Midtown Lunch

Last Friday I told you that Papa Perrone’s, the new pizza truck parked on 55th btw. Madison & Park, was going to be serving their special artichoke pie on Monday.  Well I went and checked it out, and it turns out artichoke pie is literally artichoke pie.  Not pizza, but pie- like a quiche (but not as lame.)

As first I was a little disappointed puzzled by the whole thing.  I thought I was getting a slice, and ended up with a little tin foil package.  Of course that didn’t stop me from eating the thing, and after one bite, there was really only one thing to say: “Welcome to the neighborhood!”  Mozzarella, artichokes, and little chunks of pepperoni baked in a pie crust.  For $2.50 it’s a steal.

Pranzo Pizza Truck (the last truck to take on the famous Jiannetto’s Pizza Truck) was such a big disappointment, I had pretty low expectations for Papa Perrone’s- but after trying their artichoke pie and rice balls, I can honestly say I think this little guy is going to make it.  Especially if he starts serving the artichoke pie every day.

A shot of the rice ball after the jump…  Read more »

It’s like all carts, all the time on Midtown Lunch this week.  Fresh off the heels of our massive Street-Meat-Palooza post comes two big pieces of street meat news.  First up:

The Rafiqi’s on 47th & Madison has raised raised the price of their street meat.  A combo platter is now $5.45.  I’m not sure if this is just this cart or all of them, but I do know that we paid $5 for a combo at the Rafiqi’s on 44th and 5th.  It seems weird that different Rafiqi’s carts would have different prices.  Considering they came in 2nd to last, nobody should care too much about this, although sadly it is probably a sign of more price increases to come.  It joins Kwik Meal as just another addition to our ever expanding Price Hike List.

Speaking of Kwik Meal…  Read more »

Not all street meat is created equal.  It may seem, to the uninitiated, that many chicken and lamb over rice vendors are serving the same food, but the real cart aficionados know the truth.  Sure there are the stand out carts that everyone has heard of, but even amongst the no-name carts there are some huge differences. Different rice, different quality of meat, different veggies or salad, bread, no bread, different sauces, and most importantly, different spices.  Many of the vendors are from different countries, and usually that’s reflected in the way the food tastes.  It’s not until you put 13 plates of it side by side that you realize no two are alike. And that was my dream; to bring together different street meats from all over Midtown to one central location and have a massive taste off (yes, I have weird dreams.)

Last week, in Bryant Park, that dream came true.  20 Midtown Lunch’ers converged, tasted and rated 13 different plates of chicken and lamb over rice, from 13 different carts in Midtown.  Each lunch’er was instructed to bring two large orders of chicken and lamb over rice from their favorite cart (one topped with white sauce, one with white sauce and hot sauce.) We got the famous, “the best”, and not so well known carts, put them side by side and let them duke it out in a blind taste test.  With separate ratings for chicken, lamb, rice, white sauce, hot sauce, value, and overall taste, we proved conclusively that sometimes the “hype” is warranted, and sometimes it’s not.  And as expected, with all of the judging done blind, a few unknown carts distinguished themselves with some surprisingly good scores. 

The results of the First Annual Street-Meat-Palooza, after the jump. Read more »

I actually have a question for Midtown Lunch’ers today… I fully admit that pretty much every plate of street meat I’ve ever eaten has been written about on this site (I’m sure some people imagine that I have eaten at every cart in Midtown.  Sorry to disappoint- but I am just one man.)  When I want a plate of chicken and/or lamb over rice, I almost always go to one of 3 or 4 places- and they’re pretty much all on 6th Avenue.  Kwik Meal (on 45th), the Famous Halal Cart (SE Corner of 53rd), Trini-Pak (on 43rd), Carnegie John’s (7th Ave. and 56th) and once I ate at Rafiqi’s (Multiple Carts around Midtown.)  In the interest of branching out, I’d like to try some of the other carts, especially those to the East (Park Ave. and 3rd Ave have a bunch) and those to the south.  Anybody have any recommendations?  Or maybe you’ve always wondered about a particular cart that you walk by all the time?  I’ll go there too.  Feel free to post in the comments…

Now this is ridiculous.  On Thursday of last week (that is 3 business days ago for anybody who needs help with the counting) I posted about the sign on “The Steak Truck” (on Park Ave. and 47th) advertising a $4.99 foot long steak and cheese sub.  Yesterday, I walked by again- and the sign had been replaced with this:

Shame on you Steak Truck.  Still haven’t tried it though… and now I’m not sure I want to.  (Yes, I pout.  And yes, I hold grudges.)

A photo of last week’s Steak Truck, after the jump… Read more »

It’s been awhile since the monstrosity known as “The Steak Truck” (on Park & 47th) has been mentioned here on the site.  I was not impressed with their burgers, but the steak is not terrible (especially considering it’s under $10 and comes with sides and a drink.)  They seem to have added a few other things, like a fried chicken cutlet sandwich that looked intriguing- but the thing that caught my eye was the sign in the front window.  Foot long philly-cheese-steak-hero $4.99?  Hello!  Could it be that Magdy’s Steak and Cheese cart one block over, may have some competition?

Anybody try this thing yet?  Feel free to let us know what you thought in the comments…

Excuse me. You’re not selling Indian food out of that grocery bag, are you?

This comment was posted on Friday by “Lunch’er Nancy” to my piece about the Ecuadorian lady who sells food out of a grocery cart on 46th btw. 5+6th:

There is a random woman selling homemade Indian food in plastic containers out of a shopping cart on 58th between Madison & 5th… had curry chicken which she serves with roti, remember it being extremely oily but also tasty. She is near the Apple store plaza.

Well, naturally I camped out next to the Apple Store yesterday from 12:30 to 1:30 and not surprisingly there was no sign of this magical sounding lady.

Has anybody else had this food? Is she in a particular spot or does it vary? Does she only come on certain days? And what time can we find her? Please help!  Post as comments, or email to zach@midtownlunch.com

Jerk Chicken at the Jamaican Dutchy

Julia Moskin has a great Jamaican jerk feature in this mornings New York Times and guess who should pop up, but our good friends at the Jamaican Dutchy (on 51st & 7th Ave.)  She interviews owner Oneil Reid and calls his jerk chicken one of “the best truck lunches in the city.”  No argument here.

But the most interesting part to me is what the article had to say about jerk pork, and why Oneil doesn’t offer it at the Dutchy:

He said that he would like to make jerk pork sometimes, but that many of the other food vendors, and the taxi drivers who inch past his cart in Midtown traffic, are Muslim, and the pork smell bothers them.

That’s a bummer, although entirely commendable.