Midtown Lunch

The new Neapolitan Express truck slowly rolled on to the streets a few weeks ago. Since they’re completely powered by compressed natural gas, they received a rare approval from Mayor Bloomberg. Sure, it’s better for the environment and we can all appreciate that, but Mayor Mike made no statements about the quality of the pizza itself  also seemed to like the pizza.

After testing out the truck at sporadic locations around the city, Neapolitan Express seems to be on their way to a more permanent schedule. I caught them on Friday set up at 53rd and Park. I overheard one of the guys tell somebody that they plan to be in this area for most of their lunch shifts from here on out. The menu lists just three savory personal pie options and a dessert pizza.

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When Zach last reviewed Black Shack (Lex btw. 38+39th), he found the burgers to be fine, but not destination-worthy. But that was all the way back in 2009, so I stopped by the Shack this week to see how things were going.

First, the menu has expanded considerably. In addition to the regular burger, Black Shack Burger, and Western Burger that Zach reviewed, they now have a Steakhouse Burger, plus a Sloppy Joe and chicken sandwiches, as well as salads, grilled tofu and fresh mozzarella sandwiches. The bad news is that prices have gone up considerably. The burger that cost Zach $4.50 in 2009 now costs $6.25, for example.

Now I was tempted to try the fresh mozzarella sandwich (they make the mozz in house), but since this is Midtown Lunch, I went with the meatier options: the Steakhouse Burger and the Sloppy Joe.

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Photo courtesy of Food in Mouth

• The Coffee Place Cart serves up decent tacos and tortas [Food in Mouth]
• The Thit Kho Trung Nuoc Dua at Cha Pas is enough to put you to sleep [Tasty Eating]
• Manganaro’s Hero Boy was briefly shut down by the DOH [DNAinfo]
• Brooklyn Kitchen and Ivan Ramen are coming to 44th & 11th Ave!!! [WSJ]

Whenever Bistro Truck brought their refined Moroccan food to Midtown, I went a little lamb crazy. I was a big fan of their food and was very excited when they expanded into a restaurant last year. Yesterday we got some sad news that the truck won’t be back on the streets this season. Owing it to the difficulties facing vendors like impossible parking regulations and high permit costs, the crew are going to focus on their restaurant Rustic LES. They also hint at a possible “Bistro Truck” brick and mortar. Is it too much to ask for them to make it in Midtown?

On Tuesday, we announced Certe’s latest sandwich of the month, This Little Piggy. I was intrigued enough by the description to stop by and check it out because I don’t think I’d ever eaten a sandwich on a waffle before, yet alone one encrusted with cheese.  To say this “sandwich” is an interesting one would be a huge understatement.

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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.

I know some of you are going to want to complain about how El Cocotero is so far away from the Flatiron Building, and you couldn’t possibly be expected to walk 10-15 minutes to pick up lunch. But on the other hand, how mad would you be if I found a place that makes really good arepas and didn’t tell you? Beyond arepas, El Cocotero also makes a delicious patacon. If you are like me and you have never heard of a patacon, it is fried green plantain sandwich with various fillings (like if you took super large tostones and used them as a bread for a sandwich.) A 10 minutes walk isn’t looking so bad anymore, eh?

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Here’s a quick little tidbit of news we thought our Flatiron Lunchers would be interested in before we dropped this week’s review on you…

Daniel Delaney and the team behind Williamsburg’s BrisketTown, which started as a Pop-Up BBQ series across the city last summer, is opening up shop on the Highline on April 18th! The new meat outpost, SmokeLine, will be located on the Highline at 15th Street, and will offer a very rib-heavy menu, in addition to Central Texas style barbecue sandwiches, pies galore, and a made-to-order soda bar featuring New York’s best sodas. SmokeLine will be open every day from 11am-9pm through October 18th.

I wasn’t completely sold on Corso during my first visit, but I returned the other day to check out their lunch offerings. Imagine my surprise that I was blown away by a simple sandwich: the caprese panini. Normally I wouldn’t sing the praises of a caprese sandwich, the standard option most upscale sandwich joints throw on the menu to satisfy vegetarians. In fact, I’m not really sure why I ordered it. But, I’m glad I did.

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Just less than a couple of weeks after we ate at the Secret Indian Bodega Buffet at 420 5th Avenue, we’re sad to learn that the buffet CLOSED indefinitely this past Monday. According to the bodega owner, enough people in the building had complained to the building manager that the smell of the buffet was affecting the WHOLE building. As a result, the building manager asked the bodega owner to stop serving the food.

The bodega owner said that he hoped that the buffet would be back in two to three weeks, but he wasn’t really sure. In the mean time, the bodega is still open for business, minus the buffet. Employees of 420 5th Avenue, is it really that bad? Maybe those of us lunchers who like the smell should tell the building manager just how much we loved the buffet and hopefully it’ll make its return!

Yesterday was the official book birthday for our cookbook New York à la Cart: Recipes and Stories from the Big Apple’s Best Food Trucks. The book features 46 vendors including a ton of vendors that we’ve gotten to know through our adventures in midtown lunching, whether they’re midtown fixtures like Uncle Gussy’s, Eggstravaganza, Hallo Berlin, Kwik Meal or Biryani Cart or trucks that make regular midtown stops like The Cinnamon Snail, Kimchi Taco Truck, Big D’s Grub Truck, Schnitzel & Things, Wafels & Dinges, The Treats Truck, Luke’s Lobster, Morris Grilled Cheese Truck, Comme Ci Comme Ca, Bian Dang, and Coolhaus. Our publisher made some pretty sweet stickers for the trucks and carts in the book and we spent our morning making some deliveries dropping off copies at the Eggstravaganza Cart and Uncle Gussy’s. Read more »