Midtown Lunch

Café R opened its doors to the public this Monday and I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t a bit excited for this.  Sure, it could be just another generic Midtown deli.  But it’s also huge… and maybe, just maybe, it could a bit more.  (Maybe this could be Koreatown’s Cafe Duke!)  I usually wait a bit before trying new things out, but I couldn’t wait for this one- fully knowing it would be a mob scene.

As I walked through the doors I bumped into few of my old coworkers and they all gave positive comments about the food. And one of the guys had already been there three times. There might be hope for this place!

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It’s hard for me to resist Kwik Meal’s tender lamb over rice. When it comes time to order it’s like I’m on auto-pilot, “lamb over rice, please.” Over the years I’ve heard raves about their tilapia over rice–Lunch’er Dennis even called it “the best fish I’ve eaten in midtown.” With only one more Friday left in Lent, I decided to finally give it a try.

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Every Friday our man UltraClay goes south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

Last week, I got an email from Chris H asking if I’d ever been to Dhaba in Curry Hill. He suggested it as a Flatiron Lunch saying that they have the best Indian he’s had in the area.  Now, I’m no expert in Indian food, but that seemed like a bold statement worth investigating. It didn’t hurt that they’ve got a $9.95 lunch buffet, ($9 for takeout) too!
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Earlier this week, we unveiled our Garbage Plate inspired 4Food burger and made it available to order on their website. But apparently that’s not the only Midtown Lunch burger that’s available!  Yesterday we discovered the “F*** Midtown Lunch” burger created by 4Food user “adthelad”.  Apparently we’re not only a “conservative food blog” (whatever that means?) but we also contribute “to the lack of food diversity in Midtown” (what that means?) And it comes complete with a refashioned “Mediocre Lunch” logo (definite points for going the extra mile.) Name aside, the burger itself sounds scandal proof – beef, avocado, Manchego and MoFongo. We might just have to go F*** ourselves.

• As of yesterday Hing Won was closed to “fix a pipe” [Eating]
• Get free food from Tavern on the Green Trucks on Saturday [Eating]
• Get $1 off Big D’s Grub Truck [Eating]
• Did the Cevap Truck raise their prices? [Eating]

After a few weeks of deliberation, Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) has finally chosen the winner of this year’s Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.  You guys submitted over 200 entries, and apparently it was so difficult they (once again) decided on three different winners!  They were chosen based on creativity, affordability (how much it would cost to make each sandwich) and most of all, the “cravings” of Midtown Lunchers- aka how excited us fatsos would get about it.  Each sandwich will be featured as the sandwich of the month starting in May.

And the winners are… (drumroll please)

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One thing we failed to mention during our look at Social Eatz the other week is that there are several menu items that are definitely worth a splurge, because let’s face it – we can’t all be cheapskates all the time (I’m looking at you Zach.) Like luncher Huck, I’m a huge fan of their tomato curry soup ($5) and I agree with our friends over at Immaculate Infatuation that the $12 Bibimbap Burger is a truly good and exciting riff of the classic Korean dish that it gets its roots from. For the lunchers that have the financial means, both of these items are worth a look.
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Recently I had a hankering for some jjajangmyeon- noodles with a brown sauce made from fermented soybean paste. The Chinese version uses ground pork and is less saucey than the Korean counterpart, but both versions are quite excellent. Hyo Dong Gak a Chinese/Korean restaurant (on35th btw. 5+6th) has been the ML jjajangmyeon go to for awhile now, but while looking at the lunch specials (just to see if there was anything tasty looking) I spotted double cooked pork!

Ever since my mediocre experience at Joe’s Shanghai I’ve been on a mission to try all the double cooked pork dishes I can find in Midtown (going to save Szechuan Gourmet for last since it’s probably the best). Will this version come with pickled daikon? Maybe the spiciness is from kimchi? (It is a Korean/Chinese restaurant after all.) But mostly… will this be any good?

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Last week A Voce, in the Time Warner Center, emailed us to request that we cover their new 3 course, Italian lunch menu for $29 that is perfect for a business lunch because it takes under an hour (provided that you call ahead for reservations.)  We told them that it was a bit out of our price range, but if they wanted to give away one of their fancy pants lunches to one of our readers we’d happily take the free grub on your behalf!  Want to score a free prix fixe lunch for 2 at A Voce?  Let us know in the comments why you deserve the lunch, and you’re entered to win.  (It’s that easy.)  A winner will be drawn at random on Wednesday, April 20th at 3pm.  Limit one entry per person.