Posted by The ML Team at 3:15 pm, July 5th, 2012 under In the Forums.
I know we’ve got a lot of tried-and-true street meat lovers out there, but for any of you who happen to dabble in the locally-grown food movement, you might be interested to know that Morris Truck has received a Snail of Approval from Slow Food NYC. This means that Morris truck is the first food truck in NYC to be nominated and approved for the Snail of Approval. According to their website, Slow Food NYC awards the Snail of Approval “to those producers, purveyors and artisans who contribute to the quality, authenticity and sustainability of the food we eat and the beverages we drink in the City of New York”. (Pizza Motto, and a flatbed trailer with a brick pizza oven that caters rather than serves regular meals, and sometimes shows up at Brooklyn Flea, is the only comparable business I can find with the approval.)
According to Morris Truck, who has gotten some attention from my fellow bloggers in Midtown, all of their shopping is done at greenmarkets, and the cheese is 80% locally sourced and almost all domestic.
Posted by jenjfen at 1:45 pm, July 5th, 2012 under Morris Grilled Cheese Truck.
I am the type to regard the sandwich as a step above old and busted. I consider it, like just going for a salad, a “lunch surrender” – for whatever reason, you decide that there’s too many choices and you’re too hungry, so you just go for whatever’s out there. I urge you all to consider Sergimmo’s Salumeria (on 9th Ave. btw. 36+37th) as your final line of defense against the lunch surrender. Think of what you’re going to do. Think of the people who love you. Would you really let them down in the face of this by going for turkey on whole wheat? Granted, it’s not an easy choice to make to pick up the Sergimmo’s menu. It is a heavy burden to bear, with most of the menu items topping $10. But they do have a list of $9 panini that are worth your consideration, because the closest equivalent to real Italian sandwiches probably faces the Adriatic.
Posted by MJP at 11:45 am, July 5th, 2012 under Sergimmo Salumeria.
After a frazzled start, I knew the Okadaman truck would pull through. I was so eager to taste this Japanese pub food from a truck that I made my way over on their first day a few Fridays back. Slow service and long waits for food along with seemingly unorganized ordering methods got them off to a rocky start. But this is Midtown where the crowds are fast and furious, so it always takes a while for these new trucks to get their bearings.
I stopped by for lunch again last Friday (a week after their launch) and hoped I could try the two dishes I didn’t have time to wait for the previous week. There was no line and just a handful of customers waiting for their food and thankfully nobody looked angry or overly hungry. They changed their system and now you order and pay at a register up front of the truck and pick up your food when they call your name. I was disappointed that there was no combo option that paired their two most buzzed about dishes together. So in the interest of journalism, I splurged with one combo (1/2 an okonomiyaki and kara-age) and an order of takoyaki. After a mere 10 minutes of waiting, they even gave me two forks – probably assuming I was going to share these two orders with somebody. Um, wrong!
Nuchas Goes Mobile: Nuchas, the Times Square kiosk selling empanadas on Broadway between 44th and 45th streets, has gone mobile. The new truck's menu seems to mirror that of the kiosk, offering many savory and one sweet option. They've found parking on 47th street between Park & Lex today, but you may want to keep tabs on their twitter account before heading out.
Posted at 1:30 pm, July 3rd, 2012 | 1 Comment
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 Jeremiah, a pencil pusher who would rather starve to death than eat a generic Midtown salad.
Name: Jeremiah
Age: 32
Occupation: Pencil pusher
Where in Midtown do you work? Broadway between 39th and 40th
Favorite Kind of Food: The kind that speaks to every one of my senses, titillating not only my taste buds but my sense of space and time, past and present. I am also partial to all Asian foods (particularly Korean & Szechuan food), Jewish Deli (Ben’s Best in Rego Park), local yuppie food (Blue Hill & ABC Kitchen come to mind) and home cooked meals.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Generic Midtown salad bar fare. There is nothing more uninspiring or unappetizing than the empty calorie garbage that passes for food in the salad bars of midtown. I’d rather go hungry than eat that sh_t.
Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Szechuan Gourmet (39th between 5th & 6th). At dinner time the cumin lamb, whole braised bass in miso chile & Ma Po tofu get the job done in a most serious way. At lunch the L10, crispy braised tofu, offers a glimmer of light in the dark doldrums of the Midtown office day.
For coffee it is, hands down, all about Culture Espresso Bar (38th & 6th). Serious baristas pouring untouchable, delicious & inspired coffee concoctions. As you make your way past the soul-crushing & undignified feed troughs like Pret a Manger, Cafe Europa & Duke you might be shocked to find a coffee bar of this caliber on 38th St. Standing proud in the barren wasteland, it’s like the one white, gleaming tooth in a smile of cavities and rot. The food is great too, if not small in the portions.
Shake Shack (8th & 44th). I know, I know. Not a very interesting choice but on mornings where the sun is perhaps shining too brightly nothing beats skipping out at 11:00am and teaching that hangover some manners like a double shack burger and fries.
For special occasions it’s got to be Wu Liang Ye (48th between 5th and 6th). Honestly I am surprised that this place doesn’t get more love on midtownlunch.com as it is the best Szechuan food I’ve ever had. I would even say that it rivals anything that Flushing has to offer. The Szecuhan dumplings belong on anyone’s last meal list and the capsium chicken is truly an inspired dish that’ll inspire almost hallucinogenic sweats in even the most extreme heat seeker.
One go to spot that has sadly left us is the original Manganaro (NOT Hero Boy!!!) on 9th and 37th. Their italian combo was a thing of beauty and I was always delighted by conversations about Lon Chaney and Martin Scorsese with the two sisters who ran the place. A midtown staple that is sadly no longer with us. RIP Manganaro Groceria (1893-2012)
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:45 am, July 3rd, 2012 under PROFILE: Midtown Lunch'er.
Ben & Jerry’s Truck Returns with Free Greek Yogurt: It was two summers ago that Ben & Jerry's launched a temporary promotional truck and now they're back offering up free scoops of their recently unveiled line of Greek frozen yogurt now through August 3. Blondie was impressed by their Blueberry Vanilla Graham flavor, but I'm guessing it won't be nearly as decadent and fresh as the stuff they're pushing from Uncle Gussy's recently launched cart, Pago. But this is free so that's tough to beat. They're tweeting their locations and accepting parking spot requests on Twitter.
Posted at 10:59 am, July 3rd, 2012 | 0 Comments
You may have spotted this in the forums a few months back, but Joy Curry & Tandoor (46th btw. Lex. + 3rd) is opening a second location on 39th btw. 5+6th between Subway and La Barrique. The location has a brand new, still partially plastic-wrapped sign with an updated look and according to the fella I reached at the first restaurant, #2 will open in two weeks and will feature the same menu as the original. A bold move considering that Kati Roll is nearby and Curry Dream is just steps away…
Joy Curry & Tandoor, 148 E 46th St (btw 3rd and Lex), 212-490-1277
Posted by jenjfen at 9:00 am, July 3rd, 2012 under Joy Curry & Tandoor.
A while back, we noticed that Lillie’s Victorian Bar & Grill had opened on 49th St between 8th & Broadway. Despite generally good reviews on Yelp, we didn’t get terribly excited about visiting based off of the comments (Summary: Decent place for a drink, otherwise generic pub food) and Sarah Z’s tepid review of their original Union Square location.
But curiosity did me in. After a visit for drinks with co-workers a few months back, I was impressed with the grandiose (if a bit cluttered) space, fair drink prices (for the area) and pleasant staff. I decided that their food deserved a look, and of their expansive menu of pub grub, only the Welsh Rarebit and grilled ham and cheese fell within our $10 ML limit. Since Sarah’s rarebit, if you can even call it that, wasn’t garnering rave reviews, I figured one couldn’t go wrong with the ham and cheese sandwich.
Posted by Chris H. at 2:00 pm, July 2nd, 2012 under Lillie's Victorian Bar & Restaurant.
Nick’s Place is one of the literal hidden places in the Garment District. The kind that we all claim to know and flaunt to Zagat’s, perpetuating the myth of the New Yorker who “knows a place.” Zach’s previous review highlights a hole-in-the-shaft operation that vacillated between pseudo-authentic tacos, Greek food, and basic sandwiches/breakfast all in one semi-secret location. Three years can change a place, right? It behooves another look.
Posted by MJP at 11:45 am, July 2nd, 2012 under Nick's Place.
