Midtown Lunch

On the ML Twitter Tracker today… Cer Te is selling a 10″ passover pizza (!?!) for $10.95, Comme Ci Comme Ca is on 55th and Lex, Papa Perrone is on 55th, Kimchi Truck is on 52nd and 6th, Big D’s Grub is on 40th btw. Lex+3rd, Cupcake Stop is on 58th, and Sweetery is on 52nd & Lex, until they leave for some kind of scavenger hunt for prizes at 3:15pm.

Move over Korean tacos, the grilled cheese craze has officially begun. Three trucks specializing in the gooey melty sandwich plan to hit the streets this summer (Gorilla Cheese NYC, The Milk Truck, and Morris Grilled Cheese Truck), but before they start their engines, the newly opened Melt Shop hopes to have the first (and perhaps last) word on the lunchtime specialty. The new concept (which may sound familiar to those watching America’s Next Great Restaurant) features a handful of variations on the sandwich (including Buttermilk Fried Chicken with jalapeño jack cheese, Beef ‘n’ Blue with Roast Beef and Blue Cheese, and an Open Faced Artichoke with Feta), along with Stumptown coffee, milkshakes, and ice cream sandwiches.

Melt Shop is an outdoor stand in the Citigroup Center (formerly Moshe’s Cafe) and all the recipes come from Chef Spencer Rubin, who is only 25 years old (leave it to the young’uns to make the best grilled cheese?)  The shop opened this past Monday and has so far received mostly positive notes on Yelp. Can’t wait to check it out.  Early adopters, let us know how it is in the comments.

Melt Shop, 601 Lexington Avenue (btw. 53+54th)

• Moshe’s Cafe has been replaced by a grilled cheese shop [Eating]
• The Go Go Curry Eating Championship is ramping back up! [Eating]
• Looking for Indian food in Midtown South [Eating]
• Worst… cookbook… ever [Miscellaneous]

Every Tuesday we 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 a Stephanie, an IT recruiter who wishes she was Anthony Bourdain’s assistant.

Name: Stephanie

Age: 27

Occupation: Coolest IT Recruiter you’ll ever meet, freelance photographer, music/food blogger & ninja.

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 40th Street btw. 5th and Madison

Favorite Kind of Food: Latin food (rice & beans/pernil/authentic empanadas), Asian cuisine (Dim Sum/sushi/Chinese Takeout), Seafood, Pasta and anything that cheese tastes good on. Oh and condiments & dipping sauces….yummmmm.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Indian food will never get me or anything spicy for that matter. I’m also not the healthiest eater around and I hate brussel sprouts & don’t do most vegetables. Also my general rule of thumb is if it doesn’t smell good – I’m not eating it.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I could eat steamed pork dumplings and sushi forever and ever…however the dumpling scene in midtown is severely lacking. Severely. The make your own pasta at Nooi Pasta on 41st and Lexington is surprisingly good and for a splurge my coworker often goes to Salute on 38th street and his takeout things always look sooooo delicious!!

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I know it seems like just yesterday that we were on Governor’s Island watching Freddie the King of Falafel take home the 2010 Vendy Awards Cup, but the website for the 2011 Vendy Awards is already up and running! The event is back on Governor’s Island again, and will take place on Saturday September 24th from 12:30pm to 5pm. A limited number of early bird tickets are on sale now for $80 (plus service charge) and as always all proceeds go to benefit the Street Vendor Project. In recent years the event has become as close to a no-brainer sell-out as you can get in this town, so we’d recommend getting in on this while the getting is good.

But wait there’s more… amazing author (and ML friend) John T. Edge has already been announced as a judge, and the nominations are open. So after you’re done buying your tix, make sure to nominate your favorite street vendor! And as an added bonus, this year will feature for the first time an award for heroism and everybody who buys early bird tickets will be entered into a drawing to be this year’s “Citizen Judge”!

Related:
2010: Freddie The Falafel King of Astoria Sweeps the 2010 Vendy Awards
2009: Diary of a 2009 Vendy Awards Judge
2008: Biryani Cart & Treats Truck Are People’s Choice at The 2008 Vendy Awards!
2007: Dosa Man Wins but Kwik Meal is the People’s Choice at the 2007 Vendy Awards

Yesterday was the start of the 5 week long free food giveaway from the “Taste of Korea” food truck. Their 1st stop was at Bryant Park and lucky for me I happened to be having lunch at Bryant Park yesterday.  Luckily I spotted them early enough, because even though their Facebook page says they would be serving up freebies until 2pm, they closed the line around 1:15 yesterday.  After 20mins of standing in line I was handed a very nice looking bulgogi filet mignon silder with a side of kimchi. Finely sliced tasty warm filet mignon, buns toasted in butter, and the freshness and texture from the scallions and the slice of cucumber made a really good slider.

Today the truck will be at 52nd & 6th serving Danji’s spicy pork belly (the Serious Eats crew are fans of their spicy pork belly slider). Make sure to check their Facebook page or the ML Twitter Tracker for the truck’s schedule.

In my humble opinion, one of the best parts of Schnitzel & Things’ new storefront, aside from the obvious copious amounts of schnitzel, was that you could also get Treats Truck treats for dessert. Well, tomorrow they’re bringing in a new dessert, Midtown’s Best, Robicelli’s cupcakes! Schnitzel & Things will be getting all the flavors, a definite plus for Midtown East. But that’s not all the cupcake news going around, there’s finally a pulse again with Cupcake Stop.

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Last week a little food fight broke out over on Gothamist between two Midtown street food tours, one that is launching this summer and Urban Oyster, a company that has been running a tour for awhile now. One thing you may not know?  The Urban Oyster Tour is run by Midtown Lunch’s newest contributor (and former Profiled Lunch’er) Brian Hoffman!  You can get more info about his tour here.