Midtown Lunch

Remember when I told you there would be a surprise the first time we ventured into Chinatown since the launch? Well, here it is.  We’ve realized that there is a problem that afflicts tens of thousands of New Yorkers every year.  “Where do I eat while on jury duty?”  This segment of Midtown Lunch hopes to address that question exactly.  Good for Uptowners, Midtowners, and Downtowners alike, Jury Duty Lunch explores the area around Foley Square looking for what Midtown Lunch is all about: cheap, greasy, delicious food.  Just click on the Jury Duty Lunch category to see where we’ve been.

During my childhood, I had a strong affinity for dumplings, gyoza, potstickers, whatever you wanna call ’em.  It was one of my absolute favorite things to eat and always a treat when Mom would get that giant plastic bag we’d gotten at the grocery store and fried up a couple plates worth.  My disappointment always clocked in when I realized the meal wouldn’t consist solely of dumplings.  I dreamed of the day when I would be a grown up who could fry his own damn dumplings and consume nothing but.  Well, that day has come.  (To be perfectly frank, it’s not the first time in my adult life that day has come, but let’s set that aside for the time being.)  I took a little trip to Chinatown to see just how many fried dumplings and pork buns I could get for my 5 bucks at Fried Dumpling on Mosco Street.
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As is customary here on Midtown Lunch, every Tuesday we’ll profile a different lunch’er and get their recommendations for places to eat in Downtown NYC. This week, Matt pines for a San Francisco Cafe and searches for some food cart variety…

Name: Matt

Age: 36

Occupation: IT non-profit organization

Where do you work?: Financial District

Favorite Kind of Food: Cheap and Spicy. Think Street Meat.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Bland, chain, and $$$$. Think Pump Energy Food.

Favorite Lunch(es) Downtown: Kosher Luncheonette on Fulton @ Cliff St.  (great falafel), Xpress Power Lunch (Wall/Pearl Streets)… [and more after the jump.]

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Back before us Downtowners hit it big and got our own Midtown Lunch website, we used to crave Fridays when that little corner Zach’s masterpiece would open up the boundaries a little bit and Daniel Krieger would give us the scoop on Midtown Lunches Downtown. One those posts I remember the most is Daniel’s trip to Champs Deli because I used to swing by that spot for anything from an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese to a cheeseburger deluxe.  For those of you with especially good memories, you may remember the image above as the one that opened Daniel’s Champs post. Well, consider this a sequel of said post, a bit of an homage to Daniel with the work he did, and an expansion on the glory that is Champs Deli.
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Cumin Lamb from Famous Sichuan, courtesy of Bionic Bites

• Bionic Bites took a trip to Famous Sichuan and damn it looks good [Bionic Bites]
• Duck and mushroom noodles? Sign me up. [A Passion for Food]
• Yvo enjoys her own dose of noodles in Chinatown [Feisty Foodie]
• Share this pan-fried flounder with a friend and you’ll juuuuuust make it within the Midtown Lunch rules [Lunch with Front Studio]
• I love me some pumpkin for dessert [Serious Eats NY]

As those of you who read my post on the stew at Country Cafe might know, I’m not a big fan of soup.  It’s a dish that’s almost always dependent on a complementary item like a sandwich or massive amounts of bread in order to constitute a filling meal.  On top of that, I just haven’t had many earth-shattering soups.  I know they exist, otherwise Seinfeld wouldn’t have dedicated so much time to the Soup Nazi.  I just haven’t really experienced them.  Well, that has now changed and all thanks to a little place I like to call “The Hot Soup Cart.” Read more »

After placing 2nd in Street Meat Palooza and 5th in Street Meat Palooza 2, the Xpress Power Lunch at 48th and Park got plenty of love from the Midtown Lunch community, and then subsequently some confusion about just who was running which cart.

I can’t speak to the current XPL situation in Midtown, but the Xpress Power Lunch cart on the southeast corner of Wall and Pearl definitely serves up street meat that could win top honors at a downtown palooza. I stopped by on Monday on the recommendation of Lunch’er Maatthias, who said it was just as much of a gem as Adel’s. After just one visit, I have to agree.

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