Café Duke is such a tease. Ever since initial reports that bulgogi tacos were being haphazardly offered as a daily special at their Korean entrée counter, I’ve been fascinated by these tacos. After all, Bann Next Door took on the Korean taco concept and hit a home run, so I don’t see why Café Duke couldn’t replicate this success (and it’s a few avenues closer to work.) Besides, assembling a competent Korean taco is laughably easy in concept – just jam Korean meat into a taco (no double entendre intended), and you’re the next Roy Choi.

Café Duke has always been a staple in my weekly lunch rotation, given that it‘s a smorgasbord of wallet friendly options that appease my co-workers’ finicky spectrum of palates. But for weeks, I’ve bolted straight to the back counter, only to see a non-bulgogi taco special coquettishly playing with my emotions. We even sent ML contributor, Jeremiah, on a wild goose chase to hunt down these tacos at the 41st Street location, to no avail. However after weeks of speculation, my dumb perseverance and gullibility was finally rewarded.

I came. I saw. I conquered the elusive Café Duke bulgogi taco.

But first, a burrito interlude. During one of my frequent visits, I happened upon the bulgogi burrito special. Though sufficiently plump with bulgogi, rice, and beans, at $8.95 this burrito came unadorned of accompanying sides to contrast the mushy, prosaic heaviness of the burrito. Unlike Tri-Tip Grill’s attempt at a Mexi-Fusion hybrid burrito, this creation is probably worth passing over.

On the other hand, the Café Duke bulgogi tacos ($8.95) are irresistible. During my successful bulgogi taco run, I was happy to receive four sizable tacos, generously packed with bulgogi. In my humble opinion, Café Duke’s bulgogi preparation has always been heavy handed in seasoning – the saltiness, sweetness and spice levels amplified to a nearly disagreeable level. In taco form, the aggressiveness of the bulgogi is tamed by the speckling of crunchy pico de gallo, cooled by the dollop of sour cream, and balanced by the earthiness of the corn tortilla, revising the flavors into a harmonious bite.

Unfortunately, this story doesn’t end on a happy note… yet. I badgered the manager on duty about the availability of their bulgogi tacos and learned that, I kid you not, they set their specials according to the current weather conditions. Milder weather means soup, while Korean tacos apparently pair nicely with the scorcher that New York underwent earlier this week. To Korean taco lovers, control freaks, and lunchers too busy or lazy to check up on Café Duke every day, it is simply unacceptable to leave our lunch at the whims of the weather.

Let this article be a modest proposal, an obliging request, a call to action – the next time any luncher visits either Café Duke location – please beg, plead, and cajole the manager on duty to schedule and publish a weekly menu of specials (and tell ‘em that midtownlunch.com sent ya). It is our right as customers, critics, food lovers, and Midtown Lunch’ers that are frankly too busy at work to deal with this spontaneity.

Let there be order. Let there be reason. Let there be bulgogi tacos!

Cafe Duke, 140 W. 51st. (btw. 6+7th Ave.), 212-445-0010

I would never eat at Ted Montana Grill (on 51st btw. 6+7th).  What is this Mickey Mouse, owned by Ted Turner, we make bison burgers and are environmentally friendly BS. I’ve got much better places to eat lunch. What’s that you say?  They’re offering a $10 lunch special with mini burgers, meatloaf and more?  Well, I suppose I could check it out.  You know, for work purposes.

In typical Midtown fashion, the deal is $8 for the rest of the country but in Midtown it’s $10.  I guess it’s understandable, and in line with other Steakhouse lunch specials in Midtown- like the one at AJ Maxwell’s. The only difference is, this one is available for take out *and* eat in.  So if you want to have a nice sit down lunch for $10, this is your new spot.  For $10 you get your choice of 5 different entrees.  There’s the pulled BBQ chicken sandwich with fries and slaw, meatloaf sandwich with fries, or the mini burger duo (one bison, one beef) with fries.  There’s also cedar plank salmon and a half soup/half salad special, but what do I look like- a communist?

The two sandwiches were real tempting but I decided to go with the burgers.  I was kind of curious about this whole bison burger thing (despite it’s selling point being that it’s “more lean”.)

I have no idea which was bison and which was beef, although I’m guessing the American flag must have indicated one or the other.  Both were well cooked, and not dry at all (partly because they were well cooked, but mostly because they were covered in delicious grease from being griddled.)  They weren’t stingy with the American cheese, although I thought the giant hunk of tomato and the pickles got in the way.  (But that’s just personal preference.)  Each burger was probably just over 2 inches wide. Not huge, but certainly enough food with the fries- which appeared to be fresh cut from real potatoes, a huge bonus.  The burger was well seasoned, and the fries were well salted.  What more could you ask for for $10?  (Actually, you could ask for ketchup and napkins.  They forgot both…)

This place is hopping during lunchtime, so if you do plan on ordering it to go I would do it over the phone.  The order will probably take up to 20 minutes.  It was totally good enough that I will probably head back to try the other two sandwiches.  My only real complaint with the lunch is the fact that they are forced by law to put the calorie count on the menu because there are more than 15 Ted’s Montana Grill locations nationwide.  I don’t need to know that my lunch is over 1000 calories.  Although, I didn’t eat the American flag.  How many calories do you think that saved me?

Ted’s Montana Grill, 110 W. 51st St. (btw. 6+7th), 212-245-5220

Check out a PDF of the $10 lunch special menu here. Only valid from 11am to 4pm.

Check them both out after the jump… 

Early on in the challenge a commenter suggested that the Dutchy should do a jerk chicken sandwich on coco bread, and quite frankly, why would they not? So here it is… the Dutchy’s jerk chicken sandwich on wheat coco bread. Tasty… spicy… delicious. And at $5, it’s tough to complain. It’s a boneless, skinless chicken breast so it’s nowhere near as tasty or moist as the regular jerk chicken from the Dutchy (bones + fatty skin = deliciousness) but it’s still good enough. And if you consider this an issue they’ll be happy to pour some of the jerk sauce over the chicken in the sandwich (something I highly recommend). You also have to like coco bread as well, which is a thicker breadier kind of affair (kind of like challah or egg bread). I’m totally down. Lettuce, tomato and hot sauce round out the nicely spiced sandwich. Surprisingly though, the vegetarian sandwich is kind of where it’s at…

…if for no other reason then I’m not convinced this doesn’t have any meat in it! The Dutchy does the same thing as the jerk chicken sandwich, but instead of chicken they used a baked tofu thing that’s been cut into strips. More the consistency of tempeh (if you’ve ever had that) the tofu is meaty and really flavorful, and ends up being a little more moist than the jerk chicken. If you are a meat lover through and through, this is not going to be a substitute- but for those who are into garden burgers, and vegetarian options- this one is top notch. (I’m still not convinced there’s no meat in it… it’s that flavorful!) Also $5, and it comes on the same coco bread, with lettuce, tomato, and hot sauce. Not the biggest sandwiches in the world, but for $5 you have plenty left under the $10 cap for some chips… or fried plantains.

Jamaican Dutchy Cart, NE Corner of 51st Street & 7th Avenue

Uh… yeah.  You heard me right.  Soft shelled mother f’ing crabs on a Midtown by the lb. buffet.  That is what I discovered at the Cafe Duke on 51st btw. 6+7th yesterday. I’ve already written a bunch about how much I love their by the lb. buffet, but this just put it over the top.  Soft shelled crab! I’m still giddy thinking about it.  This could be the biggest money item to ever show up on one of these generic Midtown deli buffets (the ones that cost under $10 a pound anyway).  And, they don’t even weigh that much (especially compared to other stuff like fruit and bone in chicken).  It really is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen at a by the pound buffet.

At $7.79 a pound, Cafe Duke by the lb. is on the high end of these kind of crappy Midtown options… but for the quality it is definitely worth it.  The food always looks fresh, every choice looks damn tasty, and the sauce they put on their fake jumbo shrimp makes me not mind that they are trying to fake you into thinking you’re actually getting shrimp. 

How they were, a shot of my lunch, and the one big downside- after the jump…

I’ve written a lot about strategy at the by the lb. buffet, and I admit it always scares me since you never know how much it’s going to cost until the moment of truth (the weigh in)… but on this day I got pretty much everything I wanted and it ended up being a little under $9.  Crabs, a couple of dumplings, 3 fake shrimp, some roasted cauliflower and asparagus, a few pieces of general tso’s chicken, and a little bit of noodle salad.  This is about as balanced a lunch as you’ll ever see me eat.

I only took two of the soft shelled crabs, to be safe, but if I went back I think I would load up.  Sure, they’re cold- but they’re fried, salty and gooood, and they are a surefire winner from a beating the by the lb. buffet standpoint.  The one downside… they are a seasonal item, and won’t be available forever.  In fact, they may not even be there today.  I talked to the manager who said as long as their purveyor keeps delivering them, they’ll keep ordering them… but he has no idea when that will stop.  They’ve been on the buffet for 10 days straight now, and should be there today (but he wouldn’t guarantee it.)  Good luck!  And feel free to report back in the comments if you’re in the neighborhood…

Related:
Fake Shrimp Scam (?!?!) And the ML Guide to Eating at a Pay By the Pound Buffet in NYC
All New York City Pay by the Pound Buffet Posts on Midtown Lunch

A few weeks ago I wrote about how the new Carribean Spice cart (on 46th btw. 6+7th) was distinguishing themselves from the Jamaican Dutchy (on 51st & 7th) by offering coco bread, the perfect vehicle for a Jamaican patty.  Well, it turns out the Jamaican Dutchy has coco bread as well… in fact they’ve always had it.  For $3.25 it’s still the perfect snack, and now that I know the Dutchy has it, roti is really the only reason to go to the Carribean Spice cart.

Oh… and speaking of the Jamaican Dutchy, they’ve got a new LED screen:

Exciting news for the people who wondered if anybody would ever upstage that hot dog cart on 53rd & 5th.

Julia Moskin has a great Jamaican jerk feature in this mornings New York Times and guess who should pop up, but our good friends at the Jamaican Dutchy (on 51st & 7th Ave.)  She interviews owner Oneil Reid and calls his jerk chicken one of “the best truck lunches in the city.”  No argument here.

But the most interesting part to me is what the article had to say about jerk pork, and why Oneil doesn’t offer it at the Dutchy:

He said that he would like to make jerk pork sometimes, but that many of the other food vendors, and the taxi drivers who inch past his cart in Midtown traffic, are Muslim, and the pork smell bothers them.

That’s a bummer, although entirely commendable.

The new location of Golden Krust on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th. has finally opened.  The Caribbean chain (which has multiple locations in NYC) will be offering a special grand opening lunch special price of $5.99 for fried chicken, stewed chicken or curry chicken served with rice & vegetables.  They have 3 other locations in Midtown…

• 33rd St. btw. 5th+Mad
• 3rd Ave. btw. 43+44th
• A kiosk in Grand Central Terminal food court 

Golden Krust too much of a trek from your office?  Or maybe you’re just feeling lazy, but still want some jerk chicken?  The Jamaican Dutchy cart on 51st & 7th now offers delivery.  It’s a $15 minimum order, so you’ll need to get at least one other person in on the plan before calling (646-287-5004 or 347-213-2851).  Actually an afternoon office Jamaican beef patty party doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

Cupcake question, and El Sabroso hits the blogs, after the jump…

I’ve never actually had a cupcake from there, but I was surprised that nobody mentioned Crumbs (42nd btw. 5+6th) in the comments of Rachel’s profile on Tuesday.  I can’t imagine that it’s a hidden gem, so maybe it just sucks?  No need to state the obvious?  What’s the deal?  Thoughts?

After winning the Guardian UK’s NYC Blogger Lunch Challenge, El Sabroso, the latin lunch counter hidden inside the freight elevator hallway beneath a building on 37th btw. 7+8th, popped up on a couple of blogs this week.  Midtown Lunch’er Swan  checked it out on her blog “Lifestyle of a Yuppie“, after seeing the post here, while Young over at Cheap Ass Food seems to have stumbled onto it coincidentally. 

Thanks to Jed for posting the Golden Krust info on the Midtown Lunch Facebook Group (yes, one exists- and it’s very exciting!).  Got any bits and pieces to share with Midtown Lunch?  Email them to zach@midtownlunch.com 

Gotta take it easy at lunch today so I’m in tip top shape for the Choice Eats Festival tonight at the Puck Bldg (advance tickets are sold out, but there will be limited $35 tickets at the door starting at 5:30pm- more details here).  So, I headed over to one of the few generic Midtown delis I can stomach (Cafe Duke on 51st btw. 6+7th) for some sushi (that’s about as light as it gets for me).  I could do without the california roll, but any place that gives me eel, spicy tuna and one other raw fish/avocado roll together in one sushi box is alright in my book (even if it’s $8.95, and the rolls are half the size of a normal sushi roll).

Of course, I can’t leave Cafe Duke without some of their delicious fake shrimp.  With $1.05 left in my budget, I can handle two “shrimps”…

Of course, as long as I’ve already got a container going, how can I not take a piece of General Tso’s chicken and a steamed dumpling.  I mean, I’d be crazy not to!  I’m sure the scale won’t notice…

$2.40.  Damn… you… generic… Midtown… deli…  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how they getcha.

After a one month “process” of securing a new license for their cart, The Jamaican Dutchy has returned to 51st St. & 7th Ave.  And not a moment too soon (it’s getting freaking cold).  A new line of hot soups, potato pudding and a complete breakfast menu has been added to the old standby lunchtime favorites, like jerk chicken, sweet and sour chicken, oxtails, and curry goat. 

It’s a two year license, so they won’t be going anywhere for awhile.  And for all you weekend warriors, having the Dutchy open on Saturday is in the works…

House of Pita has lost the lease to their original location- the window space on 48th btw. 5+6th.  You can still enjoy their delicious falafels & burekas (plus more) at the newer full service location on 46th btw. 5+6th,  but today is the last day to get your fix out of the window.  It was one of my first Midtown Lunches, and I will miss it (the window, that is).

The Jamaican Dutchy Cart on 51st & 7th will also be closed starting tomorrow.  More on that, after the jump…

The permit for the Jamaican Dutchy Cart expires 10/31, so they are closing while they wait for the new permit.  The guy who runs the cart told me they will definitely be back by November 12th by the latest, but possibly/hopefully earlier.  Can’t live without Jamaican food?  Get your fix today, before it’s gone…