Midtown Lunch

So it’s not a Panda Express, but I suppose we’re getting closer.  Chuan Garden (on 46th btw. 5+6th) is finally reopening as “Panda Restaurant”.  Thanks to Profiled Midtown Lunch’er Josh from NYCFoodie, who sent along the photo above.  No word on whether or not it is the same owners, same food, or when it’s going to be reopening… but we know it’s still Chinese food- and as far as I’m concerned, the more Chinese food in Midtown the better.

With only two Fridays left in lent, Blondie and Brownie went on a mission to uncover the best fried fish sandwich in Midtown. In what some would view as an upset, Wendy’s beat out McDonald’s and Burger King- but the overall winner was the fried fish sandwich at Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart (on 46th btw. 5+6th).  Ladies, I won’t begrudge you an excuse to go out an eat four fried fish sandwiches in one lunch… but was the outcome ever in doubt?

Related:
Lent PSA: My Favorite Fried Fish Sandwich in Midtown

That’s a lot of brown

All that talk about Panda Express in the comments made me hungry for some bad steam table Chinese food, and for that there is really only one option… Yips (on 52nd btw. 5+6th.)  Hing Won & Sun Yip are pay the pound, Ying Du is too authentic, and that place in the Rock Center concourse is so bad even I won’t go there.  So Yips it was… the general tso’s chicken had just come out fresh, so how could I not?  Fried rice and fried pork chops round out the lunch, and for $5.95 how could anybody possibly complain.

Ever since they went from 3 steam tables to 2, I assumed Yips was on its way to closing up shop after 30+ years (their sign says “Since 1974” I think).  But after today’s lunch, I think they may be better than ever.  Perhaps getting rid of that 3rd steam table improved the overall freshness.  It’s still crappy Chinese food (and enjoyment can fluctuate wildly depending on what you end up choosing)… but my general tso’s/pork chops/fried rice combo was the best Yips I’ve had in 3 years of Midtown Lunch’ing.  Craving satisfied.

It only took seven weeks, but the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge finally has a banh mi entry courtesy of Boi Sandwich, the take out place on 3rd Ave. btw. 44+45th owned by upscale Vietnamese restaurant Boi.  Midtown Lunch’er “Clues” was on this one early, and filed this report in the comments:

I just had their special “Curried Chicken Meatball” sandwich. It was awesome in two respects: size and taste. First, this thing is big. It’s probably almost 2x the size of a Sophie’s sandwich. The “baguette” is more like a 7″ x 5″ slice of a large loaf. The bread is, however, one of the strongest elements of the sandwich – crisp on the outside and very moist and airy on the inside. The French influence in Vietnam definitely pays off here. The combination of flavors is very good – curried chicken meatballs, cilantro, some sweet pickled veggies… all comes together well. None of the flavors are overwelming (the curry is very mild). I highly recommend it. The $7.50 price is high but you do get a lot of food and they are giving away promotion cards where you get your tenth meal for free – so ten sandwiches works out to $6.75 each plus tax.

Well, after reading that endorsement, how could I wait any longer to try this thing for myself?

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A few emails yesterday tipped me off to the closing of the two story Wendy’s on Third Ave. btw. 57+58th.  Not that sad… and in fact it could end up being great news, depending on what ends up moving in there.  Double decker Panda Express anybody!?! (I know, I’m a broken record and I apologize.)

Far sadder was the sight 13 blocks farther south, on 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th.

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To me there is nothing more exciting than the arrival of a brand new cart… especially when it’s as weird as this one! Meet the “Happy Well Being House” cart, which popped up on 50th street btw. 6+7th for the first time yesterday. Started by a Korean lady, and another girl (who I’m guessing is her daughter), the cart is serving up fried fish and grilled chicken, over rice or home fries for $6. They used to own an “American food” restaurant in Long Island. I don’t know what is “well being” about fried fish and hash browns but this cart is in the early lead for strangest cart of 2009.

I was already on my way to a different lunch destination, but thankfully they offered me a taste!

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via Twitter today:

C’mon boys… this is the Dining Editor of the New York Times we’re talking about. Don’t you think he knows what chicken and rice cart he’s talking about?

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Photo by Ultraclay dot com

In Midtown it looks like “Little Italy Pizza” is becoming the new “Famous Ray’s”. I’ve written about the Little Italy Pizza on 45th btw. 5+6th, and then there is the arguably more famous Little Italy Pizza on 43rd btw. Mad+5th (which lost out to Two Boots by a narrow margin for best pizza in the 2007 Readers’ Poll.) But did you know there is actually a 3rd (Famous) Little Italy Pizza! Ultraclay has the report about this pizza place on 5th Ave. btw. 32+33rd, and from the looks of the pizza, and the comments on Yelp– this looks like it could be a new contender for best fast food pizza in Midtown.

The pizza porn is after the jump…

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The space that used to be occupied by the cheap Chinese food place East Ocean (on 55th btw. Lex+3rd) has finally been filled by Apna Taj, an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet. I’m willing to go up to $11 for an all you can eat buffet, so this one (for $10.50) just makes it under the cap. It’s kind of ballsy to open up another Indian buffet 2 doors down from the upscale Darbar Grill (which is only 45 cents more expensive), and a ML reader has already sent me an email crying out for a head-to-head.

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New York Magazine singles out the double burger as a “trend” in their latest issue.  While Five Guys (on 55th btw. 5+6th) is a legitimate entry (their regular burger is a double), the inclusion of City Burger (on 39th & B’way) is kind of a reach.  I don’t know anybody who would order a double at that place (and even NYMag admits that the patties are too thick for that treatment.)  Plus saying “not since the advent of Bob’s Big Boy in 1937 (and its copycat Big Mac in 1968) has the double burger been so popular” omits a pretty popular burger known as the In N Out Double Double (which you could argue was inspiration for Five Guys.) The whole piece seems like a stretch to me, but I’m not against looking at some nice double burger porn.  [NYM]