Midtown Lunch

DOUBLE FREE FOOD ALERT: For some reason two mega chains both chose today to hold free stuff promotions.  From 10am to 10pm you can get a free 16 oz Iced Coffee from any Dunkin Donuts location, and McDonald's will be giving away free Southern Style Chicken Biscuits for breakfast, and Southern Style Chicken sandwiches for lunch and dinner, with the purchase of any medium or large drink.  Now go and freeload!

BROOKLYN DINER BURGER: Adam Kuban is all about Midtown this week! Yesterday, we linked to his post on Slice about Angelo's, and today he posts about the burger at the Brooklyn Diner (57th btw. 7+8th).  Even better... it's a lunch he shared with our very own Profiled Midtown Lunch'er "Lawrence" (aka Superman aka NYC Food Guy).  Once again it's out of M.L. price range, but damn does it look tasty. [AHT]

ANGELO’S IS APPROVED BY SLICE: It may not fit the strict Midtown Lunch feel test, but Angelo's coal oven pizza on 57th btw. 6+7th has been approved by pizza king Adam Kuban over at Slice.  He used to be hesitant to recommend the "uniformly bland" pie, but it "seems to have improved," and now he would "send [someone] to Angelo's without hesitation—but only under [certain] circumstances. It's good for the 'hood, but there are outlying pies I'd rather scrap with."  Isn't that the way it is with everything in Midtown?

HALLO BERLIN EXPRESS IS OPEN: And Dave Cook from Eating in Translation has the first photo evidence, in the form of a "single soul food mix", which not surpisingly is "much easier to manage when you have a place to sit".  I think I speak for everyone when I say "ehrfurchtgebietend !" (I think that means awesome in German.)

HBE UPDATE: 4pm and the front doors were wide open, with meatballs, sauerkraut, sausages and potatoes heating up on the griddle.  They weren't taking orders, but managed to sell a water to one guy, before realizing there was no money in the register to make change.  No food going out yet, but one thing is clear- Hallo Berlin Express will open tonight! (However unprepared they are.)  The manager said to give them until 7-7:30pm (and they plan on being open until at least past Midnight.)  Oh- and German TV is coming by around 6pm to film.  Fun fun...

HING WON REOPENS: Confirmation posted in the comments, and sent to the ML Inbox, "I just passed by and they're open again!  Talked to the owners and they said they were open since yesterday.  They said they had to go through a bunch of renovations.  No mention about the DOH stickers.  The interior looks as dingy as usual.  Got my pork noodle soup and is as delicious as ever!"

HALLO BERLIN EXPRESS TO OPEN TOMORROW: According to Eating in Translation, Hallo Berlin Express (9th Ave. btw. 50+51st), which was supposed to maybe open today (and we've been waiting for since January),  was inspected this morning, and will "open tomorrow from 11:30". [EIT]

SUBWAY VS. QUIZNOS: Got this email request today: "Subway has been doing a $5 footlong promotion for a while now... and [now Quiznos] too, are selling foot long sandwiches for $5! I know that you are not a fan of chain ANYTHING, but I was curious to see if maybe you could do a comparison and let us know which sandwich you preferred." Uh... I think I'll pass.  But if anybody else wants to weigh in, feel free to do so in the comments.

MISSING LINK (Chick-Fil-A Edition): Ooops... how could I forget to post this gem! Adam Kuban (possibly after being inspired by our post?) does a side by side comparison of Chick Fil A's Chicken Sandwich and the new McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Sandwich on Serious Eats.  Beware though- there are photos of uncovered breasts on the other end of that link.

BREAKING: DOH HITS MY FAVORITE CHINESE FOOD: This just arrived in the Midtown Lunch Inbox: "FYI, walked by Hing Won this morning (on 48th btw. 5+6th) and it is closed by the Department of Health."  I think I speak for everyone when I say "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo(t surprising)"  Ignoring Hing Won's dirtiness is something I've been doing for quite awhile.   This changes nothing.  Got news to share?  We'll take it here (even the stuff that's hard to hear.)