Midtown Lunch

Becoming a mobile vendor is not quite as easy as ehow would have you believe. So in anticipation of Softee Season 2011 we’ve asked Chrissy (aka Miss Softee) to show us the process of what it takes to become an ice cream vendor in Midtown. We’ll meet the potential new vendors, and track their progress through the selection and training process as all of the candidates make their way towards being a full fledged Mr. Softee vendor. Last week you met the first few hires, this week Team Softee 2011 adds more drivers to the crew. Take it away Miss Softee!

This week all of the new midtown Softee crew headed down to the Department of Health to register to take their Mobile Food Vending classes. Most of the group will go through the actual class in early March, but in the meantime, they’re getting more and more excited to meet you all and are imagining all the ways to bring something unique to their trucks!! I’m pleased to introduce you to a few more drivers that were hired last week. Read more »

Every day, the Chef’s Table at Cucina & Co. in the Rock Center Concourse offers a different lunch for $9.50 from 11:30 to 12:30. The lunches change each week (Brownie enjoyed their pork tenderloin medallions with pasta), but Fridays are always the same. Chef Juan anchors each week with his cheeseburger sliders, and they’re popular enough to have gotten the attention of Concourse neighbor Tri Tip. We’ve never had the sliders though, so I decided to head out for an early lunch last Friday (the Chef’s Table is known to run out of food). See what I found after the jump.
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As New Englander from way back–let’s put it this way, some of my relatives were on the Mayflower and the others met the boat–I should probably hold Boston Cream with a certain degree of reverence. But frankly, I’m not the biggest fan of the vanilla custard, chocolate frosted donut (or the cake that masquerades as a pie for that matter). If you up the chocolate, well, then you might get me interested. Dunkin Donuts did just that with their new chocolate donuts. I can only pass their “new donut” signage for so long before breaking down. I’m just not that strong. So I decided to check it out. At least I could let my fellow lunchers know if it was worth it.

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Let’s face it – It’s only February, and we still have at least a month of cold weather left before we can put away the sweater, scarves and jackets. Bundling up is one way of beating the cold weather, but the contributors here at Midtown lunch like to reach for a hot bowl of soup to warm up. We’ve asked each of the contributors to share a favorite bowl of soup in Midtown, so read on to find out where we like to get our soup on.

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Becoming a mobile vendor is not quite as easy as ehow would have you believe. So in anticipation of Softee Season 2011 we’ve asked Chrissy (aka Miss Softee) to show us the process of what it takes to become an ice cream vendor in Midtown. We’ll meet the potential new vendors, and track their progress through the selection and training process as all of the candidates make their way towards being a full fledged Mr. Softee vendor.  Here’s Part 1.  Take it away Miss Softee!

Everyone wants to drive an ice cream truck, but not everyone has what it takes to stick around and see the job through. While the joys of slinging the cream far outweigh the cons in my mind, the hours are long, the work can by very physical, and the midtown route is demanding!! So, this season, I’ve been given the opportunity to help bring on new drivers to our team, train them, and work as a day-to-day manager. I’m going to share my knowledge of the industry and business with them and they’ll all be working throughout Midtown with special toppings, happy hour, and more! Read more »

Midtown South doesn’t have nearly the curry cart options found in the Rock Center area. There are a couple here and there, like the XPL truck on 33rd and 6th Avenue and the cart on 35th and 5th where I got the faux Italian sausage.  So, I was psyched this morning to see a new Halal Truck on 33rd and 5th, right across from Little Italy Pizza. The more the merrier, I say. No word on how long they’ll be around, so if you work near the Empire State Building and want some street meat without the schlep, check it out…

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Perhaps – but when it comes to Midtown lunches and good Thai food, I say go for the gusto. During my rave first look of Pure Thai Shophouse, luncher wayne inquired if they served khao soi, and I shared his admiration for the dish (at the time, they were not). However I recently stopped by Pure Thai for lunch, and noticed that they are now serving khao soi as a rotating daily special. Pure Thai has quickly become one of my favorite Thai joints in the city, and khao soi is easily my favorite dish in any Thai repertoire. As it turns out, too much of a good thing, is a great thing.
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In the two years that it has been open, Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen has always seemed to covet a spot amongst New York’s burger elite. Initial reactions to their signature offering were good, but not great. While Schnipper’s was quietly stepping their ground meat game up, by cooking patties to order and switching to LaFrieda beef, Shake Shack opened a few blocks away and the stakes got higher. Schnipper’s burgers have seemingly been climbing up the ranks of public opinion for a while now, so I decided to celebrate their 2 Year Anniversary with my first visit, and one of their new and improved cheeseburgers.

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Oh, the chocolate chip cookie. One influential group of people have a taste-off declaring a winner, and the matter is settled? Not so fast! I’ve never bought into the supposed “best chocolate chip cookie” stand-bys in NYC. I’m not the biggest fan of Levain’s, City Bakery appeals to those who like their cookies crispy, and flatter, and Pret’s is pretty great thanks to a warming case keeping it gooey.  But if you’re going to say “best cookie in Midtown” you should probably try all the chocolate chip cookies in Midtown, right?  (Don’t mind if we do!)  After all there are a lot of chocolate chip cookies in Midtown alone, and the half of them aren’t even given a fair chance. Like the chocolate chip from Macchiato Espresso Bar (on 44th btw 3rd+Lex), which definitely deserves a mention!

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