Midtown Lunch

Do you wonder what the ML contributors do when they’re not eating lunch in Midtown? (We’re actually pretty easy to stalk – Especially if you were at the Vendys!)

Shabu shabu for two at Khan’s in Los Angeles. Photo by Zach.

Now that it’s October, Brownie is looking forward to food book events, while Blondie is all about Oktoberfest… that seems about right. Brian finally had the awesome blood orange doughnuts at Dough, Rachel made lemongrass ginger iced tea at home and I celebrated the end of summer in Brooklyn at Atlantic Antic.

Elsewhere in the ML Universe… Jamie visits the King of Fried Things in Philly, Andrea has nothing good to say about the banh mi at Yushi downtown and Zach discovered shabu shabu – and doesn’t make any Ricardo Montalban jokes – at Khan’s Shabu Shabu in Los Angeles.

The Michelin Guide released their star ratings of restaurants in New York yesterday. Normally this is not something we get too excited about here at Midtown Lunch because the stars are usually reserved for restaurants way out of our price range. Except this year both Lan Sheng and Café China, two restaurants that we can actually afford for lunch received one star each. This is big news – even bigger than when the nearby Szechan Gourmet received two stars from the Times. For those of you keeping score at home, that means Lan Sheng and Café China now have the same number of stars as Ai Fiori, Blue Hill (!?!), Del Posto, Grammercy Tavern, and Wd-50.

Two weeks ago, a troop of brave Midtown souls gathered in Bryant Park for our annual Street Meat Palooza! They sampled chicken and lamb over rice from 17 different carts and trucks, all to crown the winner of them all. For those of you playing along at home, the 2008 crown went to Famous Halal Guys’ daytime cart (SE corner of 53rd+6th), followed by Kwik Meal (SW corner of 45th+6th) and Kwik Gourmet a year later. Since Comme Ci, Comme Ca won last year, they were out. Who would be our new winner?!!

I’ve been crunching the numbers for days in ways that make my inner-economist proud, and it’s time to reveal the results.

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Fall is here, everyone. Bring on the sweaters! Bring on the football! Bring on the pumpkins… and pumpkin spiced beverages of all kinds! Bring on a three-month excuse to get fatter with Halloween candy, multiple Thanksgiving dinners, and holiday parties with latkes, cookies, and endless booze. AND, bring on the SOUP! Yep, it’s time for ramen, chili, stew and all variations of soup to tap you on the shoulder and say, “Did you miss me?”

Why yes, soup. Yes I did. And while I’m sure ramen will be on the top of many lunchers’ lists to revisit, I wanted to send a quick shout out to the easily missed Taam Tov for their soup selection. If you’re not a Midtown Lunch veteran, you might not yet know that Zach hit up this Kosher Uzbeki restaurant (47th btw. 5th + 6th) in one of his earliest reviews back in 2006, and nearly six years later, it’s still attracting customers in it’s somewhat hidden third floor locale.

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Anybody in the market for a food cart decked out with a flat screen TV? Today on Twitter, O’Neil from the Jamaican Dutchy announced that he is selling his cart. It used to be a staple of 51st Street and 7th Avenue with the Jamaican flag blowing in the wind, lively music videos, and whiffs of goat curry in the air. Once O’Neil upgraded to a truck (which has returned to Midtown on 43rd and 3rd), his cart was operated by a family member as R. Retha’s Food downtown. Sadly, they had some trouble with the Health Department as Andrea reported, and now the cart is on the market. The cart itself will surely be missed, but thankfully O’Neil’s food still thrives.

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 Lexie a PR exec looking for some authentic Mexican food in Midtown.

Name: Lexie

Age: 33

Occupation: Public relations executive

Where in Midtown do you work? Park Avenue and 55th Street

Favorite Kind of Food: Thai food (Pam Real Thai or Sook in midtown and UWS respectively)

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything by hostess

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: It was Menchanko Tei for their amazing menchanko ramen and rice balls–but it recently closed. Love the food truck on the corner of Park and 55th. They have an awesome brown rice, veggie and chicken combo for $7! Also, can’t go wrong with Grand Sichuan on 2nd Avenue and 55th–soup dumplings–oh yea! Also dig Taksim on 2nd Avenue in the low 50s. Amazing kofte sandwiches and great tarama (taramaslata), stuffed grape leaves and borek.

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With an El Rey Del Sabor cart so close to my office, when I’m craving Mexican food I usually don’t have to venture too far. But while scoping out El Tequilazo for a potential Happy Hour visit, I saw a pamphlet for $8.95 lunch specials. Zach had noted specials under $10 back in 2009 advertised on a board right outside, and now they have some fancy fliers with pretty pictures!

This is one of the places I really debated about before going. I just knew it was going to be one of those overpriced places that’s not worth the money but gets by on tourists and people who don’t share the Midtown Lunch philosophy of thrift.

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In a move that might shock no one, Lily O’Brien’s (40th btw 5th+6th) shut its doors on Friday and, as you can see from this picture, its presence is quickly being erased (thanks Wayne!) Why do I say “shocks no one”? For starters, the infinitely-better Lady M is opening a few doors down (we’re patiently waiting here, Lady M, no rush!) and Lily O’Brien’s did have a few internal problems I was privy to. There is hope to still snag their treats, according to the signs in the window.

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Sorry it took so long but we finally took down the forums, which have been plagued with spam for the past few months. We were hoping to just fix the problem, but unfortunately the issue require us to make changes to the entire site which will take a bit longer. The good news is, when we relaunch the forums we’ll also be introducing some exciting improvements to Midtown Lunch as a whole… so you have that look forward to.  We’ve always been super proud of the community that we’ve built here at Midtown Lunch and are committed to having a place for you guys to exchange tips, organize meet ups and just mess around.  Rest assured we are working hard to fix the issue, and hope to have the forums back up and running (in addition to a lot of other exciting new changes) in no time.

The Night Hotel on 45th street between Times Square and 6th avenue always seemed like a sketchy place, more like a gentleman’s club than a hotel. Recently, though, I found out that if you enter the very dark, goth hotel and walk straight back, past some pretty risque art, beyond reception on the right and the elevators on the left, you’ll arrive at a gated bar and a small swanky looking restaurant that bills itself as Japanese cuisine. Boasting dishes like pad thai and green curry as well as sushi and katsu, Red Moon is not, in fact, just Japanese cuisine, but yet another Asian fusion joint. Still, with its $10 lunch specials, Red Moon still seemed worth checking out.
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