If you missed out on the Taiwanese fried chicken madness earlier in the week, the NYC Cravings Truck is parked on 52nd and Lexington today. Since it’s their first time parking in this space, you might want to keep an eye on their Twitter for any updates. Getting there early might be a good move too… although hopefully they brought more chicken today than they did on Monday!
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:21 am, May 15th, 2009 under NYC Cravings.
45th Street Menchanko Tei Is Closed: Less than two weeks after welcoming back the 55th Street branch of Menchanko Tei (which had been closed for more than 3 months following a fire) Lunch'er Brian sends word that the 45th Street branch has now been closed for rennovations.
Posted at 11:00 am, May 15th, 2009 | 2 Comments
Subway Dunkin Donuts Gets the DOH: via Twitter: "Rock Center Dunkins and Booster Juice got DOH'ed for expired permits. I suspect Starbucks called it in." Update: from Blondie and Brownie "The Dunkin is back up and running. By the afternoon they were square with the DOH." Praise jeebus!
Posted at 9:45 am, May 15th, 2009 | 0 Comments
Looks like the famous Halal Guys on 53rd and 6th aren’t the only quality late night street meat available in Midtown anymore. The Kwik Meal cart (on 45th & 6th) has decided to try and stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (Before this week, their schedule was just M-F 11am until around 8:30-9pm.) This is great news for any Kwik Meal fans who find themselves working over the weekend or super late at night. Owner Muhammad Rahman says he’s going to test it out for a few weeks and see how it goes. If there’s business, he’ll keep the cart open all night long, indefinitely.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 8:30 am, May 15th, 2009 under Kwik Meal.
After posting that you really have to go to 9th Ave. for a decent Greek style gyro, Lunch’er Susan emailed me to ask about a gyro special she had seen in Midtown Proper: “Pronto on 48th btw 5+6th, near Indus Express and Hing Won, has a gyro combo. Gyro, fries, drink for $6. Could this possibly be any good? I suppose stranger things have happened.” There are actually *two* Pronto Pizzas on 48th btw. 5+6th, but the gyro deal is at the one closer to 6th Ave. I stopped by there the other day to check it out.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 3:15 pm, May 14th, 2009 under 48th btw 5+6th, Gyro.
Saw this sign outside the infamous Belly Delly Deli (on Broadway & 50th), which has been closed since the end of last year. I always thought it was a gross generic Midtown deli, but I know there are some who will be excited for it to reopen. Not sure if it’s going to still be the Belly Delly Deli, or something else, but either way from the looks of the sign we can count on it being generic. I wonder if you’ll be able to eat your turkey sandwich upstairs while getting your nails done. That would be different!
Posted by Zach Brooks at 2:00 pm, May 14th, 2009 under Deli.
Last week I got an email from Lunch’er Kyle asking me if I had tried the new chocolate corn bread muffins from Piece of Chicken, the just out of bounds soul food take out place on 45th btw. 8+9th Ave. where almost everything on the menu is $1 to $3. Why no. I haven’t tried the new choclate corn bread muffins, was my reply. Clearly I needed to revisit Piece of Chicken, and see what was going on.
To be completely honest though, I had ulterior motives. Chocolate corn bread muffins sounded pretty good, but what I really wanted to try was the fried chicken and waffle and fried chicken livers, two items on the Piece of Chicken menu which always seemed to be sold out every single time I stopped by for like two weeks straight last year. Well, it’s been awhile- but I returned to Piece of Chicken a few days ago, and both items were available.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:45 am, May 14th, 2009 under Fried Chicken, Offal, Out of Bounds, Piece of Chicken, Soul Food.
Hallo Berlin (on 54th & 5th) is the latest cart to get their own episode on VendrTV, and watching Rolf Babiel work the cart while simultaneously answering the host’s questions is a sight to behold. I learned the hard way not to take anything Rolf says seriously, but he ends up being pretty well behaved for most of this video- talking about how growing up poor in Germany taught him how to run an extremely efficient cart. The funniest bit is actually an outtake at the very end where he explains how Germans like to be spontaneous… like with sex. (Bonus Reveal: Rolf claims to have had sex in the store room and on the beer barrels at the restaurant.)
See the video for yourself, after the jump.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 10:15 am, May 14th, 2009 under Hallo Berlin, VendrTV, Videos.
Photos uploaded to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Pool by Pabo76
I guess TGI Friday’s isn’t the only one following Subway into the $5 lunch game. Midtown Lunch flickr friend Pabo76 just posted about the new $5 lunch special being offered through the end of May at Shilla (on 32nd btw. B’way+5th). Unfortunately, the special menu is only in Korean- so you may want to check out his post, which translates the whole thing (and includes photos.) The stews and soups being offered don’t look gigantic, but banchan is included for your $5- so it sounds like a good amount of food for the price (and looks pretty damn tasty.) [The Pabo Page]
Posted by Zach Brooks at 9:00 am, May 14th, 2009 under 32nd btw. B'way+5th, Korean, Shilla.
Some people start blogs to get a real writing gig, or a book deal. Some do it to get invited to events and openings and score free food. My only dream in starting Midtown Lunch was that one day I would get to be a judge at the Vendy Awards (the Academy Awards for street food.) Well, this year they have been suckered decided to make that dream a reality. But even more exciting than the news about me, is that this year you can be a judge too!
Posted by Zach Brooks at 3:30 pm, May 13th, 2009 under Vendy Awards.
