Midtown Lunch

I haven’t had Indian food for awhile, so I headed over to the East side of Midtown to a place I’ve walked by many times but never eaten at.  Despite the sign, which mentions Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh (and the fact that the food is halal), Joy Curry & Tandoor is a normal steam table Indian food place, similar to Minar or Maharaja.  The place is always packed, and frequented by a lot of Indian workers from the area, a clear sign that it must be good.

There is plenty of Indian food in Midtown, and while my favorite form of Indian is the all you can eat buffet, almost all of the buffets in Midtown are over $10.  Luckily there are a bunch of places, like Joy, where you can get a very filling Indian meal, for under $10.

What I got, Indian porn and the +/- after the jump… Read more »

It’s that time of year again!  The date for the 3rd Annual Vendy Awards has been set, and a new website has just gone live, where you can buy tickets and nominate your favorite Street Cart.  The first year, Midtown represented as the Halo Berlin Cart took top honors.  Last year, we didn’t even have a nominee.  It’s time to bring the Silver Vendy Cup back to Midtown!  

This year’s event will be held on Saturday, September 29th from 3-8pm and tickets cost $60 in advance.  It has sold out the past two years, so if you want to attend, get your tickets early.  All proceeds benefit the Street Vendor Project, a non-profit organization that works to help protect all street vendors from social and economic injustices.

To get more info about the event, buy your tickets or nominate your favorite street cart, go to http://www.streetvendor.org/vendies.html.  Nominees will be announced on September 1st.

Every Tuesday I turn over Midtown Lunch to a random worker, for their favorite places to eat lunch in Midtown.  I never imagined Midtown Lunch had any Vegetarian readers… but leave it todays profile to prove me wrong.  Meet Lia- the first Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er who doesn’t eat anything that comes from an animal.

Name: Lia

Age: 26

Occupation: Banking

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 50th & 6th Ave.

Favorite Kind of Food: I’m vegan so that means I don’t eat any meat or dairy products. My favorite kinds of food are Thai, Indian, and since I’m Italian I think my blood might actually be marinara, so I also eat a lot of Italian food to keep homeostasis.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I’m kinda over sushi, but everyone I know is obsessed with it, so unless I want to eat alone, I am forced to go to Haru at least once a week. I usually order the house salad and an avocado roll. But a light lunch like that requires a mid afternoon snack.

Favorite Place to Eat Lunch in Midtown: I really like going to Zest on 41st and Broadway. They have a tofu scramble in the morning and a vegan whole wheat salad pizza by the pound for lunch. It’s just really overpriced for what you’re getting. You could easily spend $15.00 on lunch and a tea and still be hungry. So if any of you readers have deep pockets I’m not above someone treating me. My favorite lunch spot when I’m paying for it is probably the $3.00 tofu cream cheese bagel at Cafe Metro on 6th ave. Who doesn’t like carbs right?.

The “go-to” lunch place you and your co-workers eat at too often: Bocca on 50th btw. 6+7th. They are quick and it’s right across the street from my building. They have a cheese-less fresh tomato slice for under $4.00. Even though that’s expensive for one piece of pizza, it’s a pretty big slice and it’s more than enough. Also, they have pasta plates for $7.00 and they make it in front of you, so for a vegan it’s perfect b/c you can monitor the cheese-less status of your meal as they cook it.

Place you discovered thanks to Midtown Lunch: Minar (good tip, always call ahead to save a lottttt of time as the lines can get really really long), Yum Thai, & Kosher Deluxe.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? East village, just b/c there are a lot of affordable veg options. Atlas on 2nd ave has a vegan chicken, avocado, and artichoke sandwich which is amazing and pretty big. With a soda, everything comes to $7.00. Also the desserts they have there are really insane, cheesecakes, brownies, and shakes that are all non-dairy. Don’t knock the soy chicken until you’ve tried it. Seriously!

Anything you’d like to ask the Midtown Lunch readers? Besides Zen Palate on 9th Ave. & 47th, does anyone know of other vegan-friendly places around here? I have been to Zenith (48th btw. 8+9th) but I wasn’t that impressed. Has anyone tried Green Symphony on 43rd btw. 7+8th? I’ve read about it but I’ve never gone.

I gotta say, for all my talk of pork, street meat, fried chicken, burgers, and more pork- I can’t imagine how any Vegan could read most of what I write, without being totally grossed out.  Seriously.  How do you do it?  A picture of me eating Rack of Lamb alone, could literally be used on a poster to disgust people into never eating meat again. 

I guess what I’m saying is, I’m probably not the best person to recommend any Vegan or Vegetarian options in Midtown.  Nothing against it… I’ve actually eaten at Zen Palate before, and enjoyed it.  Although I did unintentionally wear my Cochon shirt, which features a picture of a pig with exposed ribs.  I’m sorry.  I just love pork too much.

Anybody have a recommendation for Lia?  Feel free to post it as a comment below.  And as always, if you have any news, suggestions, or you want to be next week’s Profiled: Midtown Lunch’er- email me at zach@midtownlunch.com

***THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED***

I have been very outspoken when it comes to burritos.  Various posts have had me prattling on about how there are no good authentic burritos in Midtown, Chipotle sucks, Burritoville is just glorified wraps, blah blah blah.  So I’m almost embarassed about what I am about to write.  If push came to shove, I would never call something a burrito if it wasn’t Mexican.  But that being said, the other day, while I sat in the recently opened  Sugo! e Basilico, munching on my Campo Piadina Wrap, it occured to me, that what I was eating was possibly the best burrito I’ve had since I started working in Midtown.  It was definitely not Mexican (it is Italian), and there was no rice and beans, or guacamole or sour cream- so technically it’s not a burrito.  But it’s stuff, wrapped up in something pretty similar to a tortilla, and most importantly, it was delicious.  A delicious Italian burrito.  (Hey, if Taco Bell can have a “Mexican Pizza”…)

Sugo! is a fairly new, soon to be fast food chain, an Italian Chipotle if you will, but instead of Mexican burritos, they specialize in Piadina, an Italian flat bread that gets stuffed with various Mediterranean ingredients of your choosing.  There is only one location right now (on 5th Ave. btw. 44+45th), but I’m guessing if this one is sucessful (and I’m pretty sure it will be), there are plenty more to come.

What I got, piadina porn and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

• Halal is the new Hot Dog [NY Times]
• People who work at the stores on 5th Ave. need to eat lunch too [Food Candy]
• A brief bit about Amalia and E-Mo Kim Bap [NY Times]
• Midtown Gets a “Screwy” Gastro Pub [New Yorker] 
• Jezebel has closed… but Piece of Chicken remains [Zagat]
• New Speakeasy set to open in Midtown on Wednesday [Rare Daily]
• I like Cheap Ass Food! [CheapAssFood]

Without sponsors this site would not exist… actually, who am I kidding. Of course it would. Everyone knows Midtown Lunch is just an excuse for me to stuff my fat face. That being said, it is nice to have help paying for my weekly lunch bill.

This week, that funding was graciously provided by GoMobo.com, a new service that allows you to text message your lunch order, and skip the line at some of your favorite places in New York City. Midtown Lunch’ing favorites where you can use GoMobo include Bread & Olive, Chicken Bar, Goodburger, Sugo e Basilico (which I’ll be writing about next week) and more. To sign up and check out a complete list of places you can order from, go to www.gomobo.com.  Use the promo code “midtownlunch” when you sign up and they’ll give you $5 off your first order.

Are you one of those people that is grossed out when you find a piece of food in your lunch that doesn’t belong?  Mind you, I’m not talking about non food items, like hair or a severed finger.  I’m talking about the regular french fry that makes it into your order of sweet potato fries, or the random hunk of pork that made it into your vegetarian entree.  An out of place morsel may be oft putting to some (like the vegetarian put in the above situation), but for this non discriminating eater, I see these interlopers as welcomed little nuggets of goodness!   Take my lunch yesterday:

Beef Bulgogi with Lo Mein & Gyoza from the Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart (more on this meal in a future post).  I’m guessing there are a few people who would be disturbed finding a big hunk of chicken in their beef dish, but not me.  For me it’s like Christmas.  I love variety, and finding that piece of chicken turned my three item combo, into a four item combo.

With all the steam tables, salad bars and by the lb. buffets in Midtown, I’m sure there are worse (or in some cases better!) findings than a piece of chicken in a beef dish. 

Thoughts?

Don’t get too excited about the second Daisy May’s BBQ Cart that popped up like a mirage in the distance on Park Ave. this week.  I got this email from an East Side Lunch’er very excited by Daisy May’s return to Park Ave. (they had a cart there last summer, which has not returned):

I saw from a distance that there was a Daisy May BBQ cart on Park Ave between 52nd and 53rd Street. I will take a closer look when I go out to lunch at 2:00. I hope they have some food left. — Alan

It turns out that it wasn’t a mirage, but it’s not exactly the triumphant return lunch’ers were hoping for.  Apparently the cart on Park is only there for the filming of Adam Sandler’s new movie “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan“, and isn’t even serving any food.  The angry and disappointed emails have already started pouring in:

Dude I was really bummed and pissed actually when I [realized the] Daisy May’s BBQ cart at the Seagrams Building on Park+52nd… was just for the filming of the Adam Sandler movie, and you could not actually get any ‘cue. Grrrr.  –Jason

According to IMDB “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” is rumored to star Mariah Carey.  All will be forgiven if we see her crazy ass eating at a Midtown street cart. 

BBQ lovers are not the only ones who have been effected by the production.  The Jiannetto’s Pizza truck that appeared on 48th this week, is actually the cart that is normally on Park Ave.  When the movie leaves, the Park Ave. Jiannetto’s truck will return, and they will put their newly built truck on 48th. St. 

As always, if you have any Midtown Lunch news, send them to zach@midtownlunch.com

A few months ago I got an email tip about a Halal cart that also served fried shrimp.  It didn’t occur to me how weird that was until I finally got around to checking out the cart and saw their sign for “Halal & Seafood”, which if you believe some interpretations of the Koran, would essentially be the same as a cart putting up a sign that says “Kosher & Pork”. 

While some might think Halal means “Chicken & Rice from a cart”, the actual translation just means permissible under Islamic law.  While it is usually used to describe food, the word can actually be applied to anything.  Haraam is the term used to describe things that are forbidden under Islamic law.  Certifying meat Halal has to do with how the animal is slaughtered, with blood and pork being 100% forbidden.  The rules dictating what is halal are very similar to the Kosher laws, although the two terms are definitely not interchangeable.  Seafood is up for debate as different sects interpret the Koran differently.  While most agree that fish is halal, some Muslims feel that shellfish is haraam, because they are bottom feeders, and the Koran strictly forbids eating predatory animals. 

That being said, I am not Muslim, and if a cart wants to throw some fried shrimp on top of that plate of chicken and rice, I’m all for it!  What I got, a +/- and cart porn after the jump…  Read more »