A few months back when I posted about my undying love for the red lentil soup at Dervish, Lunch’er “steveroller” tipped me off that “there’s a similar soup for a similar price at Akdeniz on 46th a couple blocks away.” Interesting. Very interesting. Never one to pass up the opportunity to check out a new soup spot, I paid Akdeniz a visit to see how their red lentil soup stacks up.
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Around the end of the year, I’ve got an Asia trip planned. Over two and a half weeks, we’ll be visiting Vietnam, Hong Kong and dropping into the Philippines for a couple days for a wedding. We’ll have friends guiding us through the Chinese and Filipino food options, but in Vietnam, we’ll be on our own. So, in the name of research, I plan to spend the next two months familiarizing myself with the cuisine as much as I can within the confines of New York. Y’know, for science.
We all know that there’s precious little Vietnamese food to be found in Midtown, but Golden City/V33 (33rd Street between 5th and 6th) has been a go to place for me for some time. Last year, Zach was shocked to hear about it when I wrote about the Vietnamese options there, but never had a chance to follow up. Lately, I’ve gone back to try out some of the other dishes on the menu.
Posted by ultraclay at 11:45 am, October 4th, 2010 under Golden City, Vietnamese.
Ever since I was a kid, the street festival Italian sausage has been a summer tradition for me. Yes, it’s overpriced, yes the fests all end up being sock-sellers and dorm room poster, but there’s something about a hot Italian sausage with hot and sweet peppers on a crusty bun that takes me back to my New York childhood.
Somehow this summer, I didn’t manage to have one at all and as the last week or so has proven, summer is definitely over. Then I noticed that halal carts all over town have started selling Italian sausages. (Well, maybe they were there all along… but it’s only recently that I noticed the signs!) I was intrigued. Halal and pork don’t typically mix, but I wouldn’t tell if they wouldn’t.
Posted by ultraclay at 11:45 am, October 1st, 2010 under Cart, Italian, Middle Eastern.
I am eagerly anticipating the Midtown debut of the Souvlaki GR truck, this year’s Vendy Rookie of the Year winner. It seems like something truly unique in an increasingly varied Midtown street food scene. As it turns out though, someone is already serving up Greek pork souvlaki right here in Midtown… the old school, new look Uncle Gussy’s (on 51st and Park Ave.) As you know from the letter they sent us last week, Uncle Gussy’s has been in business for 39 years (Nick, the owner, took it over from his uncle- natch), and recently they upgraded to a truck that makes them look more new school. Gussy’s chicken and lamb over rice failed to distinguish itself in Street Meat Palooza 3 (their first appearance) with a 12th place finish, but what we didn’t realize is they also serve souvlaki comparable to what you can get from the fabled Astoria vendors (his cousin Frank actually runs the famous souvlaki cart on Steinway).
Astoria style souvlaki, on the streets of Midtown?! This is pretty huge news indeed. Read more »
Posted by Jeremiah White at 11:45 am, September 30th, 2010 under Cart, Greek, Uncle Gussy's.
Hide-Chan’s Hakata Ramen. Photo by J. Kenji Lopez Alt.
Oh how the tides have turned! Take that East Village! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! (Ok, scratch that last part.) When I first started Midtown Lunch we were perfectly happy with our ramen selection here in Midtown. Sapporo, Menchanko Tei, and Men Kui Tei were all perfectly acceptable bowls of Japanese noodle soup, but there was no question that the EV was where ramen aficionados longed to work. Minca, Rai Rai Ken, Setagaya, and yes, even Momofuku. We couldn’t compete with that. And once Ippudo opened, well, that was game over. Until today!
Serious Eats’ J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (the amazing Food Lab dude) has declared Hide-Chan’s Hakata Ramen the best bowl of Ramen in New York City (with Totto Ramen coming in 3rd, after Ippudo.) That’s right. Soak it in people. Midtown now officially has the best ramen in New York City!
Related:
Hide-Chan’s Black Ramen is a Garlicky Force to Be Reckoned With
Posted by Zach Brooks at 10:30 am, September 30th, 2010 under Hide-Chan Ramen, Japanese, Soups.
Now that the newish Koreatown location of Bon Chon has had a couple months to settle in, it’s time to really give them the once over. The opening was much more low-key than Kyochon’s, there haven’t been any lines out the door or anything, which is a good sign. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been some long waits and service confusion. See what we’ve found after the jump.
Posted by ultraclay at 9:30 am, September 30th, 2010 under Bon Chon, Fried Chicken, Korean.
This one is for those of you who can’t resist a good “I found a bug in my salad” post (we’re looking at you, Eater!) From Lunch’er Jenna: “I went to chopped [sic] for lunch today and ordered a kebob Cobb wrap and as I was eating it a ALIVE BUG came crawling out of my sandwich!!!!!!! I was so grossed out that I took the rest of my sandwich back to chopped and they refunded my money and said they try to clean the lettuce. Just want to get the word out there that if you go to Chopped you may bring back a bug!!!” Don’t be too upset Jenna… some people in Brooklyn would pay good money to eat that bug!
The photo she sent us is a particularly gross one, so as a public service we’ve placed it after the jump.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 2:30 pm, September 29th, 2010 under Salads.
Since Bill’s Bar & Burger opened in the Meatpacking District late last year, I was under the impression that it was meant to compete with Shake Shack. I can’t speak to the original location, but after eating at the new Rockefeller Center location (51st btw. 5+6th), I can tell you that Shack Shack has nothing to worry about. This comparison isn’t about the quality of the food (we’ll get there), it’s just that Bill’s offers a completely different experience.
Posted by Jeremiah White at 11:50 am, September 29th, 2010 under Bill's Bar & Burger, Burger.
A few weeks ago when we reviewed Boki, the new Korean food cart on 5th Ave. near the 32nd Street strip of Koreatown, we found that the dumplings weren’t so great and the fried chicken, though tasty, didn’t live up to the name “Korean Fried Chicken.” Well, last week Luncher ‘Pink’ chimed in to let us know that the fried chicken and dumplings were gone, and the folks at Boki confirmed that “after a couple of weeks of trial and error, we took the chicken and dumplings off our menu.” They went on to say that they are continuing to update the menu over time and that they love the feedback.
In the name of research, I decided to stop in again to see what options have replaced the outgoing ones.
Posted by ultraclay at 9:30 am, September 29th, 2010 under 32nd btw. B'way+5th, Boki Cart, Korean.
The wait is finally over… Bill’s Bar & Burger is supposed to open in Rockefeller Center today (on 51st btw. 5+6th), so I swung by after work to see how things were shaping up. There was plenty of activity inside as employees were running around and the space looked ready to go. A sign in the window announced they’d be open 11am-9pm, and that hours would expand to 11am-11pm starting Oct. 4th. Chris got a preview of Bill’s back in July, during Rock Center’s Taste of Summer event, but the burgers weren’t even close to made to order. They had a friends and family event yesterday, but we’re still waiting for our first official taste. Early adopters, let us know how it is in the comments.
Posted by Jeremiah White at 8:30 am, September 28th, 2010 under Bill's Bar & Burger, Burger.
