Midtown Lunch

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.

Over the summer (or at least that is when I noticed it), New York Style truck started parking on the corner of 21th Street and 6th Avenue. I probably would have noticed a truck with mac and cheese and cheesesteak sandwiches, but the fact that they have been blasting rock music from their speakers made sure I noticed them. It took me a while to get around to trying their food and the opening of Mad. Sq. Eats delayed this post, but it was inevitable that I would get around to writing about a place called New York Style Mac and Cheesesteak. (You see what they did there with the name…)

The menu made ordering at New York Style more difficult than it should have been. On first view, there was the left column with mac and cheese options and the right column with cheesesteak options. Further down, they gave the option of making any dish “New York Style” for $2. But when I tried to get an explanation, I was told that I could add a veggie and extra meat to either for no extra charge. So I did!

For the 6 inch cheesesteak ($6.50), I ordered beefsteak, provolone, onions and pastrami. The cheesesteak had the obligatory greasy paper.

The provolone had properly melted and the pastrami kicked up the flavor. The perfectly sautéed onions infused the whole cheesesteak with flavor. As far as cheesesteaks go, it wasn’t the best ever, but it was very good.

On my large mac and cheese ($8.50), I added broccoli. I asked for brisket as a topping, but they were out, so I got pastrami again. I don’t believe there is such a thing as too much pastrami (except in terms of potential heart disease, which if I am already ordering mac and cheese and a cheesesteak, I have already ignored that risk.)

After it was prepared, they asked me if I wanted parmesan cheese (which came out of a Trader Giotto’s green can) and breadcrumbs on top of the mac and cheese. The smaller container at $7 (with tax) is about four times bigger than Beecher’s mac and cheese at a comparable price. But this should matter primarily if you are interested in quantity of quality. This mac and cheese didn’t have any of the bite that really good mac and cheeses have. It was a basic fairly bland mac and cheese base, but the toppings helped add some flavor.

THE + (What people who like this place will say)

• Can you get a bigger order of mac and cheese for $8.50? I think not.
• More restaurants should have the option of adding pastrami.
• Grease layer on the cheesesteak is legit .

THE – (What people who don’t like this place will say)

• Doesn’t matter the size of the mac and cheese, everyone knows it is the taste that matters.
• This menu should be straightforward. Mac and cheesesteaks shouldn’t be complicated.

New York Style Mac and Cheesesteak , Truck on corner of 6th Avenue and 21st Street.