Midtown Lunch

The Trini Paki Cart (on 43rd & 6th Ave.) has become the present that keeps on giving.  By now you’ve read about how excited I was to discover all the things they serve in addition to their Pakistani chicken over rice plate, with Trinidadian pepper sauce.  There were the doubles and poulori (which are served every day), the special biriyani on Thursdays, and the pigeon peas pulau on Wednesdays.  But wait… there’s more! And while some of these things might be old news to longtime fans of the cart, now that business has picked up a bit getting some of these special things has become less of a crap shoot.

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Remember that house thing that popped in Rock Center Plaza for Ina Garten a few weeks ago? Well, undoubtedly inspired by the pop up bar in Bryant Park, they’ve decided to leave it up and convert it to a bar/restaurant through September 4th. It’s open from 11am to 10pm daily, and will serve food and drinks. You wouldn’t think there would be anything Midtown Lunch worthy in this news, but this week’s menu (provided by the Rock Center Cafe) includes mini fontina sliders (for $10), and a $10 grilled proscuitto pizza. (There’s also a mini lobster roll for $12, but I don’t like the sound of the word “mini”.)

Next week the food will be taken over by AJ Maxwell’s, and if it’s anything like their $10 special lunch take out menu, that might be worth taking a look at too. Plus there’s a Happy Hour every day starting at 5pm, with two special drinks being offered for $7. All things considered, it might be not terrible…

Sure, there is a Baoguette on Lexington btw. 25+26th that is worth walking out of your way to. But I always hoped we’d get a branch a little closer to Midtown proper.  Well, my dreams of a closer Baoguette have not been completely answered- but this is pretty damn close (and arguably even better!)  Eater is reporting that Chef Michael Huynh is planning on opening O Bao Noodles and Grill on 53rd St. btw. 2+3rd in October. (I’m thinking maybe it’s going to be in the old Bunchberries space?) It will focus on “grilled and barbecued Vietnamese food and a slew of International noodle offerings from China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand.” Between this and the new Midtown Momofuku, the end of the year could make my head explode with excitement.

Related:
Baoguette’s Out of Bounds Banh Mi is Worth the Extra Walk

Thanks to Lunch’er Joe for sending along this email:

“The Eastern boundaries of the mid 50s is heating up ML style. We recently got the Chinese sandwiches of Mantao, and will be getting a Kushi-Q in the Citicorp buidling — now we are getting Italian sandwiches as well. Another storefront just got a coming soon sign and it looks real promising for the Midtown Lunch crowd: I present to you, Piada. The sign is on the window outside the subway entrance at 53rd and Lex, before you walk into the Citicorp building. It’s going to be where Starwich used to be.”

I don’t know about this one Joe…

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• Favorite sit down lunch spots in Midtown [Midtown Eating]
• Is there a place in Midtown for fancy pants doughnuts (ala Craft)? [Midtown Eating]
• Do you tip street vendors? [Miscellaneous]
• You can get a combo platter with chicken, lamb, *and* kofta on 53rd & 6th [Midtown Eating]
• Warning: If you eat street meat at 4 in the morning, you might get groped [Miscellaneous]
• Who knew Midtown Lunchers were so picky… [Miscellaneous]

The NYT City Room blog revisits the topic of the late night line at the Famous Halal Cart on 53rd & 6th, and seems to be in awe of how it has led to “daytime halal carts now outside office buildings and nighttime vendors close to nightclubs, theaters and hotels” (as if this was a recent phenomenon.)  It doesn’t mention that you can avoid that late night line, by crossing the street to the SE corner of 53rd & 6th for the exact same food- but Shendy’s, the 2nd place finisher in Street Meat Palooza 2, did get a big shout out from one of the “clubbers” interviewed on the line:

“I’ve tried both carts; 53rd is really the touristy spot,” Mr. Amos said. “52nd is the spot for the people who just couldn’t wait, the starving guy. I’m usually starving.”

The article also mentions that there are other carts drawing crowds these days, like 28th and Madison Avenue, 40th and Seventh Avenue (really?), 45th and Sixth Avenue (uh, do you mean Kwik Meal?) and 52nd between Ninth and Tenth Avenues.

Related:
Debunking the Myths of 53rd & 6th, the Most Famous Halal Intersection in New York City