Archive for 'Seafood'

The New Fishing Shrimp Truck is Back in Midtown Today

A few weeks ago, the Fishing Shrimp truck parked in Midtown for the first time, serving a menu of various basic fried seafood treats. And it looks like they’re committed to coming back at least once a week.  There was some speculation from commenters as to whether or not the $7 fish n’ chips could possibly be any good…so of course I went to investigate.

Read more »

Trying Out McCormick & Schmick’s $10 Lunch Special

_MG_9959 - Version 2

I wasn’t immediately excited when I read about the $10 lunch special at the bar of McCormick & Schmick’s. I like cheap lunch specials at a fancy restaurant just as much as the next guy (i’m looking at you burger from Wolfgang’s, but schlepping up to Rockefeller Center didn’t really seem worth it in this heat. Then I saw that a half po’ boy and lobster bisque was among the options – I reconsidered. I love a po’ boy and haven’t had a one since our ML Team excursion to the Grand Central Oyster Bar. Clearly I was past due.

See what ten bucks gets you after the jump.

Read more »

Little Morocco’s Fish Over Rice is a Winner

little-morocco

Lamb over rice. Chicken over rice. Combo over rice. All these things are what brought you here to Midtown Lunch. These things gave us Streetmeat Palooza. This year, one of my favorite carts (Little Morocco) came in dead last. Yeah, out of fifteen competitors they’re last? How could that be? The cart with a great hot sauce and serves kofta over rice (which is hard to find in Midtown), is last?! But I knew that Little Morocco was better than that. And I went back this week to the corner of 39th and 7th to check out something on the menu that was always intriguing to me… fish over rice.

Read more »

3rd Ave. Halal Cart is the Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart of Midtown East

41st & 3rd

I asked last week if any one had ever tried the the fairly nondescript 41st St & 3rd Ave Halal cart, specifically their fish. Since discussing A Salt & Battery and Chip Shop’s fried specialties were deemed more important (this I can understand, both are filled with fried goodness) I took it upon myself to go back yesterday to try out the $6 Fried Fish. What I discovered was the Midtown East equivalent of Kim’s Aunt’s fish sandwiches. Check it out after the jump.

Read more »

More Fish from a Street Meat Cart

More Cart Fish

I can’t exactly say why, but we here at Midtown Lunch have always been big fans of seafood from a cart. Cheap fish sandwiches, fish and chips, fried shrimp, tilapia… even Zach has continued the tradition in L.A. by eating sushi off of a truck. I recently spotted this sign at the cart on the Northeast corner of 39th & 3rd Ave. Since this isn’t a regular cart of mine, I have no idea how long they’ve had this, or if it’s a contender for next year’s Lenten Lunches. Or, after searching ML, whether or not this cart is any good at all. (They weren’t nominated for Street Meat Palooza 3 either, results coming soon btw.)   Sadly, I had already eaten lunch when I walked by… but it is totally calling to me right now.  Has anybody taken the plunge?

Urban Lobster Shack’s $10 Lobster Roll Is Worth the $$ (But More Importantly, the Price is Permanent)

lobster shack
Photo courtesy of @UrbanLobster

The Urban Lobster Shack’s Twitter account has been pretty active since they opened their new Midtown location. Just before New Year’s they took over the little take out space in the basement food court on 3rd Ave. btw. 49+50th, that used to be occupied by Yorganic, and since then they’ve been sending out messages about mascots, shrimp & mussels lunch specials, and of course the $10 lobster roll. In this world you always get you pay for, but the under $10 lobster roll has a special place in my heart. I wrote about the one at Fairway for Serious Eats, and always dreamed that eventually Midtown would get its own.

Did I expect beautiful big lumps of lobster meat, no filler, and a fully intact claw adorning the top? Of course not. I’d settle for a decent size sandwich, that tastes somewhat like lobster. (What can I say… for $10 you have to lower your standards.) Thankfully Urban Lobster Shack doesn’t disappoint.

Read more »

New Urban Lobster Shack Opens in Midtown

Got word last week that Urban Lobster Shack has opened a new location in the downstairs food court on 3rd Ave. btw. 49+50th (the one with Sophie’s Cuban and Pampano Taqueria.) Our original Downtown Lunch man Daniel Krieger wrote about their downtown location, where at one time $15 got you a lobster roll, soup, chips, cole slaw, crackers, and a water (although from the looks of their website the combo has gone up to $18.)  $18 is way above the ML price range, but we’re talking about lobster rolls here.  (The one at the very excellent Grand Central Oyster Bar takeout window is $27!)   According to Lunch’er “Andrew”, they were doing a $10 special last week (lobster roll, caesar salad, and cole slaw) but not sure if that’s still going on.  Early adopters, feel free to give us some info in the comments.

Related:
Downtown Lunch: Urban Lobster Shack

Department of Health Bans Street Vendors From Selling Seafood

Tilapia @ the Kwik Meal Cart, Midtown
If this is wrong, than I don’t want to be right…

I’m all for the Department of Health making sure our food is safe to eat, but this is ridiculous!  Apparently at the end of last year, the Department of Health adopted a resolution that rewrote many parts of the health code as it pertains to street vendors.  It takes effect January 1st of this year, and if enforced it’s going to have a huge effect on Midtown Lunch’ing.  Namely, no more fish, shellfish, or seafood from street vendors.  Here it is direct from the newly rewritten Article 89:

§89.19 f(2) Fish. No fish, shellfish, or any food consisting of or made with an aquatic animal, as defined in Article 81, shall be prepared, stored, held for service or sold from a mobile food vending unit.

The full ramifications of this are just sinking into my brain right now, and it’s easy to joke about the “safety” of eating seafood from a truck. But think about all the great seafood options being offered right now from carts and trucks in Midtown alone… the fried cod from the Schnitzel Truck, Tianbula from the NYC Cravings Truck, and the always delicious salmon and tilapia served by Kwik Meal (shown above.) And worst of all, what the hell is Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart going to sell?! This must be some kind of a bad dream.

And that’s not all.

Read more »

Kim’s Aunt Kitchen is Also Great For Fried Shrimp

DSC01882

At this point everybody should know that Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart (on 46th btw. 5+6th) makes the best (and cheapest) fried fish sandwich in Midtown.  And I’ve even tried their bulgogi beef and lo mein.  But did you know that their fried shrimp are pretty spectacular as well?  As you may or may not know, I’m a big fan of the fried shrimp from a cart.  Little Morrocco (on 39th & 7th) does a nice job, as does the Halal & Seafood Cart (on 39th & 5th), and the 100% Halal Food Cart (on 54th and Park).  But those little jobbies pale in comparison to the monsters being served of the Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart.

Check ’em out after the jump…

Read more »

Crabwatch: Are Soft Shelled Crabs Back at Cafe Duke?

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.)