Midtown Lunch

Terrible news hit the Midtown Lunch Forums last night. It looks like the Happy Well Being House Cart (on 50th btw. 6+7th) has permanently taken their fried fish and bulgogi goodness back Downtown.

“Hi, I’m a daughter of that vendor. sorry… midtown lunchers :( my mom and sister took cart to downtown. when my mom’s new cart was broken, they took downtown’s old cart to the midtown to serve you guys despite downtown customers look for us like midtown lunchers T_T. when they fixed the new cart they started to serve BF but I think they had a fight w/ halal vendors. halal vendors banned Happy well being house cart so they couldn’t stay there anymore. now mom and sisters are taking downtown spot. they are servng food in downtown.(varick st/ king st) same food same owner in downtown :)”

Of course this isn’t the first time an established vendor has intimidated a new vendor. In fact, it pretty much happens every time a new cart or truck sets up shop in Midtown. Kim from the Treats Truck got it from the Mr. Softee guy (luckily they were able to “work out a deal”), Rickshaw Dumpling deals with it all the time, and we think that Rafiqi’s scared that Udon cart away before setting their sights on El Rey Del Sabor. Thankfully the Mexican cart hasn’t been intimidated. Sadly, if we decide to boycott every cart that does this to another cart- there will be no street meat left for us to eat.

Related:
Happy Well Being House is Related to Downtown Korean BBQ Cart
If You’re Looking for the Downtown Bulgogi Cart… It’s in Midtown

The cover of this week’s New Yorker Magazine is a drawing of a hot dog stand in Times Square, but the coolest part about it is that it was drawn on a iPhone.  They even have a video on their website “recapitulating each step of how Colombo [the artist] composed the picture.”

12:40pm and It’s organized chaos at the new Baja Fresh, where people are reporting wait times of 15-25 minutes (5 to 10 mins to order, and another 15 waiting for food.) Not bad, but the people are still pouring in, and I overheard the manager saying that the kitchen just started falling behind. In other words, I’m guessing we’ll be hearing of some 30-40+ wait times very soon. I’ve waited over three years for this… I guess I can wait another day or two. Were you there? Let us know how it was in the comments.

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week, it’s Dani an account executive/food blogger who answers all of our profile questions, except for one: How do I get invited over for Mom’s Indonesian home cooking!?!

Name: Dani

Age: 34

Occupation: Account Executive (and Food Blogger)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: 40th and Madison

Favorite Kind of Food: Mom’s Indonesian home cooking (specifically her risoles, which are breaded, crepe-like pastries filled with a creamy chicken and veggie concoction), sushi, dim sum, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, seafood, potato chips, Southern cooking

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Try as I might, I’m not a big fan of cheesecake, which leaves many people simply speechless, especially my co-workers who rave about the cheesecake at Juniors. Jiggly desserts like jello and pudding do not thrill me either. I also can’t get into organ meats unless it’s “broken down” like in pate. I’m also not a big steak eater.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Even sans the salmon topping, the Caesar Salad at Salmon River (on 40th btw. Mad+5th) is the best; the dressing seems to have much more zing than other places. I also cannot get enough of the Ma Paul tofu at Szechuan Gourmet (39th btw. 5+6th); great sinus-clearing spiciness and massive portions that will carry you to the next two meals! Tokyo Restaurant (on Lexington btw. 39+40th) offers giant bowls of ramen and hearty sushi in a serene traditional atmosphere. Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. Mad+5th) for pretty much anything like the chicken katsu, udon noodles and pastries. $10 at Japas (on 38th btw. Mad+5th) will buy you a robust lunchbox of three sets of maki rolls, miso soup and salad.

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Could this finally be the end for Milant, the little deli (on 39th btw. Lex+3rd) that just two years ago was considered by many to be the best place for sandwiches in Midtown? After a couple of DOH closings, and a noticeable drop in business, Milant was finally sized by the Marshal last week on behalf of their landlord.  I’ve seen places bounce back from this before, and when I ate at Milant in April everything was delicious… but clearly things are not looking good.

A close up of the Marshal’s notice is after the jump.

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Photo courtesy of Lunch’er “Chip Beef”

On Friday Midtown Lunchers poured into Certe (on 55th btw. 5+6th) for the chance to sample their “lobster roll” for the one day only price of $8.95.  I put lobster roll in quotes because as the complaints started to pour in it became clear that this sandwich was more of a lobster wrap than a lobster roll. This comment from Lunch’er “Sushiburger” pretty much sums it up:

Just had the Lobster Roll. They really shouldn’t call it a Lobster Roll since.. well… there’s NO ROLL! Maybe you guys knew this already but I didn’t realize that it was a wrap.. and not an actual roll. The lobster mix was fine… nothing amazing.. but nothing bad… it wasn’t too overloaded with mayo as fillers… and there was a decent amount of lobster, but having to eat it in a wrap just ruined the whole thing. i placed the order from my office to pick it up. and I couldn’t turn back since they had it ready for me right when i got there. In any case, it was pretty good for what it was but I was looking forward to biting into a roll and having the wrap was disappointing.

And Lunch’er “Chip Beef” added this:

“Apart from being served on a fucking wrap (uncool, unacceptable), Certe somehow saw it fit to include CORN and RED ONIONS in their lobster salad. These foolish ingredients totally overpowered whatever small amount of actual lobster flavor that this “thing” was packing.”

Certe (being the attentive Midtown Lunch readers that they are) immediately responded with this apology, and make good.

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The day has finally arrived! The first Manhattan location of the popular West Coast chain Baja Fresh opens today on Lexington btw. 45+46th (in the old Zen Burger space.) Last week we gave away the chance to sample the place for free before they officially opened, and one of the winners sent in this report:

“I went [on Sunday] night. The place was roomy and reminded me of a bare-looking Qdoba. The food was fresh and good but nothing to write home about. My friend and I ordered a chicken breast baja burrito ($7.75), a mahi mahi diablo burrito ($9.23), guacamole/chips ($4.29) and churros ($2.58). Please note that each burrito order came with free corn tortilla chips.

“The grilled chicken breast baja burrito was the best thing we got. It was basically grilled chicken breast with guacamole and pico de gallo wrapped with a flour tortilla. The whole burrito is heated/toasted to look like taco bell’s grilled stuff burrito.”

And then things went south…

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