Midtown Lunch

I’m always hesitant to check out carts when they first open.  So few know exactly what they are going to do from day one, and their list of offerings ends up morphing multiple times before they settle on a set menu.  (Anybody remember those white bread bulgogi sandwiches?)  So when the Happy Well Being House Cart popped up on 50th btw. 6+7th a few weeks ago, I decided to stand back and wait.  Their unconventional fried fish or grilled chicken with rice or potatoes menu seemed destined to be a flash in the pan.  When they added bulgogi a few weeks later, things started to seem a little more promising.  Once I found out they were related to the Downtown bulgogi cart that has been operating for awhile, I felt these guys were probably here to say.

And now that I’ve tried the food… I *know* they are.

Read more »

Remember the profiled lunch’er who admitted that he didn’t like Thai food, and then became the most ridiculed Profiled Midtown Lunch’er of all time? Well, for once, your ridicule actually worked to effect positive change in the world- and “Matt” is happy to report that he tried Thai food again and… (well, I don’t want to spoil it.)

After the spirited feedback from the comments section (side note to the person who accused me of living in my parents basement: you’re insulting random people on the internet and I’m the one who lives in my parents basement?), I decided to journey out and try Thai food. The choice was Pam’s Real Thai Food (on 49th btw. 9+10th), although I generally don’t eat at restaurants that cite their realness in the name, I decided to trust the comments section. I selected a number of co-workers so we could maximize our order. While the shrimp roll we started with was typical, I found the Thai Beef Jerky to be quite a treat. I don’t even like regular beef jerky – could this Thai cuisine improve on other dishes as well? As the different entrees were passed around the table, I noticed the Pad Thai coming my way. This was the big moment.

Read more »

XPL, the street meat cart that surprised everybody by coming in 2nd place at last year’s Street Meat Palooza, might have raised their prices recently: “Hey Zach, Went down to the 3rd Ave. outpost of the XPL Halal food cart at 48th St. for lunch today. They charged $5 for a platter (chicken or lamb over rice) and included in that price was a free drink. Great deal, and pretty good street meat for us eastsiders not a quick walk from the Halal Guys on 53rd and 6th. Anyway, I got my food and my normal drink and instead of receiving a $5 bill as change for my $10, I got four singles. So just like that, I guess they’re now charging $1 for drinks. Not a huge deal, as $6 for meal and drink is still good. I just won’t be getting drinks from there any more so that I can keep my costs steady at $5. P.S. – The rice today, usually a standout, was bland and flavorless. I’m hoping it was just a bad batch… Edward”

Sounds like they either started charging for drinks… or maybe they are now charging $6 (and you still get the free soda.) Anybody else experience this? (Or bad rice?) XPL has locations on 3rd & 48th, Park Ave. & 48th, and Broadway btw. 53+54th.

The rumor I reported last week has now been confirmed via Twitter, and re-confirmed on their website:  The “Steak and Egg” burger has been restored to the menu at all Goodburger locations starting today.  When I originally launched the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge back in January, I told restaurants they could pretty much do whatever they wanted… but I did have a few special requests.  First was that somebody do a grease truck sandwich, and second was that Goodburger bring back their formerly breakfast only “Steak & Egg” burger, featuring a burger topped with home fries and a fried egg.  See, Goodburger used to serve breakfast- but when they stopped doing that, the “Steak & Egg” went away.

Nobody has answered the call for a grease truck sandwich- but Goodburger has finally listened to the pleading from the Midtown Lunchers, and brought back the “Steak & Egg”!  Do you want to see it? (Of course you do…)

Steak and egg porn is after the jump…

Read more »

I don’t know the exact history of Six-0 Catering on 39th btw. 5+6th, but it has been around for as long as I can recall.  In fact, I still remember the first time I walked by the place, and was intrigued by its sign touting Mexican food- from an American looking catering place.  It was a complete dump, and the day I walked in was practically empty- save for the one guy behind the counter who told me “we have no burritos today.”  Since then, Six-0 has undergone a massive transformation (both physically and existentially.)  Before they seemed like catering company, that happened to serve lunch food if you hit them on the right day.  Now, under their new name Madeline’s, they seem like a Midtown lunch place that also happens to do catering.  And I was kind of surprised at how good and cheap all the food was.

Read more »

Based on this write up by James over at the blog The Eaten Path, the Green Leaf Deli (on Park Ave. btw. 34+35th) sounds like your typical, generic Midtown deli, save for one thing: their amazing home made pepper sauce.  “The steam tray lunch options at Green Leaf, a mostly mediocre offering of curries and stews over rice, are nowhere near the pepper sauce in terms of quality. When you’re faced with a condiment this magnetic, though, the food it’s on can quickly become irrelevant.”  James admits that you can find hot sauce this powerful (citing the red stuff at the cart on 53rd & 6th) but “rarely this sophisticated.” [The Eaten Path]

It looks like Sahara Grill, the old Turkish take out place on 40th & 7th that closed in January, is being replaced by a branch of Maoz Vegetarian– the European falafel chain. Maoz has locations all over the world, including three in NYC, but this is their first in Midtown; and while I haven’t tried it yet, Serious Eats:New York called it the best falafel in Union Square. The positives: you get your choice of some tasty looking toppings (like eggplant, hard boiled egg, avocado, or feta) and they have Belgian fries (the chain started in Amsterdam).  The negatives: another small, individually owned Midtown Lunch place is being replaced by a chain.

I doubt it will supplant Olympic Pita (on 38th btw. 5+6th) as my favorite falafel in the area- but it does set up the inevitable Maoz vs. Crisp falafel chain showdown.  Crisp’s second location is opening just down the street at the end of the week (on 40th btw. 6+B’way).  No word yet on when Maoz will be opening.

Yesterday I made it back to that Halal cart on 53rd & Park that is now serving tacos and burritos (not to be confused with the new El Rey del Sabor cart on 49th btw. Lex+3rd).  The cart has been around for a few months, but they only started serving the Mexican food a month ago.  I tried the $3 chicken burrito with everything (rice, beans, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, jalapenos) as recommended by Lunch’er “Alan”, and was pleasantly surprised with how tasty it was.

The innards are after the jump…

Read more »

Stopped by Golosi (the new pizza/gelato place on Park Ave. btw. 41+42nd) today and, as promised, my pizza purchase came with a free scoop of gelato. (They didn’t skimp either… there is a lot of room left in the cup because they gave me the larger cup so I could take it to go with a lid.)  The Yolato looking signs are still up, so it probably is the same gelato as before (but I can’t say that for sure).  As for the pizza… well, I’m not good as passing judgement on pizza, so I may leave this one up to you guys.

On the plus side, they only charged me $2.71 for my 3 inches (which made no sense since supposedly it’s 99 cents an inch) and the slice they cut me was actually 4 inches! (I measured)  Tasted pretty good, although I can’t decide if it’s going to be good enough to replace any of the goto pizza spots in the area.  The by the inch thing is fun, but I could see it getting pricey once you start getting the slices with toppings.  My slice was almost big enough to be worth it, but they also gave me 4 inches (I only paid for free three.)  There are certain places where you feel like you are getting a great deal, and others where you never quite feel like the price works out in your favor (regardless of whether it does or doesn’t.)  This probably falls into the latter category.

Speaking of toppings, they had the hot dog topped pizza- and it’s crazier looking than you could imagine.  Check it out after the jump…

Read more »

I stopped by the new, second location, of the El Rey del Sabor cart yesterday (on 49th btw. Lex+3rd) and discovered a few little tidbits.  First, for those of you wondering what happened to the teriyaki/udon cart that popped up in that same spot a month ago… the new Mexican cart is the ramen cart.  The El Rey del Sabor people bought the udon cart (and the spot, in theory) and converted it into a second branch of their popular Mexican food cart (the first one is on 60th and 3rd).  The teriyaki guys gave no reason for wanting to sell their cart after only a month and a half, but the El Rey del Sabor people suspect it might be because they were intimidated by the street meat vendors in the area.

The same intimidation El Rey del Sabor has been feeling since setting up shop two days ago on that corner.

Read more »