Midtown Lunch

Apparently Meze Grill was the last straw… my kid is retiring

• Did you want to buy a suit with that chicken over rice platter? [EV Grieve]
• Vote for Keen’s Steakhouse as Manliest Restaurant in America [Asylum]
• Times Sq. Hot Bagels is owned by the people who used to run Columbia Bagels [Bionic Bites]
• $2 margaritas at Toloache on Monday until 9pm [Eater]
• Stay away from Koryodang’s boba tea [Serious Eats:New York]
• Xie Xie has added salads and delivery [Fork in the Road]
• Houston’s Hillstone goes to court to avoid posting calorie counts [Gothamist]
• Minamoto Kitchoan sells sorbet [Serious Eats: New York]
• You know I love Pollo Tropical, but have I mentioned it would also be awesome if Midtown had a Chicken Kitchen? [JBF]
• If you have to work on Sunday, there is a Japanese street fair featuring food from Cafe Zaiya, Washoku Cafe, and Gyu-Kaku (as well as non Midtown restaurants like Hakata Tonton) on Madison Ave. btw. 43+44th [Japan Fair via EIT]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

I always wanted to go to Bellevue Bar (on 9th btw. 39+40th), but sadly I waited too long and never got to try their $1 sandwiches and cheap beer. However, just like Siberia (its former neighbor) made a comeback as “Manhattans” in Brooklyn, Bellevue Bar has found new life. Kal Narvilas, the owner of Kabin bar on the LES has partnered with ace bartender Michelle Gascoine (from Kabin and Hogs and Heifers to name a few) to revive the old space as Blue Ruin (which is slang for gin.)

Read more »

A little piece in the Wall Street Journal’s “Small Business” section today recommends three ways to make opening a food truck more profitable, including using twitter, finding a good location, and buying your truck secondhand. As examples it mentions the Treats Truck, and Spencer on the Go, a cart in San Francisco that makes a 50% profit margin selling takeway frog’s legs, escargot, and sweet breads a few blocks away from their restaurant, where the margins are only 10%. (Uh… can we get one of these carts please!?!?)  Of course if you’re thinking of jumping into the food truck business here in NYC, don’t expect your margins to be that high.  Spencer to Go owns the parking lot in SF where they set up shop, bypassing a huge expense to owning a food truck here in NYC: paying for parking at night, and finding a legal spot to vend during the day (where you won’t be ticketed or hassled by other vendors.)

Related:
So You’re Still Thinking of Opening a Food Truck!?!
How Twitter Actually Hurts Street Vendors
Rule #1 of Vendor Fight Club is You Don’t Talk About Vendor Fight Club

Fresh off my failure to procure an early lunch from the Eggs Travaganza cart, I decided to walk a few blocks south to the newly opened Jerk Pan cart (on 48th and Park.)  Their menu is pretty much identical to the Jamaican Dutchy’s (on 51st and 7th), which is not a surprise considering that I heard they consulted with the Dutchy for advice before opening their cart. And the menu isn’t the only thing that seemed familiar.  By 12:05pm, the line was already starting to form down the street, reminiscent of the early days of the Jamaican Dutchy cart.

We can joke all we want about people from the islands taking thing slow, but this is ridiculous. At least the Dutchy has beefed up their service in an attempt to speed things up a little bit. I only saw one guy working the Jerk Pan cart, and it took about 3 minutes to serve each person. I gave up pretty quickly (what can I say… fat man can’t sit in this kind of heat for 45 minutes waiting for Jerk chicken.)  I do really want to try this new cart.  Next time I’m going to get there at 11:30am… a lesson all the people in line ahead of me clearly have already learned.

Related:
Jamaican Me Crazy: New Jerk Pan Cart Hits Park Ave.; Caribbean Spice Changes Name
The Jamaican Dutchy… a Midtown Cart on Island Time

How upset were we to discover the Eggs Travaganza cart back in July (thanks to Serious Eats: New York), only to find out that they closed before lunchtime?  After all, there ain’t no shame in eating egg sandwiches or pancakes and bacon for lunch- right?  Yesterday, I stopped by just before Noon hoping to snag an early lunch- and find out if they had heard our cry for longer hours.

Read more »

• This guy will pay somebody $20 to take him to the NYT cafeteria [Midtown Eating]
• There’s a Midtown Lunch’er happy hour get together today at Rudy’s [Connections]
• Flatiron generic deli lashes out at the street carts [Miscellaneous]
• Where can I get a good kosher hot dog from a cart? [Midtown Eating]
• A list of great places to eat in Rego Park [Eating Outside Midtown]

Normally I keep my head down and walk as fast I can through Times Square. And yet somehow I managed to spot this scene on my way to lunch at the NYC Cravings Truck yesterday. First thought: jailbait. Second thought: it’s funny how Meal O’bama is coerced into changing their name to Kwik Meal IV, but this is just fine and dandy. Third thought: if this guy went to law school, but couldn’t get a job as a lawyer, he’d be on Fox News for coming up with this brilliant business idea.

Related:
Meal O’Bama Pressured Into Changing Name to Kwick Meal IV
Kwik Meal Kin Opens New Cart, Touches off Feud Over 45th & 5th