Midtown Lunch

A few weeks ago, Chris reported that the location of Bian Dang in the 32nd Street Food Court, Food Gallery 32, (32nd btw. 5th and Broadway) would be replaced by Mr. Fish and Pastel was being replaced by The Gochujang: Korean School Food. An air of sadness swept Midtown upon this news. But when Fork In the Road reported that Mr. Fish had a giant lunch special, I took the opportunity to investigate on my own. I had never been to the food court before because it’s a small jaunt from my office, and I couldn’t wait to see what it was all about.

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The finalists for the 2012 Vendy Awards were announced this morning, and it includes a couple of vendors we’re all familiar with.  As expected Uncle Gussy’s scored their first Vendy Award nomination this year, along with Cinnamon Snail (did you try their fig pancakes this morning?)  Rounding out the list are Piaztlan Authentic Mexican Food (from the Red Hook Ball Fields), Hamza & Madina Halal Food (from Hillside Ave in Queens), Xin Xiang Prosperity Kebabs (from Forsyth St & Division St), and Tortas Nezas (from near Citifield in Queens).

But wait there’s more. Want to go to the Vendys w/ me, Brian Hoffman, Blondie & Brownie? Find out how, after the jump…

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I love pancakes. I could eat pancakes every day and without getting bored. In my experience, good pancakes aren’t the easiest thing to find in midtown. Fortunately the Cinnamon Snail has been making midtown a regular stop, they always have two pancake options on the menu, and right now one of those pancake options is their seasonal fresh fig pancakes with chamomile blood orange syrup and pine nut butter. When I was interviewing Chef Adam from the Cinnamon Snail for our upcoming street food book, Chef Adam mentioned these pancakes as one of his very favorite dishes from the truck. When I saw that fig pancakes were back on the menu as of this week, naturally I had to check it out.

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Egg and Chorizo Sandwich from Eggstravaganza. Photo courtesy of SENY

• Eggstravaganza makes one of the 17 best breakfast sandos in NYC [SENY]
• The Avett Brothers love Totto Ramen [Immaculate Infatuation]
• Dave Cook eats at the Trini Paki Boys cart [Eating in Translation]
• Another look at Lunch Hour NYC at the New York Public library [Pink Pig]
• The Counter is a decent burger for the area [Chubby Chinese Girl]
• The now shuttered TGIF will become an Express [Eater]
• Glaze Teriyaki has expanded to Union Square [Gothamist]
• Strip House is coming to Midtown [Grub Street]
• Offered without comment from 45th Street [Fork in the Road]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent 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.

Although I try my best to visit bars who haven’t yet received a ML +/- review, upon hearing news from DNAinfo.com that Blarney Rock Pub is in the midst of renovations, I decided to give the 43-year-old establishment a check-in. They’ve already undergone a facelift in the front and anticipate a hair transplant on top when they open their roof this winter when city permits allow. The old Blarney Rock has been well-covered by Midtown Lunch, especially considering that it’s a pub. Nearly two years ago, Mamacita did a +/- write up on the joint, and Donny T. proclaimed his undying love by ranking it as his favorite lunch spot and awarded the pub with a favorite turkey dish honor. This week, I went to investigate the renovations, and how they affected the pre-Blarney vs. post-Blarney ethos.

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When I first began working in Midtown, one of the reasons I was intrigued by our beloved Midtown Lunch blog was the deliberate coverage of “hidden gems” that are often found in freight elevator hallways or on second floors of buildings. The unexpected restaurant locations reminded me of Chungking Mansions, one of the cheapest places to find an apartment in Hong Kong, and a building peppered with retail shops and Indian restaurants inhabiting the space meant for an apartment flat. This was one of my favorite places to eat when I did a brief stint partying studying in Hong Kong. MJP did a great post on Nick’s Place earlier this summer, which happens to be the only freight-elevator-hall restaurant I was lucky enough to stumble upon a few months ago. The rest of the places are so hidden, I can only find them by using Midtown Lunch as a reference. El Sabroso, an Ecuadorian restaurant tucked in the hall next to the freight elevators of a building in the fashion district, is as traditional and just about as lowbrow as you can get.

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Every Friday we go 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.

A couple weeks ago, while MJP was tasting and waxing poetic about KoFoo, a great Korean spot in Chelsea, I was simultaneously discovering the joy of KoFoo as well. But I was a few blocks away at the Four Season Cafe, a generic deli with dry looking paninis, salad bar, racks of bags of chips, etc. But this generic deli happens to have a counter in the back serving delicious Korean food. You may remember that a few weeks ago, I wrote about a Korean spot hiding in an office building lobby. Which begs the question: why are these Korean restaurants making us work so hard to find them? Just kidding, they know we love the hunt!

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Anthony Bourdain described the “utility slice” as the basic NYC pizza aptly and well. Sometimes all you want is just a slice or two of pizza and a can of soda. 2 Bros has since defined this subset by cranking out plain pie after plain pie, with the occasional outlier of pepperoni pies or mushroom pies, and offering pizza at $1. Earlier this year, we saw open pizza wars break out on one block – the revolution of a 75-cent slice. How in 2012 can this be legitimately done? Where are the corners cut? There has to be some kind of clarity shed on the phenomenon of the dollar slice. People love it and line up to get it. We don’t expect greatness for a buck a slice, but compared to the $2 and up slice, it’s a revolution in value. And as with any revolution, there will be winners and losers. Whose slices are Bolsheviks to the deposed Romanovs? Whose crusts lie guillotined and whose comprise the Directoire? Has 2 Bros become the Batista to an up-and-coming Fidel?
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