Midtown Lunch

Benjamin Burger Challenge Part 2: Wined and Dined realizes after the fact that maybe the Benjamin Steakhouse PR Firm's Burger Challenge was kind of biased and "gimmicky". He attempts to repent by conducting his own showdown between the Benjamin burger and the Michael Jordan's Steakhouse Burger.  Winner:  Benjamin again! That'll show those "gimmicky" PR folks...  [Wined and Dined]

45th Street Menchanko Tei Is Closed: Less than two weeks after welcoming back the 55th Street branch of Menchanko Tei (which had been closed for more than 3 months following a fire) Lunch'er Brian sends word that the 45th Street branch has now been closed for rennovations.

Subway Dunkin Donuts Gets the DOH: via Twitter: "Rock Center Dunkins and Booster Juice got DOH'ed for expired permits. I suspect Starbucks called it in." Update: from Blondie and Brownie "The Dunkin is back up and running. By the afternoon they were square with the DOH."  Praise jeebus!

More Milkshake Fun: Looks like today is milkshake day... from the comments: "Goodburger has a $2.00 off special on any Milkshake between 3-5pm today." (Regular price is $5.50) All locations are participating. Enjoy!

Free Shake Alert: If you planned on going to HB Burger today, you should swing by the corner of 43rd and 6th first. They're giving away free milkshake/egg cream/mini sundae coupons (with purchase) until 2pm. (coupons are good until June 5th)

Men’s Journal is the First to Try Channel 4’s Bacon Explosion: Mens Journal becomes the first blog to actually try the Channel Four bacon explosion, and files this report. They also break the news that the chef is working on a sandwich version for the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.  Hello! More on this, coming soon. Related: All Bacon Explosion posts on Midtown Lunch.

Midtown Gets Screwed Again on Free Häagen-Dazs Day: Blondie and Brownie have a list of all the NYC locations participating in today's Häagen-Dazs free honey bee scoop day from 4 to 8 pm, and once again Midtown gets screwed (thank you Riese!) The Penn Station location didn't answer their phone, but they participated last year, so you can take your chances. Good luck freeloaders.

McBallers: Be Prepared to Show Your ID in Penn Plaza: Have your I.D. ready if you like to show off at the Penn Plaza McDonalds by paying with large bills. The branch instituted an "anything over a $20 requires an ID check" policy to deter counterfeiters from passing phony cash. [Consumerist]

$2 off Goodburger Combos Again Today: via Twitter: Since last Monday's twitter special was a huge hit, let's do it again! $2.00 OFF any combo, all day, at the 45th Street location only!" (btw. 5+6th)

Half Off Meat All May Long at Gyu Kaku… Pork Excluded: Thanks to Kayoko from Umamimart for passing along this deal: Gyu Kaku, the Japanese BBQ place on 50th btw. 2+3rd, is offering 50% off Monday-Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. throughout May. The deal applies to 8 different meats, including Gyu-tan and their chuck kalbi tare... but not to any pork. They are *still* not serving any because of the swine flu.