Midtown Lunch

Midtown’s Kosher scene has seen a flurry of activity this week, as reported by the website Kosher-NY.  Eli’s Deli, in the Citigroup Building Food Court will close at the end of the week, the Mendy’s in the Rock Center concourse has officially moved to their new digs on street level (on 48th btw. 5+6th) and may have some Grand Opening specials, and Mr. Broadway (on B’way btw. 37+38th) was closed by the DOH on Tuesday. They hope to reopen tomorrow.  Also, in Downtown Lunch news… Little Lad’s (the vegetarian place Daniel reviewed this past Friday) will no longer be under Kosher supervision after this week.

Related:
Mendy’s Beats Out Soup Nazi in Battle of the Seinfeld Spin Offs

Chicken Souvlaki from Kefi (UWS)

We were pretty excited to read on Fork in the Road yesterday that Michael Psilakis (the chef of Kefi & Anthos) is planning on opening a Greek street cart by the end of the year. I’ve had his chicken soulvlaki sandwich at Kefi on the UWS (delicious!) and you know I how I feel about the lamb burger at Anthos. Sadly, his “people” were a little less optimistic about the prospects of a cart. “There are no immediate plans for a street cart in the works, it’s something he’s considering, but I wouldn’t say it’s imminent. His focus right now is Gus & Gabriel, and the release of his first cookbook in October, How to Roast a Lamb.” That’s ok, I’m still excited. (It’ll be in Midtown, right?)

Related:
My Lamb Burger Plea to Michael Psilakis
At Lunch Now: Birthday Splurge at Anthos

Tonight is the second to last summer movie showing in Bryant Park, and since it’s sponsored by Time Warner Cable their $1 ice cream truck will be parked on 40th btw. 5+6th again from around 4:30pm until 9pm tonight. (Oh, and if you care about the movie, it’s The Magnificent Seven and starts at sunset.)

I’ve only heard about this magical truck, but had never seen it until this afternoon… the “Time Warner Cable” $1 ice cream truck is parked on 40th btw. 5+6th right now selling $1 ice cream cones (all proceeds benefit charity.) It’s Mr. Softee style cones (chocolate, vanilla, or swirl), with your choice of chocolate or rainbow sprinkles. They’ll be parked in that spot until 9pm tonight (8/3). Enjoy!

I don’t know what I’m more surprised about… that Wu Liang Ye might be paying their employees slave wages, or that the popular Szechuan restaurant is owned by the Chinese government?!? Either way, workers staged a protest yesterday in front of the Wu Liang Ye on 39th & Lexington handing out flyers that condemned the restaurant for paying their workers as little as $1.10 an hour, and stealing credit card tips. They also claim that after a number of workers filed a lawsuit against Wu Liang Ye last year, the company retaliated by firing “the most vocal workers and even assaulted workers for speaking out.”

The entire flyer, including a list of demands from the protesters, is after the jump…

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The NYMag Cheap Eats issue has always had a questionable but somewhat forgivable view of what constitutes “cheap”… everything has to be under $25 (although Minetta Tavern’s $26 black label burger somehow makes the cut.) Despite the high benchmark, this year’s issue (which focuses on pizza, sandwiches, and burgers) stays pretty true to a normal person’s idea of what is considered cheap. Only one problem… where’s the love for Midtown!?! With the exception of the $16 croque monsieur from Le Cirque (how is that cheap!?!) Midtown is completely ignored. I can understand being left off the 20 best pizzas list (we don’t have a good enough slice of pizza to compete with that amazing collection), and the 9 best burgers are arguably better than anything we have in Midtown (although I haven’t tried HB Burger yet), but they couldn’t find one good Midtown spot to include?

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The NYPost today reports the completely-not-shocking news that street vendor licenses registered to people who are now deceased are being renewed and sometimes sold to other vendors. Considering how long the waiting list for a vendors license is, I’m not surprised that a family would continue to use (or even sell) their dead uncle’s license.  The shocking bit is how much these license renewals “lease” for on the black market.  Maybe if the city increased the number of licenses that were available, there wouldn’t be an illegal black market “leasing” these things for thousands of dollars. (Thanks to Lunch’er Dave for the tip)

I don’t even really know what to say.  I started Midtown Lunch three years ago this week as an excuse to stuff my fat face during lunch.  And somehow that has lead to this? It’s kind of ridiculous.