Midtown Lunch

Last week, Lunch’er “uncledunkle” took to the ML forums to ask if anyone had ever tried the burrito from the La Baguette truck (SE Corner of B’way & 40th Street). I’d been wanting to try La Baguette myself and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to take a bullet for a good cause (too bad they answered their own question before I got a chance.  Oh well, I’m one day late!) Anyway, I too got the chicken burrito ($5) and was kind of happy to discover that it’s basically just another way to enjoy some delicious street meat.

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We have long dreamed of the day that New York would get their very own KOGI Truck, the infamous Los Angeles based Korean taco vendors that teased us back in June of last year, before pulling the rug out from under us just a month later. Kogi has spawned a host of fusion taco imitators on the West Coast… to the point where it seems like every new truck that hits the street in L.A. has at least some kind of taco option- regardless of what kind of food it is.  Here in NYC, we’re not so lucky…  until now that is!  Enter the Mexicue truck, a scrappy new entrant in the street food scene which, through savvy marketing, has amassed significant buzz. We’ve watched with growing curiosity for the past week as the Mexicue crew zealously tweeted their location and wares to over 650 followers.

Expectations in check, I decided to check it out for myself.

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Sure, sure, there might be something whack in the meat at Burger King. But it’s the King! And they let me have it my way… Even with all the food options that Midtown Lunch uncovers, there’s still times when I just need the guilty taste of fast food. Earlier this month we told you that the Whopper Bar on 40th and 7th Ave. was almost ready to open. I walked by today and there was a guy in the front saying they’ll open tomorrow (7/31) after 3 PM. He was also handing out some free toppings coupons too. My doctor recently cleared me to eat all the artery clogging food that I want, so maybe there’ll be some Whopper Bar in my future. It’s against everything that ML stands for but… I just can’t help it!

The long awaited Korean Fried Chicken War of 5th Ave. is about to commence. We’ve gotten word that the  Koreatown branch of Bon Chon Chicken (on 5th Ave bet. 32nd & 33rd St.), just a few doors down from Kyochon’s US flagship location, is set to open some time next week and it’s not just another Kfc joint. According to the owner and manager Simon Lee, the new Bon Chon will be a completely different concept from the other more fast-foodish locations of the chain. “The classic east meets west. American sports bar meets classic Bon Chon.”  That could be interesting.

More details (plus my plywood peek from a couple weeks ago) after the jump.

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Relegated to a “specials” menu

The QBA Cuban Kitchen Truck is going to roll out some changes to its menu next week, and there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that their bistec meal and their chicken meal (the one that the Downtown section of ML raved about yesterday) will no longer be available on a daily basis- leaving the pork meal, maduros meal and Cuban sandwich as their core daily menu items. The good news, on the other hand, is that the bistec and chicken will join a daily specials rotation that will also include new items, such as picadillo (ground beef in savory tomato sauce) and ropa vieja (shredded beef, peppers & onions in savory tomato sauce). I was pretty happy with the pork back when QBA started making stops in Midtown so I’m interested to see what these new dishes are like. QBA can usually be found on 44th btw. 5th+6th on Thursdays, but you should keep up with their location (and menu) on Twitter. Or the Midtown Lunch Twitter Tracker, of course.

Related:
QBA Truck Brings “Quick but Authentic” Cuban Food to the Streets

I may not be willing to trek over 10 blocks at lunchtime for a meatball sandwich, but I’m totally willing to do the trek after work for a gelato sandwich! As we told you last week, the Mia Dona cart is now serving gelato sandwiches from around 4 until 7. I stopped by yesterday and went with the ricotta drizzled with honey. The homemade brioche was soft, sweet, and fluffy; the gelato is pretty fantastic, except the freezer is a bit too cold- rendering the gelato a bit hard. The server did mention that if the cart gets more traffic, they’ll offer more flavors. $6 is a bit pricey for a late afternoon sugar rush, but in fairness it’s probably the cheapest dessert on the block, and quite possibly the best take-away one in the area.

Mia Dona Gelato Cart, 206 E. 58th (btw. 2+3rd), 212-750-8170 (Weekdays from 4-7pm)

My first thought when George Steinbrenner died two weeks ago wasn’t of Yankee Stadium or championship trophies, it was of Larry David’s voice. I guess I’m a bigger Seinfeld fan than Yankees fan. One of my favorite Steinbrenner episodes of Seinfeld is when he becomes obsessed with George’s lunchtime calzone stuffed with cheese, pepperoni and eggplant, and starts making George bring him one everyday. The spell that calzone casts on Steinbrenner always makes me crave one. So, to honor The Boss, I headed out to some of Midtown’s most notable pizzerias in search of Midtown’s best calzone. See what I found after the jump.

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Thanks to Lunch’er Dave for passing along this one… yesterday, the brand new “Mexicue” Truck hit the streets selling a fusion of Mexican food and BBQ (think burnt ends in a Mexican rub, topped with an arbol BBQ sauce, and habanero salsa.) Yesterday they were in the Flatiron (on 25th and Park), and today they parked on 40th btw. 5+6th. We’ve got some pretty decent Mexican food in Midtown, and there’s the Daisy May’s Cart (on 49th 50th btw. 6+7th) when you’re craving that BBQ fix. But combined? This could be a game changer. The menu looks pretty great to say the least… and these press photos on Flickr, are, well… press-y. But they give you a pretty looking idea of what you’re getting. (Thanks to the forums for that link!) We will definitely be hitting this up soon, and early adopters should let us all know how it is in the comments. They’re already sold out for today, but to follow them in the future here’s their website, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The best thing about restaurants in New York is that the turnover is high. Such a system lends itself to constant rebirths and many opportunities for us to try new restaurants. What is funny though is that sometimes you get restaurants that just change their name and all of a sudden the food is completely different? I present you restaurant 1 and restaurant 2 on Yelp. Different name. Different ratings. Exact same address and phone number. But at $8 for appetizer and entree as part of the lunch special, this really required some more investigation.

When I asked Zach about this place, he (surprisingly) got a bit excited.  Apparently Siam Inn was one of the first Thai restaurants he ate at when he moved to NYC, about 5 years ago, when they were on 8th Ave. btw. 51+52nd.  About 3 years ago they closed down and opened around the corner as Blue Chili, but the vibe went from homey to neon and glossy. The menu for the new spot says Siam Inn and the website for Blue Chili says it’s Siam Inn @ Bluechili. It’s confusing as hell really. But lets just get to the food because $8 lunch specials are what attracted me to this place in the beginning.

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