Midtown Lunch

Been getting a lot of emails about tonight’s “special” episode of No Reservations, dedicated entirely to street food.  My hunch is it’s a glorified “best of” episode featuring clips of street food that Anthony Bourdain has eaten over the past few years (but who knows?)  Either way it’s must see TV for anybody who loves the street food, and from the looks of the commercial there will be some NYC action. (I even spotted the King Tut cart on 6th Ave. in Midtown.)

Check it out after the jump…

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It looks like CNN’s Maggie Lake had my kind of lunch the other day, using twitter to bounce from streetcart to streetcart (starting at the CNN offices in Columbus Circle.) Reports about carts that twitter is nothing new, but it’s still cool to see the Treats Truck, Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, Le Gamin, and La Cense Burger Truck getting a little bit of love from the national cable media.

Check out the full video after the jump…

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A video has finally surfaced online of Bobby Flay’s falafel Throwdown victory over Taim (in the West Village). Even Bobby’s Food Network assistants were shocked that his falafel won, but Midtown Lunchers shouldn’t be. He got help from Kwik Meal’s Muhammed Rahman. It happens around 4 minutes and 30 seconds in the video if you want to fast forward.

Check out the video, after the jump.

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Hallo Berlin (on 54th & 5th) is the latest cart to get their own episode on VendrTV, and watching Rolf Babiel work the cart while simultaneously answering the host’s questions is a sight to behold.  I learned the hard way not to take anything Rolf says seriously, but he ends up being pretty well behaved for most of this video- talking about how growing up poor in Germany taught him how to run an extremely efficient cart. The funniest bit is actually an outtake at the very end where he explains how Germans like to be spontaneous… like with sex. (Bonus Reveal: Rolf claims to have had sex in the store room and on the beer barrels at the restaurant.)

See the video for yourself, after the jump.

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I hate Sbarro’s just as much as the next guy… but not this much. The NY Post is reporting that 2 people were injured last night when a stunt Ferrari, that was part of a new Nicholas Cage movie, lost control and slammed into the Sbarro on 7th Ave. and 47th Street in Times Square. Don’t worry though… the location is still open.

A video of the crash, is after the jump.

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And now a little something for those who enjoy using their lunchtime to stalk… If you enjoyed watching that video of Danika, from the Roger Smith Hotel, visiting Dainobu, the Japanese grocery store on 47th btw. Lex+3rd, than you should love this.  She will be co-hosting a cooking show, along with the chef from Lily’s Restaurant, in the window of the Lab Gallery (on 47th and Lex) at Noon and 6 p.m. every day, starting today, through the end of the week.  If you prefer to do your stalking in the privacy of your cubicle, the spectacle will be streamed on the web. Check out the live stream on the Roger Smith website (at 12:30 pm and 6pm) or after the jump.

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The complaints have been pouring in since it was reported that retired professional eater Don “Moses” Lerman has entered the Go Go Curry Eating Championship. His preliminary time (to eat 2 small portions of curry with rice) was an amazing one minute, and a lot of competitors are already getting discouraged.  After all, what are the chances a layman is going to beat Lerman.  (Pro competitive eaters are banned from entering any events unsanctioned by the IOCE.)

In fact, Midtown Lunch’er Tom- who agreed to be our representative in the competition, backed out half way through his “training”. The video, plus Go Go Curry’s response to the complaints, is after the jump…

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College Humor stars Jake & Amir visited Papa Perrone’s Truck the other day, and VendrTV was there to catch the action. Why Papa Perrone’s? Because apparently pizza is “college food”. Kind of a stretch if you ask me (since I’m pretty sure no college students come to Midtown for pizza) but you know what would be college food? A Rutgers Grease Truck sandwich (which coincidentally enough VendrTV visited a few weeks ago.) I’ve been begging for this since we started the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge. Will somebody please step up to the plate and make this mozzarella stick/chicken finger/french fry monstrosity happen? Papa Perrone? Nino’s? Are you listening?

Papa Perrone’s actual sandwich entry (before the update) does make it into the video (along with some great video of the big Papa himself), and you can see it after the jump…

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Yesterday we reported that (retired) professional eater Don “Moses” Lerman has entered the Go Go Curry Eating Championship with an amazing preliminary qualifying time of one minute. Today, Lunch’er Lydia informed us in the comments that there is video proof of Lerman’s time. And folks… it is ugly.

If you were considering entering the competition, thinking it would be a fun way to show your friends how much you could eat (and possibly win $500 for doing it) this video might make you reconsider. Some might say Lerman’s presence puts a damper on the whole competition… after all who is going to want to enter knowing they are going to lose to a pro eater. But I look at it a different way. No matter how much you love basketball, you are never going to get to go one on one with LeBron James. But if you love to eat, this is your chance to go toe to toe with one of the greats! And who knows… maybe there will be a Buster Douglas moment.

The very intimidating video is after the jump…

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I don’t know who Danika is, or why she is making videos like this for the Roger Smith Hotel (on 47th and Lex), but this You Tube video of her going to lunch at Dainobu (the Japanese grocery store on 47th btw. Lex+3rd) is incredibly entertaining. The best part might be her “I don’t need to tell you what I think these look like” quip about a plastic pack of fish balls.  Actually, Danika, you do need to tell us.  What exactly do you think those look like?!? Surprisingly (after that comment) she had trouble fitting a whole piece of sushi into her mouth.

Check out the video after the jump…

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