Midtown Lunch

Just got this email from Ali Issa, one of the organizers from the Street Vendor Project: “I thought I would inform you that Ms. Jaramillo, the hot dog vendor at 43rd and 6th, has gotten her cart back and will be returning to her spot today at noon (accompanied by one of our intern Josh, because she fears intimidation by building management.)” This could be the perfect day for a $1 hot dog…

Related:
BREAKING: Cops Seize Two Carts on 43rd… El Rey Del Sabor is Next
The Sad State of 43rd Street Between 6th and Broadway
Street Vendor Project Going to Court Today to Fight For The 43rd St. Hot Dog Lady

With October just one week away, it’s only natural to start craving a little bratwurst with German potatoes, and sauerkraut.  And for those of us in Midtown, there’s only one place to go for that… the Babiel Brothers’ famous Hallo Berlin Cart on 54th and 5th Ave.  But what if you want beer with that brat?  Or spaetzle?  Or potato pancakes?  For that, you’ll have to head a bit out of bounds to Hallo Berlin Express– the small brick and mortar version of the cart located on 9th Ave. btw. 50+51st.

It’s been open for almost a year and half now, but yesterday I had lunch there for the very first time.

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Plenty has been written about the new Schnitzel & Things Truck here on Midtown Lunch since they first hit the scene a few months ago. We watched their twitter feed for the first month, tracking them all around the city- serving up their Austrian style fried cutlets to every part of the city but ours. Other blogs weighed in while we had to watch from afar waiting for them to finally make it to Midtown. It’s hard to fault the Schnitzel & Things truck though… Midtown is a tough slog, and you’ve got to be prepared. Working out all the kinks in your operation *before* attempting to serve your food to the hordes of hungry Midtown Lunchers is a sound strategy.

When they finally hit Midtown a few weeks ago, they faced the same issues all vendors face: finding a legal spot to vend where they wouldn’t be accosted by cops, businesses and other vendors. It took a little bit of time, but it seems like everything has been worked out and they’re settling into Midtown on Mondays at 52nd btw. 6+7th and Tuesdays at 48th btw. Lex+Park (although this week they have a special Tuesday spot for a Vendy Award CBS segment.)

I finally made it out last week to sample their fried cutlet goodness…

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For those who love the Indian street snacks known as chaat, the heart of Midtown is quite the wonderland.  But that’s little consolation for those who work in the NE corner of Midtown, where a little chaat might require a 15-20 minute walk (at least!)  Well, problem solved!  Lunch’er Chandrika (who translated the Taj Delhi Chaat menu for us last year) has tipped us off to the amazing chaat at Chola on 57th 58th btw. 2+3rd.  It’s slightly out of bounds, but completely worth it for those chaat starved lunchers in that area of our fine territory.

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I could barely contain my excitement yesterday, when I stumbled upon Gulluoglu– which opened on 52nd and 2nd Ave. last week.  Known mostly for their extensive selection of Turkish baklava, the first American branch of this popular Turkish chain opened on Coney Island Ave. in Brooklyn back in 2005, but this is their first Manhattan location.  Alot of what they sell is imported from Turkey, but I was surprised to find a good number of savory baked goods plus a menu of sandwiches and salads available.  Sadly I had already had lunch, but I could resist picking up a few things- and snapping a few photos of everything they had to offer.

Check it out after the jump…

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Lunch’er Adam used the ML Forums to organize a meetup at Bombay Eats yesterday so lunchers could sample the various Indian pizzas being offered by Bombay Eats (on 52nd btw. 8+9th Ave.) See, despite my pleading they don’t offer their Indian food topped pies by the slice, only as an entire pizza. They’ll jury-rig a slice of saag pizza if you ask nicely, but if you want to try the real deal you have to order a whole fresh pie. Not a problem if you can get 8 lunchers together for lunch… which is exactly what happened yesterday. Lunch’er “Adam Prato” sent in this report:

Lamb Keema Pie. Photo courtesy of Jessica@Food Mayhem

We actually had a great turnout. At the start, 5 of us midtownlunchers (jessica@foodmayhem, wellerfan, stevenp, scottyelich, and I) showed up for the Indian Pizza outing. After some deliberation, we decided to order 2 18″ pies; stevenp had heard that the 14″ was too doughy, which was exactly my concern since the difference between most “medium” and “large” pies is how thin they stretch the same amount of dough. We went with the Lamb Keema and the Saag paneer. Shortly after ordering, 3 of my coworkers (all of Indian descent) had unexpectedly stumbled in after a meeting since I told them all about the “indian pizza” phenomenon. Though they were there for the buffet, we coerced them into the indian pizza. With the magic number of 8 people, we were able to order a 3rd pie! So we went with the Chicken Tikka.

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Got this email last week from Lunch’er Andrew: “Had a great lunch at Zaiya today [on 41st btw. Mad+5th], though I had to go online for a tutorial on how to open those damn plastic wraps!”  Wait a second… there are online tutorials for how to open those shrink wrapped triangular rice balls? “But of course there are!!”

The onigiri mystery unlocked on video for confused westerners, after the jump.

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The new Kosher Oasis Cart has had an interesting first couple of months. It first appeared on 44th street (btw. 6+7th) at the end of last year, but then like a mirage (or oasis?) it reappeared on 47th, only to disappear and reappear again a few times throughout August. It seems to have settled in over on 47th Street (btw. 6+7th), but it was forced to move somewhere else on Wednesdays (possibly related to the intimidation reported by the local news?)

But what about the food?  I headed over recently to sample a few of their menu items. (And by “sample” I mean stuff my fat face with pretty much everything they make.)

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The news about Onya, the Japanese udon chain owned by Muginoho (the Japanese company that owns Beard Papa) keeps getting more and more exciting.  We reported that they would be moving into the old Cafe Zest space on 47th btw. Lex+3rd back in August, and the more we’re hearing about the place the better it sounds.  According to the owners it will be the first restaurant in New York City to serve freshly-made, authentic udon from Osaka, Japan- going so far as to say that they will do for Osaka udon what Ippudo has done for ramen from Fukuoka.

I guess that means it’s different then the udon served at Udon West (on 46th btw. Lex+3rd).  The description of the restaurant sounds different enough… the first floor will have quick bento lunches in the front, a small dining area in the back, and an open kitchen where you can watch the noodles being cut.  Sit down dining will be available on the 2nd floor.  Even with all that, everything on the menu is well under $10, and looks awesome.  Check it out after the jump…

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Knowing how much I love the all-you-can-eat buffet, Serious Eats grand poobah Ed Levine IM’d pretty soon after he and the SENY crew discovered El Ranchito del Agave- the brand new Mexican restaurant on 9th Ave. btw. 36+37th that features a lunch buffet.  He knew I’d be excited (I’m very serious about my all you can eat buffets), but cautioned that he might have finally found an all you can eat buffet that even I couldn’t get behind 100%.  Ed found the taquitos to be dry, and the mole too sweet- but the rest of the crew seemed to like it enough in their review… and it’s only $8!  How could it be bad!? (After all you are talking to a guy who has willingly eaten at an all you can eat Chinese buffet in the back woods of Tennessee.)

What I’m trying to say is my standards for all you can eat buffets are far lower than Ed’s, so I rushed out 9th to check this one out.

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