Midtown Lunch

Got an email from Blockheads Burritos the other day, which has one location in the Midtown Lunch boundaries (3rd Ave. btw. 33+34th) and two locations just outside of the ML boundaries (one on 50th btw. 8+9th, and one on 2nd Ave. btw. 50+51st).

“I am the Administrative Assistant over at Blockheads Burritos and I’m very interested in getting our locations on your map. How can we go about this? Can you send me some literature or a link? Maybe even a call? Thank you in advance!”

I’ll tell you how you get on the map… serve good lunch food, for cheap- and if the Midtown Lunch readers deem you worthy, then you get added to the canon of official Midtown Lunches.  I admit Blockheads is not completely off the radar…  it’s been mentioned by a few commenters and Profiled Midtown Lunch’ers (most notably Kristy) and I have considered crossing 8th Ave. on many occasions to try one of their burritos.  But part of the former L.A. resident in me feels a little bit of skepticism towards this after-work-party-spot.  They do have a $9 lunch combo (which includes chips, salsa, and a soda) which is intriguing. 

Anybody been?  Thoughts?  I’ll leave this one up to you guys…

If yesterday’s post about my trip to the Todai Buffet with a bunch of competitive eaters wasn’t enough for you, there is video! Shot and edited by Beautiful Brian, he was nice enough to keep me out of the video (for the most part) so my embarassing performance would not be saved for posterity.

Check it out after the jump…   Read more »

Rupa’s Special bhelpuri from Taj Delhi Chat

Today’s Village Voice features a piece on where to find the best chaat in New York, and three of the four choices are Midtown Lunch mainstays: Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th), Sukhadia’s Gokul (on 45th btw. 5+6th), and of course, Khodiar Express (aka Taj Delhi Chat), the Indian food in the former newsstand on 6th Ave. btw. 37+38th.  I knew it was only a matter of time before that last one got discovered by the “real” NYC food media… if you haven’t been, you really need to hit it up.

Related
A Guide to the Best Indian Street Food in Midtown: Translating the Menu at Taj Delhi Chat
Snapshots: For Those About to Chaat…

If you read this site often, you know I have fairly strict rules about price. I feel in my heart that lunch should not cost a person more than $10.  But I have equally strong feelings about buffets, and when it comes to something like the concept of all-u-can-eat, well… I can’t help but think that rules were meant to be broken.  I’ll admit up front I don’t break the rule too often for Indian buffets (there are good Indian buffets in Midtown for $10 to $11… so why spend $17?) but when it comes to Asian buffets, all bets are off.  So, two years ago this month I made a price exception and hit up the Todai buffet on 32nd btw. Madison+5th. I thought it was just ok, and definitely not as good as when it was Minado (its previous buffet incarnation, before being bought out by the big buffet chain.)

Since that time the price has gone up to $18.95, not completely shocking for a sushi buffet, but waaaay out of the Midtown Lunch price range (even for a buffet lover like me.)  But when I got an email invite to buffet it up with competitve eater (and profiled Midtown Lunch’er) Crazy Legs Conti and a few of his competitive eating buddies, how could I say no!?!

The play by play of our meal, their pearls of wisdom, and a photo of every plate put down by Crazy Legs… all after the jump.

Read more »

Speaking of buffets, if you were wondering what the answer to yesterday’s pop quiz was- it was most definitely the rice.  And not only did I take too much, I took two different kinds!  A shameful rookie mistake when you are going to have pay for what it weighs.

I don’t even know where to start with this one.  I post a story on Thursday, and yesterday CBS 2 “reports” the same exact story on their 6 p.m. newscast- pawning it off as their own discovery.  Kind of lame if you ask me.  I might believe that it was just a coincidence, if it weren’t for the reporter being a complete douche total idiot guy who doesn’t know what the world halal means.  I’m flattered you use Midtown Lunch to come up with stories for your newscast… but a little credit would have been nice.  Think I’m being a bit harsh?  Read what I wrote on Thursay.  Then watch the video of the newscast… and you be the judge.

My first trip to El Rey Del Sabor, the Mexican cart on 60th and 3rd Avenue, consisted of a taco and a huarache.  It was enough to know that this place was the real deal, and I posted immediately about the new-found gem.  But that lunch was not nearly enough to satisfy my own personal desire to eat everything on their menu. I mean, the food I had was good… but what about their tamales?  Or the fried empanadas?  Oh, and most importantly the mole.  I love mole poblano (the thick, dark, spicy, chocolaty sauce) and this cart serves up a version made from scratch by the owner’s sister.  How could I not?

Enchilades topped with mole, tamales, and a new off the menu creation that is pretty crazy- after the jump…  Read more »

I hit up the new by the lb. buffet at Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) for the first time on Friday, and here’s the damage.  It was a little over $6.  Not too bad, but not great either- and I think Sun Yip/Ho Yip on 45th btw. 5+6th is probably better (plus they have the price drop at 2:15, which can’t be beat.)  I think I’ll probably stick with the right side of the counter when I go to Hing Won, and order things off of their more authentic menu.

I did, however, break one of my cardinal rules of by-the-lb. buffet eating.  Can you spot it? What’s wrong with this picture? (If you want to cheat, you can look at my rules for by the lb. buffet eating.)

Photo added to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Photo Pool by nycblondieandbrownie

Blondie and Brownie accepted the Murray’s Salami challenge, and proved that you can put together a tasty looking sandwich in the Grand Central Terminal Market for under $10. Ingredients: coppa from the newly opened Murray’s Salami, mozzarella from Murray’s Cheese, and bread from Corrado’s Bakery.  Also, Eater is reporting that if you spend more than $25 at Murray’s Salami, they’ll give you a four pack of Niman Ranch hot dogs.  It may be time to round up three friends, and head over to the Grand Central Terminal Market (entrance on Lexington and 43rd).