Midtown Lunch

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

In honor of the alignment of the nines on 9/09/09, Bar 9 along with Magic Hat brewery threw a party this past Wednesday to celebrate the rare and momentous occasion. I was on hand as judge for their annual salsa competition and representatives from Magic Hat promoted their #9 beer with free swag and a raffle. Turns out B9 also hosts a free cheese tasting on all Wednesdays sponsored by Kashkaval, but by 6:30pm, when I arrived, it was gone, baby, gone (damn!).

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If you enjoy spending your lunch hour watching pole dancing, but don’t want to eat lunch at Rick’s Cabaret- you’re in luck!  Marlo from the “Pole Riders” will be doing her thing today at Noon on the corner of 6th Ave. and 42nd near Bryant Park.  All I know is what I read on this website (thanks Google Alerts!) but from what I can gather these ladies have a pole attached to a pedicab which they ride around NYC using to promote their various pole dancing activities. Not lunch related per se, but thought it was important to let you all know- because nothing is worse than walking by a random poll dancer in Bryant Park without knowing exactly why they’re there.

Related:
Strip Club Lunch: Getting Crabs and Strip Steak at Rick’s Cabaret

Last night was the Citymeals-on-Wheels “Global Street Food” benefit at Rock Center that we gave away tickets to last week.  Midtown Lunch favorites like the Dessert Truck and the Treats Truck parked themselves alongside famous chefs from all over the country who were all serving “street food” inspired fare.  With a ticket price of $450+ it’s too expensive for most of us, but all the money went to benefit Citymeals-on-Wheels and I have to say- if I had money, this is what I would spend it on.  It’s easily one of the best food events of the year (although admittedly this years street food theme catered more to my personal tastes than previous years.)

It was also funny to see all these rich folks sidling up to one of the Red Hook Ballfield Vendor trucks for pupusas and fried plantains, and the Kogi BBQ table for kimchi quesadillas (most of them completely unaware of the madness that took place yesterday.)  I overheard one lady ask her son what kimchi was, and listened to him confidently explain that it meant “to cook something in the proper way.”  (It’s actually fermented Korean veggies, most commonly cabbage, but close enough guy.)

Of course none of this really has anything to do with finding lunch in Midtown, so for humoring me reading this useless post I’m going to give away my favorite new cookbook! (Which also has nothing to do with eating lunch in Midtown, but whatever.)

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Today is the annual Taste of Times square event put on by the Times Square Alliance.  From 5 to 8:30pm today 46th Street between Broadway and 9th Ave. will be shut down, and filled with neighborhood restaurants serving tastes of food for under $5.  It’s mostly the Applebee’s/Bubba Gump/Hard Rock crowd (plus all the touristy restarant row places.)  But there are a few gems in there, if you look hard enough.  Here’s our coverage from last year, and the year before.  I suppose if you’ve got nothing better to do after work…

I very rarely post any of the crap sent over as “press releases” from PR people (because it’s kind of lame, and makes for lazy blogging IMHO), and this particular one has nothing to do with eating lunch in Midtown, but I just couldn’t resist (look at those lambs!)  Obviously none of us would ever want to come to Midtown over the weekend (M-F is quite enough thank you), but the 12 whole lambs that Estiatorio MILOS will be roasting in front of their restaurant (on 55th btw. 6+7th) this weekend for Greek Easter is making me consider it. Halal vendors take note… this is what real lamb on a spit looks like. What you serve is gyro over rice.

For more on the Greek Easter lamb feast go to TONY’s Feed Blog or Wined and Dined.

If you have always dreamed of being a competitive eater, and you love Japanese curry, there is finally an event for you. According to The Feedbag, last night was the first open-to-the-public preliminary round of the Go Go Curry Eating Championship.  Don’t worry if you missed it, there will be 7 more qualifying time trial events every five days between now and May 20th.  Qualifiers pay $20 to enter, and will be timed on how long it takes them to eat “two servings of the Original Walk (12oz) that is sold at Go Go Curry” cabbage not included.  The top 5 times across all of the qualifying events will make it to the grand finals on May 30th, which will also be broadcast on the internet.  If you’re interested, all the info is on the Go Go Curry Website- including a long list of pretty amazing rules involving shoveling (it is permitted), forks (they will provide a regulation fork), and vomiting (where you can and can’t do it).

If anybody thinks they have a shot, and wants to be sponsored by Midtown Lunch (UltimateBet style) shoot me an email.  I might be willing to put up the fee for somebody who is willing to paint MidtownLunch.com on the side of their body. [Official Contest Web Page via The Feedbag]

Related:
Go Go Curry Hits a Japanese Kare Grand Slam
Opening Day Means The Return of Free Toppings at Go Go Curry