Midtown Lunch

We here at Midtown Lunch are huge fans of Uncle Gussy’s (51st and Park Ave), so I’m a little ashamed to admit that I may just be the last Midtown Luncher to try their truck. My first experience of their food and their great attitude towards their food and customers was when I shot Brian’s Mother’s Day video. We were lucky enough to try their meatball special and after that I was hooked. Ever since then I’ve been stalking their Twitter to find out what specials they have (they usually have specials on Tuesdays and Thursdays). A while back it was their famous pork chop with oven roasted lemon potatoes. I had drooled over Brownie’s post about and I finally got the chance to try it. It was quite delicious and a lot of food while still keeping it within the ML price limit.

But the next week when I saw on ML Twitter Tracker that Uncle Gussy had Greek sausage (aka loukaniko), I knew exactly what was for lunch.

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I love walking by Blarney Stone everyday just to read all their handwritten specials on the chalkboards. Most of the time they’re just regular old pub foods like chicken tenders, sliders and their “Midtown best” burger. Though sometimes, you spot something out of the ordinary that’s worth checking out. One time I saw fish and chips and just few days ago I saw jerk chicken. Yes jerk chicken, from an Irish pub in Midtown. I had already gotten my lunch on that day, so I had to pass on trying their version of the jerk chicken, which I totally regret. So when I walked by the pub the other day and saw Shang Hai Japanese Chicken as a special I knew I couldn’t resist…

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Sometimes when a place gets a facelift the quality of food goes down. I was thinking about that when I was standing in line at Yagura. Back in February we mentioned Yagura had put on a new coat of paint, the menu board actually lights up and freshly baked creme puffs can now be found off to one side. The much needed facelift came with a price hike as well, bring them a bit closer to Cafe Zaiya and Sunrise Mart. While I was tempted to get the oyakodon again, I decided to go for the $6.99 chicken karaage instead because I was in the mood for some Japanese fried chicken chunks.

So how was it?

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I’m not sure if Midtown needs another Chipotle inspired restaurant but here you go. Hot Clay Oven, an Indian fusion restaurant which “>started off with a downtown location, has taken over what was the last of the Hello Pasta locations on 3rd Ave btw 44th and 45th St. Here’s a look at the menu but basically you get a choice of rice, salad or naan then you add your protein, toppings and dressing. This whole Indian food with the Chipotle way of serving food isn’t new to Midtown. Desi Shack on Lexington and 39th St has already been doing it since last October but I wasn’t a fan of their food. And from what Andrea wrote, Hot Clay Oven may just turn out to be a solid lunch spot. More than anything though we hope that like their downtown location, they will open their doors on the first day with some free food!

Summer is finally here and as much as I love eating massive lunches like a roast beef sandwich or a whole platter of fried chicken with rice and peas, I tend to lean towards the more simpler (and lighter) lunches. First thing that comes to my mind and stomach are cold noodles. We have talked much about the cold ramen (Men Kui Tei and Sapporo ) and lets not forget Korean cold noodles. These are all great summer treats that don’t make you feel disgusted after eating them, but sometimes I want something even more simple.  And that is when the Chinese version steps in.

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A while back I had tried the Blue Halal Cart on the SE corner of 46th St and 3rd Ave and found their hot sauce to be quite spicy. I haven’t been back since (there’s just too much good street meat to eat in the area!) but was always happy to see a long line of people getting their lunch from this cart. So the other day when I was craving the flavors of street meat I though it might be a good time for a return visit. There was just one problem though. It was Monday and I have been trying to be good about doing the “Meatless Monday” thing (I know..I know I should get my ass kicked.) So how does one get the flavors of street meat over rice and not get the street meat? It’s actually quite easy, get the falafel over rice combo- which the Blue Halal Cart happens to fry fresh to order.

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After my initial meal at Super Dumpling, I knew I would return for more even though their dumplings were not as good as the ones from Chinatown. I was very much interested in their dumpling combos like dumplings with noodles or dumplings with General Tso’s chicken or even dumplings with mango salad (yeah I’m not so sure about this combo). A good chunk of their combos are only couple bucks more than getting just the dumplings and that sounded like a good deal. And who doesn’t like a good deal?

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Last time I had a sandwich, it was the horribly messy bulgogi beef sandwich from Sarah’s Kitchen. For $7.50 it left me hungry and unsatisfied. At that same time, a coworker of mine in his office just next to my desk was eating a sandwich as well. Unlike me, he had a much better experience. He had gotten an egg salad sandwich from Macchiato Espresso Bar on 44th btw Lex+3rd. The sandwich was so filling, he couldn’t finish it. Now if I were given a choice of sandwiches, I doubt the egg salad would be my first choice but my coworker raved about it. Well I needed something delicious after eating the bulgogi beef sandwich, so I decided to follow his lead and check out the egg salad sandwich from Macchiato.

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When I found out that Sarah’s Kitchen was just another generic deli with generic looking steamed table food, I was quite disappointed. There’s already a deli on every corner and they pretty much serve the same food. Do we really need more in Midtown East? Apparently the owners of Sarah’s Kitchen think yes. Nevertheless, I was a bit curious as to what they got going on in there food wise. You never know, there might be hidden gems. After a quick walk around the place, nothing really jumped at me as a “must try” until I saw the bulgogi beef sandwich ($7.50) on the sandwich board. Heck, since I was there, and I do love bulgogi, I decided to give the sandwich a shot.
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The other day, while I was walking to work, I was surprised to see a Lenny’s and a big “Coming soon” sign on 43rd btw Lex and 3rd Ave. I was surprised because I was expecting another random deli to take over the space that used to be a random deli. This will finally be the first Lenny’s in midtown east (sorry I’m not including the one on 54th and 2nd). I’m curious to see how they will do since they will be located directly behind Potbelly on 44th btw Lex + 3rd. Let the sandwich war begin!