Midtown Lunch

Is the GCT Dishes back open? Me want. Photo Courtesy of Blondie and Brownie

• Dishes makes a doughnut muffin! [Blondie and Brownie]
• Proof that more Broadway stars need to read Midtown Lunch [Grub Street]
• Joe DiStefano returns to OBAO and gives a thumbs up to their pad thai [SENY]
• Woorijip is still serving those Korean burritos [Bionic Bites]
• Another person discovers the joys of Leon Bakery’s $1.25 tamales [Always Eating]

f 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.

As a kid, my mom used to bake empanadas filled with cajeta de guayaba as a small treat. Years later my love for this simple and humble tapa in all its cultural versions has not diminished. I can’t pass up a crispy fried pastelito from a street cart in Brooklyn, or the flakey pastry surrounding a spicy Jamaican patty, and Chilean empanadas have now been in my rotation in the rare instances I can find them. Recently I heard about Havana Central’s happy hour and $1 empanada Tuesdays. Now considering Havana’s proximity to Times Square and its Vegas like neon sign flashing “Havana” it is the perfect tourist eye candy and something I try an avoid in general. Yet, the lure of dirt-cheap empanadas and maybe a mojito to wash it down was too strong for this girl. I took the bait (pfft, like you wouldn’t have?)

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Midtown’s shadiest fried chicken (and fish) shack just got a huge makeover.  The Chicken House (on 36th btw. 7+8th), which closed for renovations back in October, is practically finished and should reopen on Monday.  The decor looks completely different (it might be entirely take out now), borderline hip, but one of the guys inside assured me it was the same owners and the exact same food.  The big question remains… is it the same low price? I guess we’ll find out on Monday.

Related:
Chicken House Closes for Renovations
Chicken House is the Garment District Version of a Fish & Chip Shop
8th Avenue is the Fried Chicken Corridor of NYC

I know I promised to ease up on the Asian soups, but I’ve been sick all week… so back off! Sure, a good bowl of matzoh ball soup might have been tempting- but you know what is more tempting? A gigantic bowl of ramen. (Because this fat Jewish boy tends to react better to pork broth than chicken broth.)  I was totally inspired by Blondie and Brownie’s post about the tonkotsu ramen at Men Kui Tei (on 56th btw. 5+6th) on Monday, and it’s been a long time since I had slurped a bowl of what I called Best Ramen in Midtown back in 2007.

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I spoke with O’neill, the owner of the Jamaican Dutchy, yesterday and he filled me in on how a 3 week vacation has turned into 6 weeks. Apparently his permit is up for renewal, and the final meeting is on Thursday. If all goes well, he hopes to reopen a week from Monday. He also let me know that he’s got plans for some crazy specials every Tuesday. The first one will be a Jamaican beef stew topped hot dog (a Jamaican chili dog if you will.) Nice. I think I speak for everyone when I say: “Can’t wait to have you back.”