Last time I wrote about Joe’s Shanghai, fellow Lunch’er Harry recommended I check Pearls (7th btw. 48+49th) out. I’m always skeptical about restaurants in and near Times Square. But I should have an open mind right? So I took a friend along so that we could try it out.
We’ve seen a lot of DOH sign shenanigans. Cover ups. Camouflage. Comedic acceptence. But making up your own sign and hanging it in the window? This is new even for us. Luncher “Ambitious Delish” tweeted us this photo yesterday from S. Dynasty (on 48th btw. Lex+3rd). “Is this allowed,” she asked. Honestly? We have no idea, but utilizing our skills of judgement and basic common sense we’re going to go with…. no.
Anybody ever been to this place? We couldn’t find it on the DOH restaurant inspection site (which can provide hours of fun, I assure you), but found A grades at three different restaurants in this building – including a Chinese one called Lo. But nothing listed at all for S. Dynasty. Then again, the 2 1/2 stars on Yelp worry us a bit more than the letter in the window.
How do you go about making a place that is already pretty awesome, thanks to baked goods and 5 items for $5, even better? By making some really damn good noodle soups. We got a tip from Lunch’er “William” that Lunch Box Buffet (on 34th btw 7+8th) had hired a well-known chef from Flushing to make some of the most popular Chinese noodle soups. If it’s from Flushing it must be good right? I hope so! See what’s on the new menu after the jump.
Posted by Donny T. at 11:30 am, March 14th, 2011 under Chinese, Lunch Box Buffet.
Bian Dang, formerly known as NYC Cravings, has returned after a season of focusing on the brick and mortar world of Food Gallery 32. On Tuesday they hit my turf, the Flatiron District, in a brand new truck- but still serving up their usual menu (on 24th Street btw. Park+Mad). And yesterday they were in the Financial District. Today? They’re back in the fold, and planning to park on 53rd St. and Park Ave. (their old Thursday spot.) But you’ll probably want to check their twitter account or the ML Twitter Tracker before heading out just to be safe.
Posted by ultraclay at 10:45 am, March 3rd, 2011 under Chinese, NYC Cravings.
Early today we reported that Food Gallery 32 in Koreatown would be opening in the next few weeks, an event that I have been closely following since back in April. It excited me so much I took some time from my vacation (greetings from The Philippines, btw) to badger the nice lady at Food Gallery 32 for more information. It worked! She tells me that they do indeed plan to open before the end of the month and sent along a quick list of the vendors and some details about what they’ll be selling.
Check it out after the jump!
Posted by ultraclay at 1:30 pm, December 8th, 2010 under 32nd btw. B'way+5th, Chinese, Food Gallery 32, Korean.
Even though Szechuan Gourmet is the ace-in-the-hole for spice loving ML eaters who work around 39th street, there are still other options in the area. And not just Zaiya and the rest of the Japanese food corridor on 41st street. I’m talking Chinese food options. We’ve already seen Lan Seng join the scene last year. But there’s actuallya restaurant on 38th street, just a block away, that’s been doing business for a while. I’ve always walked by Evergreen on 38 and dismissed it because it looked like just another Chinese take-out place. I think they used to have another branch of the restaurant by the NYU campus, but it’s been long gone. If the 38th street location can stay open, then maybe it’s half decent? Last week I thought it was good time to give Evergreen’s lunch specials menu a shot.
Posted by Danny at 11:50 am, October 25th, 2010 under Chinese, Evergreen on 38th.
A couple of weeks ago, a new cart called Grill & Noodle popped up on 50th btw. 6+7. The cart has an old school no-frills appearance and an odd Chinese/Japanese hybrid menu that ranges from lo mein to teppanyaki. That kind of identity crisis is often a bad sign. I found myself walking by the cart the other day and figured I might as well give a shot, especially when I noticed the mysterious Casanova steak.
Posted by Jeremiah White at 10:30 am, September 14th, 2010 under Cart, Chinese, Grill & Noodle, Japanese.
Now that Downtown has its very own section of the site, what are we going to post on Fridays at 10am? Answer… how about a new column devoted to those lunches just south of the ML boundaries. Every week we’ll post about a lunch in Murray Hill south, Gramercy, Flatiron, and everything in between… or as we’ll call it from now on: Flatiron Lunch.
Chinese food is everywhere in NY. It’s in tourist shops, it’s in generic deli buffets, it’s even kosher. But Indian Chinese food? Well, that’s completely new to me. I’ve walked past Chinese Mirch, in the middle of Curry Hill, dozens of times without thinking much of it. It’s actually been mentioned a few times on the site… but it wasn’t until Luncher ‘Steve’ told us recently about their $5.95 lunch special, that I finally made it over there to check it out. I didn’t have very high expectations, but was happily surprised with what we got.
Details on the special and food photos after the jump.
Read more »
Posted by ultraclay at 10:00 am, July 2nd, 2010 under Chinese, Flatiron Lunch, Indian.
If I say 5th Avenue Empire Cafe… you say… wha?! Exactly. Where is that? You could walk up and down fifth avenue and never see this restaurant. They have a banner outside on the sidewalk but it fails to mention the name. What’s more strange and awesome about this place (and certainly has contributed to its anonymity) is that it’s in a place where most Midtown Lunchers would never visit… a touristy souvenir shop. Beneath the shadows of the Empire State Building on 5th Ave btw. 33+34th, sits a little souvenir store that would be like any other… except they have a restaurant on the second floor. Of course, it’s a Chinese restaurant. With bubble tea! And General Tso’s chicken…
Posted by Danny at 11:45 am, May 27th, 2010 under Bubble Tea, Chinese.
From the outside, Eden Wok on 34th street looks just like any other generic Chinese food take-out place… save for one thing: a newspaper article in the window from The New York Times. There are number of old school Chinese places in Manhattan that have blessed by coverage from the paper of record- but this isn’t some 2 star review of a Chinese dinosaur (we’re looking at you Shun Lee.) This article was about Eden Wok’s hot dog egg roll. Yeah, you read that right. Eden Wok is a Kosher Chinese food restaurant, and the star of their menu (according to the NYT circa 2005) is a “Chinese Hot Dog”. I wasn’t sure exactly what that was going to be, but I had to find out… you know… for the sake of science.
