Midtown Lunch

Ever since Mangu (45th btw 3rd+Lex) opened last month, every few days coworkers would come up to me and asked if I had tried this place yet. I told them that I have not and they seem to be quite disappointed. Finally I decided to give Mangu a try after taking a look at their menu for Monday (they have different items for each day of the week) and saw they had stewed goat ($9.95). I don’t eat enough goat so stewed goat for lunch it was.

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4Food closed yesterday for a “pause to reboot.” No idea what they plan on doing to upgrade the customer experience (though I have a few ideas if they want an amateur blogger’s opiniom)  We’ll find out soon enough when they reopen on September 7th. Apparently the grand reopening might also bring cake, hopefully for us it’ll be of the free variety.

Last week a stroll past the old Hagstrom Map place on 43rd (btw 5th+6th) revealed signage for a new sandwich shop opening in the space. An internet search yielded nothing save a new placeholder website. Hopefully it won’t be too expensive (like the STK opening across the street), and there won’t be any issues with the vendors on the corner (aka don’t you dare mess with Trini Pak or El Rey del Sabor). Anyone with any info, feel free to enlighten us in the comments.

Got a tip this morning that the Rock Center branch of Harry’s Italian was opening in the concourse today, and our man Ultraclay confirmed it. All reports from the Taste of Summer thing two weeks ago seemed to be positive… and as of an hour ago it hadn’t turned into a shit show just yet. Early adopters with reports from the scene, put them in the comments.

Couple weeks ago I found myself dying for some good Thai food. I did a quick search and nothing seem too exciting showed up. Though I’m a block away from Dee Daa but Blondie didn’t make it sound like it was worth the try.  I decided to ask the Midtown Lunch twitter account (have you ever tried this?) and it pointed me to Talent Thai. A good ten blocks from my office, the thought of walking there in the summer heat made Dee Daa look that much better. But once I saw that even Robert Sietsema is a fan of  TT I felt like I needed to investigate this- sweat be damned!

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Eagle-eyed lunchers may have noticed that the newish halal cart on 32nd Street (btw. B’way and 5th) has kati rolls on its menu. I happened to spot the sign after work one day a few weeks ago, but my excitement turned to disappointment when the vendor shook his head and said he didn’t have any.  Figuring they were out because it was the end of the day, I stopped by again the next afternoon and got the same answer.

When I asked if he ever planned to have the advertised kati rolls, he shook his head again.  (Clearly the guy enjoys shaking his head.)  Kati rolls isn’t something I ever really expected to be able to get in Koreatown, but now that I’ve been teased I totally want one closer than The Kati Roll Company (on 39th btw. 5+6).  Has anybody managed to score a kati roll from this guy?  Let us know in the comments…

With lobster rolls all the rage these days, it shouldn’t surprise anybody to see Chinese food restaurants get it on the action. Oriental Noodle Shop (45th btw 3rd+Lex) is now offering a WHOLE lobster plus pork fried rice (not sure what the “any style” means) for just $13.95. It is still over the Midtown Lunch price limit but considering you get a whole lobster for few bucks less than the super popular lobster rolls, why not?! Admittedly I am a equal parts terrified and intrigued by this lobster deal. Has anybody tried it?