Midtown Lunch

After a rather unlucky attempt to bring their cheese steaks to Midtown, 99 Miles to Philly will be opening a new location just a few blocks up from its failed one on 52nd. Eater reported last week that the new location of the East Village joint will be at 300 East 45th Street at Second Avenue and it will open next month. It’s just out of bounds and since Phil’s Steaks and Shorty’s have been roaming the street, does this one stand a chance?  I guess we’ll find out soon enough…

Last summer, I was dying to try the Grilled Peach and Bacon Sandwich at Num Pang despite Donny’s moderate review. It sold out often and since peach season is limited, it disappeared from the menu before I ever got my hands on the little sucker.  Once I heard they were doing it again this year, I wasted no time in getting over there.

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I’ve been trying to hit up all the food carts parked at the New York Public Library (40th + 5th) to accompany the Lunch Hour NYC exhibit. Often, the trucks parked there aren’t in my area of Midtown, so I’m trying them out while I can. They have a brick and mortar store (7th btw 29th and 30th) which is just out-of-bounds, but the Mexicue truck doesn’t make its way to midtown too often. So if you would like to try it out without the trek, today is the day you’ll want to hit it up…

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Homefront, a unique deli loved my many readers, (41st btw. Mad+Park) has had its share of drama over the past few years. It’s been up for sale and reportedly changed hands, gone through closures, and now Midtown Lunchers are worried it might be closed for good. I stopped by last week to investigate, and discovered that the place had been completely gutted and two guys were hard at work on renovations. Although I couldn’t find the owner, according to one of the fellows there, Homefront Deli is undergoing renovations, but it will be under the same ownership. Fans can sleep easy for now…

Burger from the Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien. Photo by thewanderingeater

• Burger Joint makes one of the 15 burgers you have to eat before you die [Eater]
• The owner of Junior’s is taking over the Outback on 3rd Ave. [DNA Info]
• The Tad’s on 34th is getting replaced by a Crocs store!?! [Crain’s]
• The Seinfeld Food Truck tour hits NYC [NYO]
• Here’s where a SNL writer eats lunch [Grub Street]
• Tous les Jours has replace Koryodang [Food in Mouth]
• The Baconry portion of Books of Wonder has closed [Eater]

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.

I love finding good deals in unexpected places. When I say unexpected, this time I’m referring to a Chinese restaurant for happy hour. Yep, that’s right. As I scan Midtown for its best happy hour deals, I continue to find great specials in places where you wouldn’t normally look. But they might not be all that unusual. Mamacita covered Chef Yu’s happy hour back in 2009, so the Chinese restaurant happy hour special is certainly not unheard of. I’ve been eyeing China Sun (39th btw 6th and Broadway) for a few weeks, because I noticed when I walked by one day a sign advertising $3 beer, $5 house wine, and $5 wells from 4-7, and another sign advertising free wifi. The beer and wifi caught my attention, so I thought I’d stop by. Kids, I was glad I did.

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The Bian Dang Taiwanese food truck’s spinoff, Fun Buns cart, has been parking in Midtown more often lately. They’ve been attracting the attention of Downtown lunchers, and Brian wrote a post about the Taiwanese style buns a few months ago. I kept seeing them pop up on Twitter in that same spot on 48th btw 6th and 7th on a Friday and then again on a Monday (although I later found out Monday is usually at 46th and Park). I was hoping to try the lemongrass chicken that wasn’t available before would be there so I could give it a try, and to see if anything else was new. Here’s what I found out.

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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.

About three weeks ago, a new player hit the Flatiron truck sweet spot on Fifth Avenue in the low 20s. They weren’t totally prepared (no twitter account, website under construction, and a dish or two missed the mark), but they had a great concept with Lebanese food. The news got better when I found out that the truck is a family endeavor. The truck doesn’t say that, but I heard the man out front taking orders proudly mention that his daughter picked the name of the truck. For your reference, the name is a Lebanese garlic spread or as gourmands like to call it, aioli.

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• Famous Dal Wagon on 39th & 6th has a great sounding “non-vegetarian platter” [Midtown Eating]
• Suggestions for the new rice cart near the Time Life building [Midtown Eating]
• Hot Dogs from the Schnitzel & Things truck? [Midtown Eating]
• Trying to replace Omar is an impossible task [Midtown Eating]