Midtown Lunch

I love fried chicken… and can you blame me?  I won’t step anywhere near a McDonalds, but KFC or Popeyes? You probably aren’t going to want to get in my way.  I don’t know why that is.  Oh wait- yes I do.  Fried chicken is amazing.  And, if you are as big a fried chicken fan as me you might be interested in knowing that a branch of Church’s Chicken recently opened inside that mini food court on 8th Avenue between 44+45th.

I’ll admit, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at Church’s.  I was always a KFC fan growing up, a Popeye’s fan later in life (after spending so much time in New Orleans), and I had a brief flirtation with Bojangles in 1986.  But never Church’s.  Anybody a big fan?  Feel free to sound off in the comments.  I’m curious if this new addition to the Midtown Lunch’ing landscape is something to get excited about…

Some places you just instantly know you are going to like. Like the Chicken House on 36th St. just East of 8th Avenue. To call this little fried chicken/fish/shrimp/chip shop small would be vastly overestimating its size. This place is tiny. With no more than 10 seats facing the fryers where everything on the menu is made (nothing escapes the oil except maybe the rice and beans, although I’m not positive), you cram into the 12 inch space behind the stools and decide whether you want to try and sit down, or just order your food to go and quickly flee to the safety of your cubicle.

With the prices maxing out at $6, and a perfectly filling lunch available for a ridiculously cheap $2.50, is there any way I wasn’t going to like this place? Sure there are tons of people who won’t eat nondescript fried fish and shrimp from a tiny off the radar garment district hole in the wall. Lucky for you, I’m not one of those people, and relish every opportunity to put my body in harms way for the sake of this blog (especially when it involves cheaper-than-what-is-humanly-acceptable-for-consumption fried food.)

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It’s been over a year a half since I originally visited Cafe Cello (46th btw. 5+6th), and wrote about their roast pork.  (I loved it so much, the photo of my lunch became the official Midtown Lunch photo.)  From the outside, you’d never guess that this generic looking deli would serve the best roast pork in Midtown, but it’s the truth (you may say the secret ingredient is crispy pork fat).  I returned last week to check out the scene, and I’m pleased to report that pretty much nothing has changed.  They still serve up a delicious plate of pork, and they still top it with the all important hunk of crispy pork skin.  If you are a lover of pork fat, it really can’t be beat.

But as good as the pork is, it may not be Cafe Cello’s best dish.  That title may have to be reserved for their surprisingly delicious fried chicken…  Read more »

Day off from work + no line at Amy Ruth’s (116 & Lennox in Harlem) = Very Happy Zach. I love President’s Day!!!The camera phone photo didn’t come out so hot.  A much better looking one, after the jump… Read more »

 

It should come as no surprise that I feel we are in desperate need of a Korean Fried Chicken place here in Midtown (if your unfamiliar with the phonomenon, check out Jason Perlow’s round-up).  Unfortunately, Baden Baden & Bon Chon, the two locations in Koreatown, are not open for lunch, so we are left Koreanfriedchicken’less.

And now, just to increase our jealousy, Serious Eats’ Adam Kuban has written about the Col-Pop,  a device available at BBQ Chicken (a fast food KoreanFC chain with a location in Chelsea), that allows you to hold popcorn chicken in a built in container atop your soda cup.  Are you kidding me?!?!  With a location on 7th Ave. and 24th St. it’s only 1 stop farther on the subway than the Manhattan Mall Food Court… a small price to pay for being the first kid at work with a col-pop in your cube.

Need more?  Check out the amazing video posted on Serious Eats.

In the pantheon of great foods, rotisserie chicken has got to be towards the top, somewhere just below fried chicken and above every other kind of chicken imaginable. You may say the secret ingredient is the chicken fat waterfall, created by rotating chickens stacked one on top of another. Now that’s some Chinese water torture I can get into.

Golden brown skin is the key to what makes rotisserie chicken so great, but once you add super cheap prices, Latin style side dishes, and Peruvian aji (green sauce), you’ve got a real winner. Sound good? Well then head to Tio Pio West (the original is in Brooklyn) on 36th btw. 5+6th, where $7.50 will buy you half a chicken, rice, beans, and plantains. Oh, and not to mention a fairly big cup of aji.

What I got and a +/1 after the jump… Read more »

Midtown has its boundaries, but every once in awhile I’ll discover a place that just might be worth the extra few blocks, and profile it in a category I call “Out of Bounds”.  Since Ressie May’s Soul to Go closed, there has been a soul food hole in the Midtown Lunch’ing landscape.  Anything good and cheap would be welcomed.  A place that sells fried chicken for a $1 a piece, collards and mac & cheese for $1-2 a scoop- well now you’ve got me excited, and willing to walk those extra couple of avenues for an Out of Bounds lunch.

Piece of Chicken is that place, and their sandwich board doesn’t lie.  As unbelievable as it seems to passersby, they do in fact serve fried chicken for $1 a piece, and side dishes for $1-2.  Add to that rib tips, fried fish, corn bread and soup, sold out of the back window of a kitchen that once belonged to upscale Caribbean restaurant Jezebel (with nothing costing over $2), and you’ve got a winner.

The menu, piece of chicken porn and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

I finally made it down to the brand new Popeyes I reported about on Fat Tuesday.  If you hadn’t heard, Popeyes is back in Midtown with a location on 40th btw. 7th & 8th Ave.  I ate there on Friday, and felt pretty disgusting the rest of the day.  But you know what?  It was worth it.  Sure in retrospect the third piece of chicken and second biscuit may have been overkill… but hindsight is twenty twenty.  Popeyes is awesome. 

Like fried chicken, alot is written about great hamburgers in New York City.  People argue all the time over who makes the best burger in the city.  Shake Shack and Burger Joint are always on the list, and new places seem to open up every week.  Then of course there are the expensive burgers, with truffles and foie gras and the such.  In the end, a $3 Big Mac tastes good, but it’s no competition for a real burger, made with quality beef.

Fried chicken is a whole different ball game.  I don’t care what kind of prejudice you have against fast food places, I’m telling you, Popeyes is frickin good.  If you want delicious fried chicken, you will be hard pressed to find some that tastes better than the spicy chicken at Popeyes.  Sure, your extra money might buy you better side dishes, a fancier atmosphere and organic chickens that were treated very nicely before they were dipped in batter and fried up crispy… but in the end, when you are just talking about taste- Popeyes can hold its own with the best of them.

Pictures and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

Now this is exciting.  The new Popeyes I reported on a few weeks ago (on 40th btw. 7th & 8th) has opened!!! And just in time to celebrate Fat Tuesday. 

For those of us longing to be in New Orleans right now for Mardi Gras, this will be have to be our consolation prize.  (It’s no “Mama’s” Chicken Box, but it will do!)  Spicy Fried Chicken, biscuits (made with lard), and red beans and rice.

Pics of the inside, after the jump… Read more »