Midtown Lunch

Last October, I was pretty excited to find soft shelled crabs on the by the pound buffet at Cafe Duke (on 51st btw. 6+7th).  Well, soft shelled crab season started up again last month, and Lunch’er “David” reports seeing them at the 41st and Broadway Cafe Duke yesterday.  I stopped by the 51st Street location today, and they were nowhere to be found.  Please report positive sightings in the comments below (preferably before lunchtime.)

I have to give Danny from Food in Mouth full and complete credit for this one. On Friday he posted about the newest truck to hit the mobile food scene here in New York City: NYC Cravings. Terrible name… but the food sounded intriguing.  At the end of his post he begged them to come to Midtown for lunch, and yesterday they obliged- parking on 45th btw. 6+7th. Huge crowds turned out for their Taiwanese style fried chicken, served over rice with “a secret pork sauce” and by 1:15 they were out of food.

I was lucky enough to be there on the early side, and got to try what could be my new favorite truck in New York City.

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Unable to ignore the prospect of 50% off the hot food at a by the pound buffet, I stopped by Green Cafe yesterday (on 44th btw. Mad+5th)  just to see what was going on… survey the scene if you will (before heading to KFC).  Like most commenters noted, it’s a pretty generic Midtown deli- and for $8 a pound, the hot/cold bar is definitely not worth it.  ($4 a pound, on the other hand…)  There was, however, one thing that caught my eye:  gigantic friend shrimp!  I’ve been duped by shrimp at a by the pound buffet before (the fake shrimp fiasco of 2006), but these were clearly real shrimp.  Well, I shouldn’t say “clearly”… they clearly had real tails sticking out the side of  a ton of breading that looked like it could possibly house a real shrimp.  I wouldn’t put it past one of these places to insert real tails, into a fake fried shrimp carcass (would you?)

I had to find out for myself.

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I think most people will agree that the biggest surprise of the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge was the duck pastrami reuben created by FreeFoods NYC (on 45th btw. 5+6th & 52nd btw. 3rd+Lex). It was so delicious, that most of us were willing to ignore the fact that it was kind of small, and very expensive ($9.95). It was especially hard for those who vowed never to step food in a place that serves the kind of super expensive raw/vegan/organic/yuppie food that FreeFoods is known for. But the sandwich was freakin’ awesome. And in the end taste triumphs over everything.

And then the unthinkable thing we knew was going to happen, happened. They raised the price. Part of the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge is that everything had to be under $10… so they introduced it at $9.95, only to raise it to $12 now that the sandwich is so popular. Normally I would institute an immediate boycott, but FreeFoods was too smart for that. They simultaneously introduced a new $9.75 sandwich, that sounded too good to pass up. It’s not part of the Sandwich Challenge, but the owner admitted that they made it with the Midtown Lunch readers in mind. Sloppy Leo’s Brisket Melt.

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I’ll admit I completely dismissed Asian Station, the new semi-chic looking Asian restaurant that opened over a month ago next to Bombay Bistro on 52nd btw. 3rd+Lex. Aside from it being a little too cool for school, they didn’t have a menu in the window- and from the looks of it, there was no way it was going to be cheap enough for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes. I do love Asian food though, so I was excited to hear yesterday that their lunch specials are actually well under $10! That’s the good news. The bad news is, they serve Japanese, Chinese, AND Thai food.

Lunch’er Joe was kind enough to transcribe the menu for us. It’s after the jump…

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If you are a big fan of bakeries, Midtown would probably not be your first choice of places to be stuck 40 hours a week. Lower East Side, East Village, Soho, hell, anywhere would probably be better than here. (Though we do have 28 locations of Crumbs!) But don’t curl up into a sugar deprived ball just yet. Some of the best non-Midtown bakeries have items shipped to various shops in Midtown… and who better to uncover the best ones than our contributor, and baked goods expert, Kathy YL Chan (from A Passion for Food.) Here is her list of favorites, along with the location in Midtown you can find them. (Note: some places have multiple locations with a rotating list of sweets. You won’t be guaranteed to find each of these items at all locations on all days… but it’s still a good guide to get you started.)

Two Little Red Hens

• Actual Bakery Location: 1652 2nd Ave (btw. 85+86th), UES
• Favorite Item: Brooklyn Blackout Cake

This dark and luscious number never fails to leave me intoxicated in a sugar coma, post-consumption. Regardless, I return to it over and over again. And no, there are never regrets. Tiers of chocolate cake layered with chocolate pudding, finished off with frosting and a smattering of cake crumbs. Too sweet? Of course! But in just the right ways that you would expect and want. Where to get it in Midtown: Dean & Deluca

Sage General Store

• Actual Bakery Location: 24-20 Jackson Ave., Long Island City
• Favorite item: Carrot Cake Cupcake

The girls over at Lunch Studio have already spilled wonders on this oversized cupcake creation. Carrot cake and a smother of whipped cream cheese frosting. Simple and classic, no surprises here, just pleasure all around. Where to get it in Midtown: Dean & Deluca

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Last week, before I hit up the OTB I slipped into Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) for a bowl of their “famous” shredded pork and Chinese pickle noodle soup.  I’m a huge fan of Hing Won, and have been there a ton of times (it was the very first post on Midtown Lunch almost 3 years ago), but this was actually the first time I had tried the soup that the New York Times highly praised years and years ago (the article still hangs in the window.)  When I recommended it to yesterday’s profiled luncher, Lunch’er Dan L. had this to say in the comments:

Hing Won’s pickle noodle soup is overrated. It’s good, but almost everything at Hing Won is pretty good, and the pickle noodle soup doesn’t really stand out to me.

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There’s a big part of me that wants $5 curry from Go Go Curry today (today is their second anniversary), but there’s another part of me that knows today should be all about the Mexican food.  Even though people complain that there is no good Mexican food in New York City, we do have a decent number of options in Midtown.  There’s the two El Rey del Sabor carts (60th & 3rd, 49th & 3rd), Pampano Taqeria, a bunch of tamale options, and if you are willing to trek to 10th Ave., Tehuitzingo (btw. 47+48th) and Tulcingo del Valle (btw. 46+47th.)  Or, you can hit up Mamacita’s favorite Mexican spot: Las Poblanitas.

Our beloved Happy Hour correspondent has been trying to get me to go to Las Poblanitas for a years now (long before she started contributing to the site in an official capacity.)  Just out of bounds (on 38th btw. 8+9th), if you’ve ever walked by 38th & 8th during lunch before you have undoubtedly seen the guy holding the sign pointing you towards tacos, tamales, and burritos.  If you haven’t before, you would be wise to follow the arrow on that sign.

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Thanks to Lunch’er Jamie (aka Fressagirl) for pointing this one out… the two New York branches of BonChon chicken (the Flushing one, and the Midtown location on 5th btw. 31+32nd) have changed their name to “Mad For Chicken”.  They claim the food remains exactly the same, and according to an employee the name change is because the boss thought the old name was “too difficult to pronounce for Americans.” 

The owners have already changed the name on their Yelp page, and they have a new website up at www.madforchicken.com. There’s no mention of “BonChon” on the menu, and the two locations have disappeared from the official BonChon website… so I’m guessing they’re just not affiliated with the chain anymore.

You can question the decision, but you’ve got to love the excuse logic.  If BonChon was too tough pronounce, what chance does Kyochon have?

Related:
Bon Chon is So Not a Midtown Lunch… But Damn That is Some Good Chicken