Midtown Lunch

Have you ever been kind of jealous of the winners of Zach’s various cart tours?  Even though I work in midtown and can hit the great midtown carts anytime I want, there’s something to be said about the fun of taking on a bunch of them at once.  To really do it right you need strength in numbers, so when I learned that a couple of my friends from Seattle, would be in town and free for lunch during the week, I started plotting potential food adventures.  Both of them regularly read Blondie & Brownie and they were jealous of the midtown cart/food truck scene.  The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that we should try to hit as many carts for as many different types of foods as possible and with that in mind, may a present Brownie’s Cart Canyon Tour: 10 carts/10 cuisines/$10 a person…

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Between yesterday and Today the Jamaican Dutchy (which has been M.I.A. from 51st and 7th for almost 3 months) realized that Monday is a holiday, so they are postponing their return by one more day. They’ll be back on Tuesday, and they’ll be armed with a bunch of new menu items. Hamburgers, salmon burgers, turkey burgers, and the previously mentioned “Jamaican Dogs” will be added to the menu this Tuesday. Plus they are planning on doing some sort of different special every Tuesday from now on. The inaugural special? Salt fish with beans.

I spoke with O’neill, the owner of the Jamaican Dutchy, yesterday and he filled me in on how a 3 week vacation has turned into 6 weeks. Apparently his permit is up for renewal, and the final meeting is on Thursday. If all goes well, he hopes to reopen a week from Monday. He also let me know that he’s got plans for some crazy specials every Tuesday. The first one will be a Jamaican beef stew topped hot dog (a Jamaican chili dog if you will.) Nice. I think I speak for everyone when I say: “Can’t wait to have you back.”

Photo courtesy of Chez Pim via Twitter

I remember the first time the Jamaican Dutchy’s stew peas entered my radar screen. They’ve been serving it as a Thursday special forever, but it never quite clicked that this was a must try dish until a few months ago. I emailed a former co-worker of mine, who is Jamaican, to ask if she would go with me to Jerk Pan, the newish Jamaican cart on Park Ave. and 48th Street. Her reply:

“Any day but Thursday — it’s Jamaican Dutchy’s ‘stew peas’ special day, LOL”

Really? So this day is blocked off permanently in your calendar. That’s crazy. Maybe it’s about time I tried these “stewed peas”.

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With all the bad stories we’ve been hearing about vendors lately, it’s good to read about one who is giving back. (Sadly I don’t think poor Midtown office workers qualify as “needy”.)