Midtown Lunch

If Midtown seemed a little less short and fat last week, it’s because I was stuffing my face in England all week long with my wife and kid. We skipped London, and spent most of the week with family in the West Midlands (aka Birmingham) and the weekend in Devon and Cornwall. While there I enjoyed a couple of lunches I’d really like to see here in Midtown…

Cod and Chips fried the old fashion way… in beef drippings.

We hit up this hipster chip chop in Leamington called The Flaming Pig, where everything is fried up in 100% beef drippings.  If you like your french fries to have a beef after taste, this is the way to go.  Their namesake was pretty good too…

The Flaming Pig = Sausage and chips covered in onions, peppers, and sweet chili sauce.  Nice.  The two guys running the place looked like they could have been plucked out of Williamsburg, and not surprisingly they said they’ll be opening a location of the Flaming Pig in L.A., backed by Michael Caine (!?!)  That’s what we need… a NY based British celeb to bring one of these places to NYC.  Any volunteers?

Pork, black pudding, and the British Mister Softee… after the jump.

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Cuban Sandwich from Sophie’s circa 2007

Last week somebody posted about the price hike at Sophie’s Cuban in the forums, and the comments lit up with general complaints about the Peruvian owned Cuban chain.  From the sound of things, the once great Latin food mainstay might be losing a step at its remaining few locations…

From mkim1206:

funny you mentioned Sophie’s.  I went for the first time yesterday and ordered their cuban sandwich. it was pre made in the fridge. anyway, it was one of the worst thing i ate in a while.  The pork was dry as hell and there was no flavor what so ever.  I was so disappointed.

But wait… there’s more.

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Ten branches of the NYPL are expanding their hours today, and to celebrate the Mid Manhattan branch (on the corner of 40th & 5th, *not* the giant one in Bryant Park) is giving away free Tim Hortons coffee and timbits away all day long (the library is now open from 8am to 11pm) at the one day only “Cover to Cover Cafe” inside the library.  Get more details here and here. Freeloaders engage…

You wouldn’t expect me to stick up for a massive salad chain, but I’m a little perplexed by the photo Eater posted from a tipster on Friday claiming that they had found a bug in their salad from the Chop’t on 51st Street in Midtown.  How did the bug not get “chopt” up?  For that matter, the whole salad looks pretty intact.  I’m guessing you can ask them not to chop your salad, but then what’s the point of eating at Chop’t right?  The whole thing smells pretty fishy to me.  Did the “tip” come from somebody with a “Just Salad” email address?

Related:
Chop’t is as Terrifying As You Would Think

From the Biryani Cart. Photo courtesy of Me So Hungry

• Going to the New York Public Library is a good excuse to eat at the Biryani Cart [Me So Hungry]
• A look at the pork buns from Xie Xie and Mantou [Always Hungry NY]
• Sapporo’s shoyu ramen is not made in an authentic Japanese way? [Tasty Eating]
• The #4 best Thai food restaurant in the city is on 9th Ave. [Fork in the Road]

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.

In honor of the alignment of the nines on 9/09/09, Bar 9 along with Magic Hat brewery threw a party this past Wednesday to celebrate the rare and momentous occasion. I was on hand as judge for their annual salsa competition and representatives from Magic Hat promoted their #9 beer with free swag and a raffle. Turns out B9 also hosts a free cheese tasting on all Wednesdays sponsored by Kashkaval, but by 6:30pm, when I arrived, it was gone, baby, gone (damn!).

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Photo courtesy of Serious Eats: New York

Got a message today from the Dessert Truck, who lost the right to vend from their truck last month when their permit accidentally expired…

“Wanted to give you the heads up… we are starting to sell our chocolate bread pudding today at Lily’s Bar in the Roger Smith Hotel (on 46th 47th and Lex). It will be available starting today around 1pm, and will be served exactly the same way as it was served from the truck, with the same “to go” option as before. It will sell for $6. This is the only dessert we will be offering for the time being.

Regarding our return, we are optimistic we will be back soon. We are currently negotiating the terms for a space.”

Nice… their “space” is most likely not going to be in Midtown, so it’s pretty awesome that they decided to do this. The chocolate bread pudding was actually my favorite…

Related:
BREAKING: Dessert Truck Loses Their Permit; Chef Jerome Claims to be “Relieved”
Dessert Truck Looks for Storefront Outside Midtown