Midtown Lunch

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.

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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?

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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)

We get a lot of press releases in the ML inbox–most of which we ignore, especially if they have to do with “Sandra Lee, world-famous food personality”.  But I am a sucker for a bake sale, and tomorrow Pyrex is sponsoring the World’s Largest Bake Sale to benefit The Food Bank of New York. It will feature “sweet and savory baked goods from 30 of New York’s most well-respected chefs and restaurants, including: Ciao Bella Gelato, Junior’s Restaurant, Magnolia, Manhattan Chili Company, Murray’s, Zaro’s as well as Del Posto and Fresco by Scotto. The bake sale will be in Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal from 11:30 to 7pm.

Grill Em All, the Los Angeles based burger truck who won the Great Food Truck Race, is returning to New York city next week for a whirlwind tour.  They’ll be popping up all over serving their signature burgers and truffle fries.  The schedule was released yesterday and there’s one Midtown stop being planned during lunch…  next Friday (October 22nd) they’ll be at Duke’s (on 37th and 3rd Ave) from Noon to 2pm.  Super curious to check it out?  You can make reservations in advance on Open Table.

Metromix interviewed Bizarre Food Host (and Midtown Lunch hero) Andrew Zimmern the other day, and chose a location that is near and dear to our hearts: the Biriyani Cart! The interview was promoting Carts in the Parc, the street food event that AZ is hosting at this year’s New York Wine and Food Festival.  It takes place October 10th in the park inside the Eventi Hotel (on 6th Ave. btw. 29+30th), and tickets are kind of pricey for Midtown Lunchers ($100) but it includes beer, wine and all the food you can eat from a great list of NYC’s finest street food vendors (plus Zimmern himself will be serving up a dish along with a “special guest”!)

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.)