Midtown Lunch

It sounds like last week’s Street Meat Palooza 2 caused a few problems for some of the vendors that scored well. Kwik Meal, the winner, reported larger than normal lines, while on twitter there were complaints of a 20+ minute line at Shendy’s (the second place cart) that was not moving. And this one probably has nothing to do with [...]

One year ago this month 20 Midtown Lunch’ers converged in Bryant Park to taste 13 plates of street meat and rate them in an event that became known as Street Meat Palooza.  The Famous Halal Cart on 53rd & 6th was crowned the winner, and we vowed to return one year later to give another [...]

The results of Street Meat Palooza 2 are just two days away, but here’s a little discovery that is worth sharing with you now.  If you’ve been following Midtown Lunch, or the street food scene in Midtown, than you know about the “Famous Halal Guys” who park on the SW corner of 53rd and 6th [...]

Just wrapped up the judging for the second annual Street Meat Palooza. 30+ lunchers just converged in Bryant Park and palooza’d the hell out of street meat from 15 different Midtown carts. There were some crazy new developments this year, and my hunch is a new winner is going to be crowned. Stay tuned… results [...]

Just a reminder today is the last day you can nominate or vote for a cart to be included in Street Meat Palooza 2, our chicken and lamb over rice showdown going on next week. A few of the commenters will be chosen to be participants/judges.  And don’t forget, even though SMP2 is closed to [...]

Photo by Blondie and Brownie
One year ago this month, 30 Midtown Lunchers converged to eat 26 containers of street meat from 13 different Midtown carts.  Chicken and lamb over rice was consumed, scores were given, and in the end one cart claimed victory over the others in a completely blind taste taste.  The event was [...]

I don’t remember seeing lines like this at the XPL truck (on Park Ave. & 48th St.) before they surprisingly took 2nd place at Street Meat Palooza. It just goes to show, all carts are not created equal. (You may say the secret ingredient is the rice.)
Thanks to Blondie and Brownie for passing along the photo.

Not all street meat is created equal.  It may seem, to the uninitiated, that many chicken and lamb over rice vendors are serving the same food, but the real cart aficionados know the truth.  Sure there are the stand out carts that everyone has heard of, but even amongst the no-name carts there are some huge [...]