Midtown Lunch

Shorty’s pork and rabe sandwich. Photo courtesy of SENY

• This 30 Great Sandwiches list includes a few from Midtown [SENY]
• Tabata is the best of the latest NYC ramen newcomers [Village Voice]
• Five Guys’ grilled cheese sandwich is not bad [SENY]
• Margon puts potato sticks on their steak sandwich [SENY]
• Robert Sietsema doesn’t like MomoMilkBar’s Thanksgiving croissant [FITR]
• Hide Chan Ramen is almost just as good as Ippudo, without the wait and the noise [Gothamist]

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” posts 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.

It is always hard to lose a loved one and I shed an 80 proof tear when I heard the tragic news that the Subway Inn had apparently closed. Upon hearing that reports of its death had been greatly exaggerated, I breathed a mightily sigh of relief. However, all this did give me cause to reflect on just how desolate this particular area of Midtown is, especially for one with my refined taste in drinking establishments. But ladies and gents there is one other grimy flickering light raging against that vast sea of darkness. Friends, I give you The Carriage House.

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The shipping container that is Snack Box is finally open for business in Times Square. The menu is described as “American street food,” from the owners of Republic and BONDST. What does that mean? You can get hot dogs, pastries, pretzels, coffee, etc that are pretty commonplace from the ubiquitous carts around town … but here, they’re all in one spot, and most likely a little cleaner than the dirty water dog guys, if you care about that sort of thing.

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While waiting for for my food at BV’s Burger last month, a non-burger menu item caught my eye. Filet Mignon Chili for $6.00. Well, hello! That’s a sexy enough sounding dish to make me begin regretting my burger order. But, in the end, I figured it best to try the namesake item on the menu before branching out.

The other day I returned for some chili goodness, and while the burgers were good … this might be better!

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It’s one of the curses of New York City that some of the best foods that would be cheap eats where they came from are super pricey here. In the years since quality barbecue arrived in New York with places like Blue Smoke and Hill Country, it’s been the rare spot that has been anything like a Midtown Lunch. Nearby, I was happy to find some good deals at RUB NYC, but it has stood as the exception to the rule. But, has that changed?

Back in September, I reported that BBQue’s Smoke Shack was opening up on 6th Avenue just a few doors down from the Limelight. It’s now open for business and this week, I took the opportunity to get a closer look.

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• Anybody know where to find a good french dip? [Midtown Eating]
• Best Falafel in Times Square? [Midtown Eating]
• Sounds like the Biryani Cart’s online ordering system works [Midtown Eating]
• Planning for the November meet up happy hour has begun [Connections]

Yesterday, more than 50 winning lunchers joined us for a free meal at Koreatown’s Food Gallery 32 provided by the fine folks at Google Places. Blondie, Brownie, Chris and I snacked on some great food and met more than a few of the winners.

If you didn’t make it, follow the jump for a few of the dishes that we ate there.

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It’s been a tough year for the Jamaican Dutchy. For years they had been on 51st btw 6+7th. Then in June of this year they decided to switch their operation to a brand new truck, while the cart went downtown. Unfortunately right when they debuted the truck the crack down of street food vendors started and they were forced to leave their spot by the police and ever since they’ve struggled to find a regular spot to set up.  And we got screwed out of delicious Jamaican food! Well, Midtown Lunch’ers rejoice, O’Neill has brought the Jamaican Dutchy truck back to midtown. Many of you Lunch’ers had spotted the Jamaican Dutchy truck on 43rd btw 2+3rd and for now it seems that that is their permanent spot, serving delicious Jamaican food to a new crowd of Midtown workers (aka us east siders!)

With the Jamaican Dutchy on the east side now, Midtown east has two Jamaican trucks (Jamaican Dutchy and Jerk Pan). It’s hard not to compare the two trucks since they park relatively close to each other. I decided to get an order of a small brown stew chicken ($8) since I’m a fan of Jerk Pan’s brown stew chicken.

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