Midtown Lunch

Just when you thought the whole banh mi craze couldn’t get any crazier, Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) has added banh mi to their menu.  Yes, my favorite fast food Chinese place, known for their Chinatown style meats, soups, and noodle dishes is now serving Vietnamese sandwiches.  W…T…F?  My gut instinct is to laugh this one off and- in what should be a surprise to no one- it’s not a completely “authentic” banh mi, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good.

Check out what they’re serving, after the jump…

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After Wednesdays false alarm, I excitedly hit up the new location of Szechuan Gourmet (on 56th btw. B’way+8th) yesterday right at noon, only to find out they were still waiting for the city to give them the green light to open (it came about an hour later.) But they were willing to do take out orders- so I did what had to be done: double cooked pork belly with chili leeks, to go, with white rice and hot and sour soup. The version served at the flagship, two starred NYT, restaurant (on 39th btw. 5+6th) is quite possibly my favorite Chinese food dish in the city. But the question remained, would the version at this new location stand up.

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Huge Chinese food news in the old Inbox last night courtesy of Lunch’er “Robert” (who appears to have taken this photo from his office across the street.) Szechuan Gourmet, the only place ever written about on this site to receive 2 stars from the New York Times (and my personal favorite spot for beef tendon, and twice cooked pork belly with chili leeks), is opening a second location on 56th btw. B’way+8th. The menu will have all the old favorites from the location on 39th btw. 5+6th, plus some new stuff (according to the employee I spoke to.) They hope to open this Tuesday- but you know how those things go, so you’ll want to check back here before heading over.

This is fantastic news for Midtown north Chinese food fans, who right now have to go to… I don’t know… Yips (?) for their closest Chinese food fix. Where the hell do you go for good Chinese food in Midtown north? Starting next week, the answer to that question will be Szechuan Gourmet!

Related:
Szechuan Gourmet: Day 1 as a NYT 2 Starred Restaurant

I have to give Danny from Food in Mouth full and complete credit for this one. On Friday he posted about the newest truck to hit the mobile food scene here in New York City: NYC Cravings. Terrible name… but the food sounded intriguing.  At the end of his post he begged them to come to Midtown for lunch, and yesterday they obliged- parking on 45th btw. 6+7th. Huge crowds turned out for their Taiwanese style fried chicken, served over rice with “a secret pork sauce” and by 1:15 they were out of food.

I was lucky enough to be there on the early side, and got to try what could be my new favorite truck in New York City.

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I’ll admit I completely dismissed Asian Station, the new semi-chic looking Asian restaurant that opened over a month ago next to Bombay Bistro on 52nd btw. 3rd+Lex. Aside from it being a little too cool for school, they didn’t have a menu in the window- and from the looks of it, there was no way it was going to be cheap enough for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes. I do love Asian food though, so I was excited to hear yesterday that their lunch specials are actually well under $10! That’s the good news. The bad news is, they serve Japanese, Chinese, AND Thai food.

Lunch’er Joe was kind enough to transcribe the menu for us. It’s after the jump…

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I was really really into Lunch’er Jamie’s profile last Tuesday… but probably for different reasons than some of you. My interest was particularly piqued by the mention of her choice for “best Midtown Lunch” around: the special noodles with brown sauce at Hyo Dong Gak on 35th btw. 5+6th.

I’m a big fan of the craziness known as Korean/Chinese food, mostly for the jjajangmyeon (or “noodles with brown sauce” as it is called in English.) While usually a restaurant that serves multiple kinds of Asian foods under one roof is a big red flag, Korean Chinese food is a different animal.  It’s a hybrid cuisine with certain dishes you can only find at Korean Chinese food restaurants (like jjajangmyeon.) Most people consider Shanghai Mong (on 32nd btw. 5th+B’way) the go-to Korean Chinese food place in Koreatown. But with this kind of endorsement from Jamie, I knew I had to check out Hyo Dong Gak.

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I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. I have a problem. The funny thing is others stopped by the newly opened Panda International (on 46th btw. 5+6th), took one look at the food, and walked out. From Lunch’er “Gustad”

“Went with some coworkers, and just as we were walking in, 3 guys walked out laughing. so i asked what was wrong, and they said it looked too sketchy. we continued walking in to come to the same conclusion. in their warm trays, i saw meatballs and other italian dishes. what the hell!!?? their menu had chinese dishes for 10-11 bucks (the stuff that is usually 6-8 at a real chinese joint). and heros, smoothies, etc… very odd. i saw a mexican in the kitchen and two white people up front. i can eat at the junkiest of chinese places, and i’m not saying this place looks junkie, but it was very far from appetizing. we left without food.”

I stayed and ate.

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Like a heroin addict who can’t stay away from the methadone, my addiction to cheap Chinese food often manifests itself in my inability to eat at a mall food court without getting bourbon chicken. Sure, “technically” it’s not Chinese food- but who are they kidding? We all know bourbon chicken (and its many permutations) was invented so all the non-Chinese food spots could lure those with the same affliction as me away from the one Chinese food option in the food court. (Plus, it works as the perfect free sample.)

So you can imagine how excited I was to discover that the people who ran the “Cajun Cafe” in the now closed Manhattan Mall Food Court, have reopened their food court stand as a brick and mortar shop- replacing Pow Wok on 7th Ave. btw. 36+37th.

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So it’s not a Panda Express, but I suppose we’re getting closer.  Chuan Garden (on 46th btw. 5+6th) is finally reopening as “Panda Restaurant”.  Thanks to Profiled Midtown Lunch’er Josh from NYCFoodie, who sent along the photo above.  No word on whether or not it is the same owners, same food, or when it’s going to be reopening… but we know it’s still Chinese food- and as far as I’m concerned, the more Chinese food in Midtown the better.

That’s a lot of brown

All that talk about Panda Express in the comments made me hungry for some bad steam table Chinese food, and for that there is really only one option… Yips (on 52nd btw. 5+6th.)  Hing Won & Sun Yip are pay the pound, Ying Du is too authentic, and that place in the Rock Center concourse is so bad even I won’t go there.  So Yips it was… the general tso’s chicken had just come out fresh, so how could I not?  Fried rice and fried pork chops round out the lunch, and for $5.95 how could anybody possibly complain.

Ever since they went from 3 steam tables to 2, I assumed Yips was on its way to closing up shop after 30+ years (their sign says “Since 1974″ I think).  But after today’s lunch, I think they may be better than ever.  Perhaps getting rid of that 3rd steam table improved the overall freshness.  It’s still crappy Chinese food (and enjoyment can fluctuate wildly depending on what you end up choosing)… but my general tso’s/pork chops/fried rice combo was the best Yips I’ve had in 3 years of Midtown Lunch’ing.  Craving satisfied.