Midtown Lunch

2012 Vendy’s Finalist, Uncle Gussy’s, has made a name for themselves doing traditional Greek dishes–homemade loukaniko (Greek sausage), pastistio, and of course, pork chops with lemon potatoes. And of course they do the typical Queens style greek souvlaki on a stick with salt and lemon juice. But did you know they also do a shrimp souvlaki as a lunch special!?  And it’s anything but typical Greek food… Read more »

We’re still waiting to find out who’s up for the Dessert, Rookie, and the new Market category of the Vendy Awards. But earlier this week, the excitement for the big day increased with the announcement of the six competitors in the Vendy Cup Award. While only one will be the official winner, this competition is really more a celebration of the vendors and their stories, commitment, and delicious food. Every year the nominees get their own official video documentary. This year they’ve all been produced by our friend Liza de Guia from Food Curated. Click below to check out the videos of the two Midtown nominees, Cinnamon Snail and Uncle Gussy’s.

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We’ve seen the line long… but never this long!  Holy wow.

Related:
Vendy Award Finalists Announced- Plus Hang Out Early w/ Zach, Brian H, Blondie & Brownie

We here at Midtown Lunch are huge fans of Uncle Gussy’s (51st and Park Ave), so I’m a little ashamed to admit that I may just be the last Midtown Luncher to try their truck. My first experience of their food and their great attitude towards their food and customers was when I shot Brian’s Mother’s Day video. We were lucky enough to try their meatball special and after that I was hooked. Ever since then I’ve been stalking their Twitter to find out what specials they have (they usually have specials on Tuesdays and Thursdays). A while back it was their famous pork chop with oven roasted lemon potatoes. I had drooled over Brownie’s post about and I finally got the chance to try it. It was quite delicious and a lot of food while still keeping it within the ML price limit.

But the next week when I saw on ML Twitter Tracker that Uncle Gussy had Greek sausage (aka loukaniko), I knew exactly what was for lunch.

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We’ve been telling you for the last few weeks about Uncle Gussy’s plans to launch a sister cart that will serve Greek frozen yogurt, sorbet, and other frozen goodies. The name of the new cart is Pago (translates to frozen in Greek) and it’s pretty tough to miss since it’s set up just off to the side of the big blue truck on 51st and Park. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to get your pita or platter and not be seduced into at least trying the cooling concoctions.

Nick’s brother Franky was manning the cart and was very generous with the free samples. One regular customer even walked by with a big bowl of that Yogo swill and did the ultimate taste test. One guess as to which yogurt reigned supreme.

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If you’ve been following the ML Twitter Tracker, you know that Uncle Gussy’s has a new venture up their sleeve. For the past few months they’ve been perfecting Greek-style frozen yogurt, ice cream and sorbet recipes. Early reports from yogurt sampling they did back during that hot spell in March were good and with some luck the cart will be opening today.

I recently had a chance to catch up with Nick to get the full scoop (haha) on their new cart.

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You may have noticed on Twitter this morning, that Uncle Gussy’s tweeted a picture of an awning that will just be one piece of their upcoming frozen Greek yogurt, ice cream, and sorbet cart. They have been testing out yogurt flavors and recipes for the last few months on the truck and plan to launch it in time for the sweltering summer weather. Brothers Nick and Franky, who were featured with their mother on our recent video, will operate the cart in conjunction with the big blue truck. Stay tuned for more details about location, launch date, and menu items.

This year instead of taking my mom to an overpriced brunch or sending her a bouquet of flowers that will quickly die, I thought I’d show her what it’s like to eat lunch in Midtown. Uncle Gussy’s was the perfect place to visit since the truck itself is run by a mother and her two sons. Along with Donny manning the camera, mom and I got to try their awesome Greek food and learn about how the truck came to be. This is the third in our series of holiday themed videos (following St. Patty’s Day and Easter) and probably the last one I’m bringing my mom on. Check out the video after the jump.

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What does everyone do on Thursday nights? Hit up the bar. What’s the best thing to eat for lunch on Friday? Burgers. So was the thinking behind Uncle Gussy’s (51st+Park) Friday special, a bacon and Swiss burger. When I stopped by there, I was definitely in need of some burger lovin’ and picked one up. The platter comes with fries and a bit of salad, but I was interested in seeing if this could be a proper replacement Carnegie John’s burger!

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Fans of Uncle Gussy’s Truck know to stalk the Twitter Tracker to see what special owners Nick and Franky’s mom has made for the day. Lamb chops and pork chops are popular in the rotation (it’s hard to beat mom’s oven roasted lemon potatoes), but keep your eyes peeled for Pastistio.

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