Midtown Lunch

Yesterday, more than 50 winning lunchers joined us for a free meal at Koreatown’s Food Gallery 32 provided by the fine folks at Google Places. Blondie, Brownie, Chris and I snacked on some great food and met more than a few of the winners.

If you didn’t make it, follow the jump for a few of the dishes that we ate there.

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The forums have been abuzz about Gobuki, since they opened three weeks ago on 52nd street at 6th avenue. According to the woman running the show, the cart has a new owner, and it replaces a cart that used to serve Korean noodles (which earned a Midtown Lunch sticker that is still on display in the picture above!). Some thought they replaced Bapcha, but I can confirm that both their carts are still on 49th street, safe and sound (unless it was, in fact, a satellite location).

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After reading Brownie’s recent preview of Palenque, the new Colombian truck that just started parking in Midtown, I knew I had to try it immediately. I braved the wind and the rain last week to get a hold of some delicious arepa goodness.  In addition to the traditional corn, Palenque offers some unconventional varieties of arepa: quinoa, brown rice with flax seeds, and brown rice with sesame seeds. They have a variety of meat and vegetarian toppings, so everyone should be able to find an arepa combination that pleases them. Since Brownie already went the conventional route, I decided to branch out and try the quinoa arepa with beef ($8). They offered to add hogao for $1 extra, and who was I to argue? With that addition and my $2 sugar cane and ginger lemonade I ended up slightly over the ML limit, but for the sake of science I let it slide.

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Part of what we do at Midtown Lunch is try the stuff you don’t want to and let you know if it’s worth your time. Enter the non-meat sandwiches at the Salume kiosk in Times Square. While checking whether Snack Box had opened (it had not), I passed by Salume this afternoon. I couldn’t help but wonder why in the world anyone would order off the vegetarian menu at a store that clearly prides itself on its authentic sliced and cured Italian meats.

So, I ordered two.

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Good Nature Deli looks so generic on the outside that most people probably don’t even notice it when they walk by. I went in randomly one day when I needed to grab a soda and I was extremely surprised at what I found. It may look like just your average corner bodega, and it’s one avenue out of bounds.  But Good Nature Deli has some surprises within…

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The Bob & Jo Korean Fusion Cuisine truck braved western midtown the other day in the rain, and to show my appreciation for trucks continuing their business in this precarious area, I also braved the rain to check out some of the dishes Donny didn’t get to in his initial visit to Bob & Jo over the summer.

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Bobby Van’s is certainly not a Midtown Lunch — no upscale steakhouse is. But, what if you actually could get lunch for under $10? Turns out if you round the corner into the plaza next to the restaurant you’ll find BV’s Burger, a small space dedicated to a far less expensive takeout burger menu (plus some soups, salads and sandwiches). The surprisingly hefty 1/2 lb sirloin burger will run you only $6.00 ($6.50 with your choice of cheese) and comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles and ketchup; mayo, mustard, chopped onions and sauerkraut are also free toppings. “Extra add-ons” include sauteed onions, guacamole, grilled mushrooms, bacon and chili, each running you an extra $1.00.

So, to stay under $10 you pretty much have to make a choice: a burger with extra add-ons or one with a side of fries ($3.00).  I tried both, naturally.

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I can’t remember what Hunan Manor (on Lex btw. 39+40th) but the other day I noticed a Grand Opening sign hanging in their window. Turns out, the place replaced Red Curry Thai back in September, and according to Eating in Translation is a sister restaurant to Hunan House in Flushing. Aw yeah, Midtown East finally gets a taste of Flushing!

I’m not very familiar with Hunan cuisine so I was pretty excited to try it. They made choosing my first lunch item easy by placing double cooked pork as the first lunch special item on the menu (ever since my poor experience at Joe’s Shanghai, I’ve been on a mission to find good double cooked pork). So how did the Hunan Manor version do?

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Although Lunch’er Jon was kind enough to do an Ocha vs. Aoki sushi analysis for us, we’ve never actually taken a serious look at Ocha’s lunchtime menu. Turns out, there is fantastic value found in Ocha’s lunch specials, although sushi will most likely push you over $10.

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Please welcome our newest ML contributor the fold… Anna L.  She was profiled a few weeks ago, and we liked her so much we offered her a gig! Today, she lets us know about the new Mexican “inspired” sandwiches from Gourmet 53.

The coconut shrimp at Gourmet 53 is the stuff that Midtown Lunch dreams are made of, but did you know that they also have Mexican inspired sandwiches on the menu as well? They’ve actually had them for awhile but for some reason I haven’t bothered to try one until now. Carefully constructed with top-quality ingredients these are not, but they will certainly satisfy anybody looking for a cheap, delicious, and different sandwich (plus extras, but more on that later).

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