Choice Eats, the Village Voice’s annual tasting event which takes place next week, is unfortunately sold out. The good news is that tickets just went on sale for Choice Streets. This is an extension of the main event (although it’s one month later) and is a tasting from over 20 food trucks, including Midtown favorites like Korilla BBQ and Wafels & Dinges in addition to ones that don’t often come to this neck of the woods, like Kelvin Natural Slush and Souvlaki GR. The event takes place on Tuesday, April 24 from 7-10pm on Pier 86. Tickets are $30 for general admission and include all the food, beverages, and entertainment. You can purchase them here.

Yesterday, more than 50 winning lunchers joined us for a free meal at Koreatown’s Food Gallery 32 provided by the fine folks at Google Places. Blondie, Brownie, Chris and I snacked on some great food and met more than a few of the winners.

If you didn’t make it, follow the jump for a few of the dishes that we ate there.

Ojingeo dupbap – Spicy squid over rice

Mul Naengmyeon from Noodle 32

Korean Pork Ramen also from Noodles 32

Ojingeo spicy spaghetti from Pastel

kimchi soondubu jjigae from Hanok

Ojingeo Bokkeum from Hanok

…and some sort of tofu dish that Brownie picked up to go for her mom.

It was great to see so many of the different dishes available at Food Gallery 32, I’m certainly going to give a few of them a try on upcoming visits.

Thanks to Google for the free food and to all who participated (also to Chris for identifying most of the dishes for me). If you came through let us know how you enjoyed it in the comments.

Sunday was the Grub Street Food Festival at the Hester Street Fair. As expected, the food was extremely diverse and, all-around, pretty incredible. But, with over 100 vendors, no human — not even myself — could possibly taste one of everything. Of course, I did my best, and while there were some Midtown Lunch favorites like the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and Mexicue, the real stars seemed to hail from out-of-bounds spots like the Lower East Side and Brooklyn.

Here are three vendors that we should all hope will make their way to Midtown ASAP! Please?

Asia Dog

Hot dogs with Asian toppings. Sounds like a perfect Midtown Lunch to me, and, despite our past pleas for Japadog to open in Midtown, it’s definitely still missing from the current swath of menus from which I’ve ordered.

First, choose the type of dog — beef, organic beef, chicken or veggie. Then, you pick a topping. The kimchi lover will gravitate immediately towards the Ginny, topped with kimchi and seaweed flakes. The concept is simple, but the mix of spicy and acidic flavors really do work well. Want something even more unexpected? Try the Ito, which is topped with Japanese curry and homemade kimchi apples. I’d never even heard of kimchi apples, but the sweet, flavorful curry and spicy apples enhanced the hot dog.

One dog is $4.50, so two should fill you up, while staying under budget.

Mighty Balls

The sliders from Mighty Balls were pretty great, and at $3 each, you can get a few and still stay under ML’s $10 budget. With a choice of three kinds of meatballs, four sauces and different cheeses, the combinations are endless and never boring!

I know this will sound crazy, but I’m really glad I tried the veggie slider (over pork and beef) with the spicy African onion sauce. If I’m not mistaken, the sauce’s heat came from spicy brown mustard, which the veggie patty and soft roll nicely offset with subtle sweetness.

Miss Lily’s

Miss Lily’s served the best jerk chicken I have ever had. The dark meat chicken was grilled on-site, with delicious-smelling smoke wafting everywhere. Onsite grilling meant perfectly charred skin on the spicy dark meat chicken. They smartly paired sides of sweet jerk corn covered in jerk mayo and coconut — also hot off the grill — with the chicken.

If Miss Lily’s came to midtown, I might never eat anywhere else ever again.

When I first started Midtown Lunch back in 2006, consensus was that Midtown was the worst place to eat in all of NYC. Our tagline referred to Midtown as a food wasteland, and even Gawker poked fun- saying that one would expect a blog called Midtown Lunch to be “entirely empty, like those blank-paged books entitled ‘German Humor.’” At that time Kati Roll was still on 46th Street, the Biryani Cart only served biryani 2 days a week, and the closest thing Midtown had to a “gourmet” food truck was Jiannetto’s Pizza. Now, just five years later, there’s actually something decent to eat in the Rock Center concourse, Midtown has a Momofuku, it’s own Shake Shack,and we’re constantly being told by people who work in other areas of New York that they actually wished they worked in Midtown.

The site (which now sports Downtown, Philadelphia and Los Angeles sections) turns 5 years old in June (I know, it’s insane), and to celebrate we’re throwing a party to celebrate how far Midtown has come! It all goes down Saturday June 11th at City Winery’s Outdoor Courtyard (155 Varick Street) from noon to 3pm and your ticket gets you all you can eat courtesy of:

• Ma Peche (Chef Tien Ho will be making a special banh mi just for the occasion!)
• Tri Tip Grill
• Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge masters Cer Te
• El Rey del Sabor Cart (2010 Vendy Award Finalist)
• The Biryani Cart (2009 & 2010 People’s Choice Vendy Award Winner)
• Kwik Meal (2007 People’s Choice Vendy Award Winner)
• Food Gallery 32 (featuring Bian Dang and Boon Sik Zip)
• and the brand new Eddie’s Pizza Cart (New York’s first pizza cart!)

Plus dessert from:

• Wafels & Dinges (2009 Vendy Award Dessert Winner)
• Miss Softee and the Rolling Cones
• Momofuku Milk Bar

And all you can drink courtesy of:

• Brooklyn Brewery
• GuS Soda
• 2010 Vendy Award winner Kelvin Slush

Tickets are only $55 in advance ($67.50 if you want a limited-edition Midtown Lunch t-shirt) and all proceeds go to benefit the Street Vendor Project. If available, tickets at the door will be $65. The ticket price includes all the food you can eat, plus all you can drink.

And that’s not all… since it’s a birthday party there are going to be presents- but they’re all for you.  Stuff like…

• An afternoon Sweetery Sweet Stop for you and up to 100 of your co-workers
• Dinner for 2 at Beacon
• $100 Gift Certificate to Bon Chon
• $75 worth of beer tickets for BeerParc
• $50 to Schnitzel & Things
• $50 Gift Certificate to Eddie’s Pizza Truck
• $50 Gift Certificate to the Bistro Truck
• Ice Cream Party for 4 at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck
• (4) $25 Gift Certificates to Yushi
• (4) $25 Gift Certificates to The Counter
• (2) $20 Gift Certificates to Taim Mobile
• (3) $20 Gift Certificates to Kimchi Taco Truck
• (3) $20 Gift Certificates to Mai Cuisine
• (4) $20 Gift Certificates to Glaze Teriyaki
• Signed Copy of The French Laundry cookbook
• Signed Copy of Under Pressure cookbook
• And more to be announced…

Buying a ticket to the party automatically enters you in the raffle, and you don’t have to be present to win.  So even if you can’t make it to the party, you can still buy a ticket, support a great cause, and win awesome prizes!

Come celebrate 5 crazy years with us, and see what makes Midtown the best place to work for lunch in all of NYC!

Buy your tickets now>>

FAQ

Q. Where is the party?

A. City Winery, 155 Varick Street.  One block from the A,C,E,1 and 2 trains.  And a short walk from the N,R,B,D,F,4 & 6 trains.  Doors open at Noon and the party goes until 3pm.

Q. Varick Street… isn’t that Downtown?

A. Yup.  We tried our best to find a location in Midtown, but in the end we couldn’t.  And we do have a Downtown section of the site now!  What better way to remind people of that…

Q. Is the party indoors or outdoors?

A. The party is outdoors, in City Winery’s Outdoor Courtyard but the event is rain or shine (there will be coverage in the event of rain.)

Q. Are children welcome?

A. Yes.  The party is all ages. And children under the age of 8 are free.

Q. How much are tickets?

A. Tickets are $55 in advance, plus a $2 service fee.  And all the proceeds go to benefit the Street Vendor Project, a non-profit organization that advocates for street vendors in New York City and elsewhere.

Q. Does that mean my ticket is tax deductible?

A.  We’re not accountants, but the Street Vendor Project is a 501(c)(3) and all proceeds from the event, after expenses, will be donated to the organization.

Q. Is everything included in the ticket?

A. All the food, beer, soda and water you can ingest is included in the price of admission.

Q. What about wine?

A. Wine will be available for purchase at the event.

Q. What about the food? Will each restaurant or vendor be offering their full menu?

A. The menus haven’t been finalized, but each vendor will either be serving a signature item or something created special for this event.  In most cases they will be smaller tasting size portions so that you’ll be able to fit in a bit from every single vendor.

Q. The last food truck event I went to was a mess!  Super long lines, not enough food.  What is different about this?

A. First of all, this isn’t a food truck event, it’s a party!  And while there will be some food trucks and food carts at the party, there will also be brick and mortar restaurants as well.  And a limited number of tickets are being sold to insure that lines are short and everybody gets their fill.

Q. What does the Limited Edition Midtown Lunch tshirt look like?

A.  It will look like this.

Q. Can I buy it at the event?

A. Nope.  You can only buy it online, and we’ll only be taking orders for the shirts until June 1st.

Q. Can I buy one without buying  a ticket to the party?

A. Nope.

Q. What about the prizes? Do you have to buy raffle tickets to be entered to win?

A. Nope.  Buying a ticket to the party automatically enters you to win all of the prizes listed above (and more to be announced in the days to come.)

Q. Do you have to be present to win?

A. Nope.  You don’t have to be at the party to win the prizes.

Q. Can I buy a ticket to the party at the door?

A. If there are still tickets left, they will be available at the door for $65, cash only.

Q. What if it rains?

A. The party will go on rain or shine!  And there will be tents so everybody can stay dry…

Q.  Will all the Midtown Lunch contributors be there?

A. Yup.  We’ll all be there! (Even me from L.A. and Jamie from Philly)

Metromix interviewed Bizarre Food Host

We actually helped them choose some of the participants, so you won’t be surprised by most of the list. Check out the full list of vendors, plus buy your tickets here. (And don’t wait too long!  The Vendy Awards sold out this past weekend… it’s only a matter of time before this one does too.)