Midtown Lunch

About a year ago, Chris H. traveled to Hawaii and reported back on 5 plate lunches he thought Midtown Lunch’ers would enjoy from his travels, including Hawaiian favorite loco moco. As I write this, I’m enjoying my final hours in Honolulu, and I have found myself thinking along the same lines — wishing a few items from my trip would find themselves in Midtown one day for ML’ers to enjoy (none of which appear on Hawaiian Island Grill menu!)

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From Lunch’er “Jason”:

I just spent a week in Scotland visiting my little brother who is spending the semester practicing non-sobriety/studying. Well, GB is now flooded with a blooming middle-eastern population, resulting in myriad British takes on things we find in NYC all the time, including plenty ML type versions of chicken/lamb and rice. However, there was one item that I had never seen before, and that was the Doner Calzone. Being the gluttonous sucker that I am, I of course had to order one. I ordered the above behemoth- chicken tikka donner, extra spicy (you know how calzones here sometimes have that pocket of steam that deflates at the first cut? Well this baby was jammed to the roof with chicken tikka). It came in a 10-inch pizza box, left a grease streak for days, and easily weighed 2+ lbs. This was all on top of well spiced chicken vertically shaved from the rotisserie, smothered in tikka masala, complete with grilled onions, and melty crispy cheese smothered over the top. Unfortunately I only have exterior photos because at the beginning, I was too hungry to use a fork and knife, and by the end (I only finished 2/3), I was seconds away from a devastating food coma. Perhaps this is something that a Cer Te could tweak or reinvent, because it was delicious.

We want to go to there.

Related:
5 Lunch Items Midtown Needs from England

I was recently in Hawaii for a week-long vacation. As I write this, my cheeks are flushed with sunburn, my legs are sore from tromping through tropical forests, my arms ache from surfing, and my belly is full of delicious indigenous Hawaiian food. With the plethora of active sports and hobbies that Hawaii natives have at their disposal, it’s no surprise that the local cuisine centers around hearty, calorie intense food. And for a caloric gut bomb of truly epic proportions, it doesn’t get any finer than a plate lunch, or more specifically a plate of loco moco ($6.75 at the Rainbow Drive In – Honolulu, HI), the #1 food item that Midtown needs from Hawaii.

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After visits to the Bay Area last year, Zach came back first with five and then another three lunches that Midtown really needs to have. I was out there for most of last week and found even more delicious lunch goodness that I would love to see Midtown borrow from the left coast.

First thing we need is an amazing food court like they have at the Westfield Mall, San Francisco Centre. With more than 20 eateries in ML range, there’s Chinese, pasta, Korean Barbecue, Tri-tips, fish shacks and more to wade through. It’s enough to explore for weeks. See what I had and some of the other points on my wishlist after the jump.

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I was in San Francisco this past weekend, and discovered three more things that Midtown really needs to add to our lunching repertoire (to go along with the five Bay Area lunches I posted about back in March.)

We’ll start with the thing I was most excited to discover: a freakin porchetta/rotisserie chicken truck!  Holy mackerel.  Parked at a Street Food Fair thrown by Foodbuzz (as part of their First Annual Blogger Festival),  the Roli Roti Truck has been around in San Francisco for almost ten years, serving up rotisserie chickens and porchetta sandwiches made from sustainably farmed meats that are roasted on spits right on the side of the truck.  This thing was a pure feat of engineering genius, and we need one in Midtown… like… yesterday.  It can fit a couple of hundred rotisserie chickens, but the real star (for me) was their porchetta, which gets sliced hot and sold in sandwiches (crispy skin and all!).

Check one of these bad boys out, after the jump…

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I spent this past weekend in Chicago, and came away with a) a much greater appreciation of New York pizza (sorry Chicago, your deep dish is just aiight) and b) a complete and 100% fatman-crush on Hot Doug’s. A sausage temple like none I’ve ever seen, Hot Doug’s was (surprisingly) worth the 45 minute wait. It also got me thinking that I’ve never really done any hot dog posts on Midtown Lunch. Carts litter the streets, and I’m sure there are a few exceptional ones, but I’ve never really bothered to try them out.

Sure, we had Mandler’s for a second or two, and the Hallo Berlin Cart (on 54th and 5th) is a great place to satisfy your German sausage craving. But what about a straight up hot dog? I know we’re not going to get anything as amazing as Hot Doug’s, but there has got to be at least a couple worthwhile dogs in Midtown. Got any suggestions, post them in the comments.

In the meantime, more Hot Doug’s porn- after the jump (if you don’t want to be jealous of Chicago lunchers, don’t click through.)

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Spent the weekend in my hometown of Miami, and had two lunches which are now going to be added to the Midtown Lunch wishlist.  First up, Pollo Tropical:

This Florida fast food institution is not as great as it once was, but if given the choice between a whopper combo and a quarter chicken combo with rice, beans, and plantains, I think it’s pretty obvious what I’m going to choose.  It can’t hold a candle to most of the latin food here in Midtown, so we don’t really *need* a Pollo Tropical, but it still holds a special place in my heart… (I’ve seen the sign for one off of the freeway in Jersey when you come out of the Lincoln Tunnel.  Anybody ever been?)

And yesterday, we had the lesser known, sweet bastard son of the Cuban Sandwich.  Check it out after the jump… Read more »

It should come as no surprise that I feel we are in desperate need of a Korean Fried Chicken place here in Midtown (if your unfamiliar with the phonomenon, check out Jason Perlow’s round-up).  Unfortunately, Baden Baden & Bon Chon, the two locations in Koreatown, are not open for lunch, so we are left Koreanfriedchicken’less.

And now, just to increase our jealousy, Serious Eats’ Adam Kuban has written about the Col-Pop,  a device available at BBQ Chicken (a fast food KoreanFC chain with a location in Chelsea), that allows you to hold popcorn chicken in a built in container atop your soda cup.  Are you kidding me?!?!  With a location on 7th Ave. and 24th St. it’s only 1 stop farther on the subway than the Manhattan Mall Food Court… a small price to pay for being the first kid at work with a col-pop in your cube.

Need more?  Check out the amazing video posted on Serious Eats.

A few weeks ago I was in the Bay Area and had the greatest torta of all time at this little place called La Casita Chilanga in Redwood City.  What I wouldn’t give to have this lunch available in Midtown.  I’ve had the torta at Pampano Taqueria, but it doesn’t compare to this.   

I had “La Cubana” torta, and wrote about it on Serious Eats.  You can read about it here: http://www.seriouseats.com/eating_out/2007/11/serious-sandwiches-la-cubana-torta-from-la-ca.html

And if you have any NYC torta suggestions, please post them below.  (Seriously, please.)

This past weekend, I was in Vancouver and had what is probably the greatest Hot Dog innovation since they were poked with sticks, dipped in corn bread batter and deep fried.  The Japadog!  Think Hallo Berlin Cart meets Cafe Zaiya…

You would think that New York City would be at the forefront of all hot dog stand innovations.  And yet somehow Vancouver totally beat us to the punch on this one.  A hot dog topped with Japanese condiments.  Simple and amazing.  How popular would one of these stands be in Midtown? 

I had the Oroshi, and wrote about it for Serious Eats.  Read about it here:   http://www.seriouseats.com/eating_out/2007/09/serious-sandwiches-the-japadog.html