Midtown Lunch

Last October, Zach, Chris H., and I spent a lovely afternoon stuffing our faces from food trucks at “Carts in the Parc”, one of the highlights of the 2010 New York City Wine & Food Festival. Luckily for Zach, it also meant meeting his idol, Andrew Zimmern, who not only hosted the event but filmed two episodes for his ‘curbside cuisine’ show “Appetite for Life”. (The same show that had him visiting Schnitzel & Things and Jamaican Dutchy last month.) Well, the show’s clips have finally hit the interwebs, and have Zimmern checking out faves like Eddie’s Pizza Truck and the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck (complete with a blurring out of the words ‘salty’ and ‘pimp’.)

Check out the videos after the jump (bonus points if you can spot a certain former Downtown Lunch’er)

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Metromix interviewed Bizarre Food Host (and Midtown Lunch hero) Andrew Zimmern the other day, and chose a location that is near and dear to our hearts: the Biriyani Cart! The interview was promoting Carts in the Parc, the street food event that AZ is hosting at this year’s New York Wine and Food Festival.  It takes place October 10th in the park inside the Eventi Hotel (on 6th Ave. btw. 29+30th), and tickets are kind of pricey for Midtown Lunchers ($100) but it includes beer, wine and all the food you can eat from a great list of NYC’s finest street food vendors (plus Zimmern himself will be serving up a dish along with a “special guest”!)

We actually helped them choose some of the participants, so you won’t be surprised by most of the list. Check out the full list of vendors, plus buy your tickets here. (And don’t wait too long!  The Vendy Awards sold out this past weekend… it’s only a matter of time before this one does too.)

The New York Wine and Food Festival tickets are now on sale to the general public, and one of the events might be of interest to Midtown Lunchers… Sunday, October 10th Andrew Zimmern (Bizarre Food host, and personal hero) will host “Carts in the Parc”, a tasting event featuring street food from famous restaurants, food carts, and trucks. It takes place from 3-6pm inside the new Eventi Hotel’s indoor/outdoor food park (on 30th and 6th Ave.)

The list of participants will include some pretty fancy street food(ish) participants (dumplings from Joe Ng, Asian BBQ from Zac Pelaccio) but they also asked us to help steer them towards some real NYC street food options… so don’t be surprised to see ML faves Biriyani Cart and Freddie the Falafel King of Astoria hob-nobbing alongside some of the usual folks you’d expect to see at a fancy fundraiser like this. The tickets are kind of steep (for us cheapos) but the $100 price tag includes all you can eat and drink plus proceeds from the event go to benefit Food Bank of NYC. Basically what we’re saying is, if you’re going to splurge for one NYCWFF event, this is the one we’ll be at!

Get more info, and buy your tickets, here>>

The New York City Wine and Food Festival is less than two weeks away, and Thrillist wants to give one lucky Midtown Lunch’er tickets to their Bacon & Blues Event hosted by Tyler Florence.  It has nothing to do with Midtown, but whatever… when people offer to give you guys free sh*t, who am I to say no, right?  The event is happening on October 8th, from 7-10pm at the Standard Hotel and will feature bacon inspired snacks from famous chefs, live blues, and delicious drinks (obviously.)  The event is already sold out, so this is your only way in.  Register to win a pair of tickets here>>