Archive for February 2013

Vote For the Treats Truck’s Bakery: Voting for Time Out New York's annual Food & Drink Awards closes tomorrow. Most of the nominees are way too fancy for Midtown Lunch, but The Treats Truck Stop is nominated for best new bakery. Sure, this brick and mortar version of one of our favorite dessert trucks is located in Brooklyn, but it is filled with familiar cookies, brownies, and the butterscotch bar. Vote for it today here. The only thing that could make it better is if it was in Midtown!

Amma Offers Indian Lunch Boxes To Go


If you’re looking for Indian food on a Midtown Lunch budget, there are plenty of options available, ranging from carts to steam tables. But at Amma (51st St. between 2nd Ave. and 3rd Ave.), you can get something else: sit-down restaurant quality takeout for under $10.

I walked into Amma not knowing what to expect, and stumbled into a small, quiet dining room. I was quickly brought back, past a wall-sized wine rack, to the servers’ station where I could place my to-go order. Yes, this is a restaurant where entrees run anywhere from $15 to $30, but from 12 to 3pm, Amma offers to-go ‘lunch boxes’ that range in price from $9 to $12.

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Hibachi Heaven Is Now 3 Trucks Strong: Hibachi Heaven hit the streets last year to some mixed reviews, but they must be doing something right, because they have since launched a second truck, and just last week they added a third to their fleet! HH1, HH2 and HH3's locations can be found on their twitter account or the ML Twitter Tracker. We are always pleased to see our food truck friends succeed and grow their businesses, so welcome to Midtown, HH3!

Sur-ly We Can’t be Serious: Sur Empanadas is Coming!

Nick, one of Midtown Lunch’s shadowy counter-generic-deli operatives, sent us the photo above. Not far from Clarke’s Standard, newcomer Sur Empanadas is coming soon. No longer content to operate as anonymous carts with psychedelic neon construction paper signage, an additional empanada vendor is always most welcome. Their website is a bit sparse, but 644 Madison Lexington Ave (Just shy of 55th) is going to play host to one happy Argentine grandma empanada operation, we hope. We’ll keep you posted as soon as the empanadas come out of the fryer!

Lunch Links (The “Real Cheap Soondubu” Edition)


Photo courtesy of Real Cheap Eats

  • Korean House makes a good under $10 soondubu [Real Cheap Eats]
  • The owner of the now closed Manganaro’s Grosseria has passed away [Eater]
  • Bouchon Bakery makes a great Kouign Amann [SENY]
  • The waitstaff at the Carnegie Deli is trying to be nicer [NYP]
  • Salvation Taco is starting brunch this weekend [Grub Street]
  • Shamrock Shakes are now available at McD’s [Gothamist]

Speaker Quinn Gives Hope to Street Vendors

Coming shortly after the announcement that Bloomberg wants to launch a team of lawyers to hunt down food vendors with unpaid fines, we finally get some hopeful news on the food cart front. Last night City Council Speaker (and mayoral hopeful) Christine Quinn announced that on Wednesday she will be calling for a vote on the bills that the Street Vendor Project have been proposing for almost a year now. I guess she read the signs. The bills would lower the vendor fines from an unmanageable $1000 to a fee that vendors will actually be able to pay.

This is great news for street food vendors (and those of us who like to eat what they’re selling). But Gothamist reported that Mayor Mike (twirling his evil moustache) has proclaimed that lowering the fines is “one of the stupidest things I’ve heard.” He is threatening to veto the bill. Sean Basinski, from the SVP, believes the bills will have the full support of City Council and that they can hopefully over-ride the potential veto.

50% Off Breakfast And Lunch at Bread & Butter


Looking for cheap eats? Of course you are. Well, look no further than Bread & Butter (44th St. btw. Madison+Fifth Ave.), which boasts 50% off both breakfast and lunch this week and next. The breakfast special runs from 7:00-10:30am, while the lunch special is available from 11:00am-3:00pm. Thanks to Lunch’er ‘Justin’ for sharing the news about this deal.

After Major Repairs The Cinnamon Snail Truck is Back

cinnamon snail

The 2012 People’s Choice Vendy Winner The Cinnamon Snail Truck is back on the road after a couple weeks off for repairs. Among other things the truck got a new engine and transmission. Besides the lost days on the road, those fixes add up to a whole lot of doughnuts. For their second day back they’ll be hitting their Friday midtown spot on 47th and Park and will be bringing some super special treats (homemade Peppermint Patties, maple pecan Rice Krispie Treats, white chocolate cream filled twinkies, and espresso chocolate twinkies) along with their winter menu which has some seasonal items totally worth checking out. Read more »

Flatiron Lunch: Gyro King brings Street Meat off the Street

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.

When I first spotted Gyro King, I was convinced that it would be legit. I am not sure exactly what that meant, but I vaguely had in mind a sublime doner kebab sandwich from London. Even with the differences in gyros and doner kebabs, I was hopeful for something amazing. I think the fact that Gyro King is set down off the street, but still has the feel of a cart furthered my anticipation. I was excited.

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Urgent Flatiron News: Num Pang Flagship is Open!

We thought we posted this yesterday, but because of a glitch you may not have seen it so…

After several months of checking in almost weekly to see if they had opened yet (it was supposed to be Winter 2012), UltraClay delivered the wonderful news that Flatiron Num Pang has opened!! The folks over at Experience NoMad posted a preview of the space earlier this week, as did Mad Park News.

I stopped by last on Wednesday night to see it for my own eyes, and it is spacious and beautiful (old subway tile, etc) and has a ton of new menu options.

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