Midtown Lunch

Last week, on my way to the Shake Shack to try out the new concrete menu, I passed by Bryant Park and saw an ice cream truck I’d never noticed before. Turned out it was the famed Time Warner $1 ice cream truck back again for the Bryant Park Summer Film Festival. The truck is appearing around the city throughout the summer selling Mister Softee style vanilla and chocolate cones and cups with or without sprinkles for the suggested donation of $1 and donating the funds to local museums. They’ll be in Bryant Park every Monday night through August 16th from approximately 4 p.m. until 10 p.m.  And what do you know… today is Monday!

My 11:45 am trip to Shake Shack (on 44th and 8th Ave.) on Monday morning was smooth sailing (great for me!), but that relatively short line on the first real day of Midtown Lunch service wasn’t a very good indication of what the mob scene has now become. As the week has gone on reports have poured in between Noon and 2pm from the new Shack- and, no surprise, it can get pretty bad.  It’s only a matter of time before they Disneyland the sidewalk up with a rope line and “Your Wait Time From Here…” signs.  In the meantime, as a service to Midtown Lunch’ers, we have created a thorough guide to determining how long the wait is going to be.

So before you throw your arms up in disbelief and head to Schnipper’s, gauge how long the wait will really be after the jump…

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Last month we brought you word that Taste of India had opened next to Carribean Kitchen in 1 Penn Plaza, replacing Bruce’s Burger. While some may lament the loss of a hamburger place, we all know there’s more than enough new burger places popping up in New York these days (ahem, Shake Shack). Some of you in the comments section mentioned that Taste of India is serviceable and it was worthy of investigation because there’s a shortage of Indian options around the Penn Station area. So investigate, I did.

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Variety has always been the greatest strength of Cafe Zaiya, the popular Japanese lunch spot and bakery on 41st (btw. 5th and Madison). On a recent trip, I noticed their offerings have gotten even more varied with the introduction of some new Summer lunch items, including cold noodles. See their new menu and get a look at one of the new dishes after the jump.

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If you’ve been living under a rock you might be interested to know that the Shake Shack Theater District is open at last. Early reports are very promising and it seems that they have the line management situation down pretty well. Now all the Shake Shacks in the city have the same basic menu. Shack Burgers. Shack Dogs. Shroom Burgers. Cheese Fries. And they all abide by the same monthly custard calendar. But where the Shacks stand apart is with their concretes–that’s Danny Meyer speak for blended frozen custard treats for the uninitiated. Yesterday three brand new concretes took at bow at the Shake Shack Theater District. Naturally I had to try them all, for the good of Midtown Lunchers everywhere, of course.

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Pizza trucks aren’t new to midtown and neither are dollar slice joints, but $1 pizza from a truck? Now that’s something! Last week while running some errands in the Flatiron area I noticed a pizza truck I’d never seen before parked outside of Maffei’s Pizza (on 22nd and 6th Ave)  with a big old $1 slice sign. I have much love for the $1 slice, so I had to get the scoop. Turns out the truck is affiliated with Maffei’s Pizza and they are going to be selling grandma slices for $1. Those who love grandma pizza know that the grandma don’t come cheap- these slices routinely cost more than a regular cheese slice and can go for upwards of $3 in midtown.

According to the guys on the truck they are planning on making regular midtown appearances, potentially “midtown Mondays” and hope to be fully up and running in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, you can follow them on twitter. By the time I spotted the truck they weren’t serving any more pie, so I’m looking forward to trying out their pizza when they hit midtown proper. They were in the Flatiron yesterday (on B’way and 28th) and the early word on their slices sounds promising. Plus if the grandma slices off the truck are like the ones that Maffei’s sells at their shop, we should be in good shape (provided their fresh out of the oven!) Anyone tried out this new truck yet?

The last few times I’ve gone to Little Morocco, the delicious street meat cart on the NE corner of 39th and 7th, I’ve asked for the kofta over rice and gotten a shake of the head in reply. I assumed they kept selling out. But yesterday I noticed that the kofta and fried shrimp had been duct taped. The guy running the cart told me that he’d stopped making the kofta because no one was buying it (seriously?!?), and that he’d bring it back if customer demand was there. This means two of the items that put Little Morocco on the map have been discontinued indefinitely. So, head down to Little Morocco and tell him to bring them back. We want kofta! In the meantime, maybe I’ll finally try the fish that Danny liked.

Thanks to Lunch’er Stephen for tipping us off to this new kosher waffle truck (?!?) that has popped up on 52nd and Lexington. The truck is called “Quick Stop Kosher“, and according to their website they are indeed selling waffles in addition to sandwiches, falafel, blintzes, and slushies.  The schedule is regularly updated on their Facebook page, and yet the few times I have pranced around 52nd Street, in the heat, they have not seemed to be around (perhaps they are invisible to those of us raised Christian?) I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that they will be off on Saturdays and may discover a hungry lunch crowd in the Diamond District.

Has anybody tried this truck yet? We are definitely curious…

UPDATE: Today they are parked on Park Ave. and 23rd St.

Last month we told you that the “Famous Dal Cart” (discovered by Grub Street in the EV) had to decided to move to Midtown for lunch. It hasn’t been the most consistent cart of all time (one day it’s there, one day it’s not), but they seemed to have settled on the NW corner of 32nd and Park. So I swung by last week to see what they have to offer. Just from the name, Famous Dal Cart, I knew two things before even eating any of their food. First, I should probably try the dal (duh). Second, it’s always good to be weary of restaurants that claim to be “famous” or “best” at something (especially when they’ve been open for less than a month!) In other words, I was keeping my expectations on the low side (but hoping to be pleasantly surprised.)

When I arrived at the Famous Dal Cart, I knew that even if their dal wasn’t good enough to be famous, they would at least win an award for having a festively decorated cart.

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Well before Haru Hana, Izakaya Moku and now Sake Bar Kirakuya started ‘Japanifying’ Koreatown, Arang was offering up a hybrid Japanese/Korean menu. It’s changed a lot since Zach first wrote about its buffet way back in 2006. For a while they closed up the buffet and went lunch-less, but as Zach reported after I wrote about it on my blog, they reopened with full table service and an interesting mix of Korean and Japanese dishes.

Some of my favorite dishes require a slight splurge out of the ML Price range, but there are plenty of great options under $10. Check them out after the jump.

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