months!  I highly doubt either of them are making “big cash with little money down.”  [via Midtown Lunch Forums]

The Village Voice’s Choice Eats festival is one of our favorite food events of the year, but with so many amazing restaurants, from all five boroughs, Midtown doesn’t usually make a strong showing. Not so this year! According to Gothamist, the pulled pork sandwich with curry lime BBQ sauce from Mooncake Foods (which recently opened a new location on 54th btw. 8+9th) was one of the 5 best bites of the whole event. And it’s on their menu for just $9.25. (I think we know what we’re getting for lunch tomorrow.)

You won’t see many carts or trucks in this city selling a bake. Sure, the Sweetery and Treats Truck make tons of baked goods. But a real “bake” is a Trinidadian street dish that is eaten at breakfast or after a late night of drinking, which might actually be one in the same for some. The most popular way of serving it is with a piece of breaded and fried shark – known as a Shark and Bake, which sounds like it could be a national fast food chain.

The bake itself refers to the bread pocket that holds the fish together. It can be fried, roasted, or um, baked! I’ve only had it once before at A & A Doubles in Bed Stuy and have never seen it in Midtown. So I’m certainly no expert, but I was beyond ecstatic when I learned that the Trini Paki Boys (on 43rd and 6th) have been running it as a special and will be adding it to the regular menu.

Read more »

Best Week Ever has a pretty hilarious look at Social Eatz, Top Chef Angelo Sosa’s new restaurant in Midtown East.  They not only took note of the massive number of Z’s on the menu, but also the porno shop next door, and the “food dick” on the bathroom door.  Looking for a (slightly) more serious assessment?  Immaculate Infatuation also posted their thoughts yesterday, noting that the restaurant is just as strange as Angelo Sosa himself. [via Eater]

Food truck as promotional gimmick sort of hacks us off, but you can’t go wrong with food from New Orleans. Grub Street reports that HBO is promoting a new season of Tremé today by handing out pralines, king cake, and Hubiq’s pie from a truck. The freebie madness begins at Columbus Circle at 10am, goes down to Bryant Park for 11:30am then makes its way down to Flatiron Lunch bounds with stops at Madison Square Park and Union Square in the late afternoon and evening.

Do you wonder what the ML contributors do when they’re not eating lunch in Midtown? (They’re actually pretty easy to stalk!)

Photo courtesy of Chris H/Serious Eats

Chris H. was in New Orleans, where he scored a delicious looking hot muffuletta at Napoleon House, Blondie went to Flushing over the weekend and discovered a love for malaysian food and a new food court that is hopefully opening soon, Ultraclay had a nice looking brunch at Bedford Hill in Bed-Stuy, and Donny got a huge lunch at Kong Kee Food Corp in Chinatown for $3.50.

Around the rest of the ML Universe… Andrea tried the fried chicken at Cornerston in Tribeca, Jamie discovers chaat in a Center City food court, and I had the best biryani and tandoori chicken I’ve ever had in my life at a place in Los Angeles.

Speaking of cheesesteaks… I’ve not so secretly been stalking following the new Kimchi Taco Truck ever since I first heard about them. The Downtown section of ML further piqued my interest, but I missed their first couple of visits to Midtown, once getting there just as they ran out of food. Well, the other week I finally I made it in time to check out their kim-cheesesteak.

Read more »