Midtown Lunch

Word is that yesterday afternoon, Nanoosh– the new Mediterranean counter on Madison btw 33+34th- was giving away free lunches to hype up its big opening day tomorrow (Weds).  We’re hearing word from a fairly reputable source that they’ll be back at it this afternoon from noon to 3pm. Not sure exactly what they’re giving away (samples?  complete lunch?) but I got there around 2:30pm yesterday and it was all over, so for hardcore freeloaders we suggest going early.

Not interested in waiting on line for the possibility of free food? If you don’t mind spending a couple bucks, so long as it goes to a good cause, Nanoosh will also be open from 5:30 to 8:30pm tonight serving a main, a side and a (non-alcoholic) drink for $10 to benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Related:
Nanoosh Hummus Bar Expanding South

I’ve watched over the last couple of weeks as signs of life have glimmered in the long vacant space on 35th btw. 5+6th  that used to house Rainbow Deli and Chinese food. What’s coming has been a mystery, that is until yesterday when this sign went up.  Grill sounds kind of fancy, right?  Grill means over $10, right?  I hope not.

Looking at the construction inside, it could go either way, but doesn’t give too many more clues. When I peeked in, I asked one of the workers about an opening day. He wouldn’t commit to anything, but thought it might be in about two weeks.

If you’re into trying to divine that sort of thing from a construction site, we’ve got an inside the plywood shot after the jump.

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After Rolf Babiel passed away back in October, the Hallo Berlin cart returned to 54th and 5th briefly before disappearing again.  So last month, on my way to try East Japanese’s $5 box lunch, I stopped into Hallo Berlin Express (on 9th Ave. btw. 50+51st) to ask about the missing cart. Sadly, the staff said the cart was no more and they were pretty vague about whether they’ll ever bring it back. We were pretty much ready to say goodbye forever, until we spotted this on the Hallo Berlin website! “Juicy Food Stand, Re-Opening Fall 2010.” Still nobody at the restaurant seems to know what the deal is, and we can’t seem to get in touch with the owner. But just seeing this posted on their website gives us hope…

We’d be lying if we said we weren’t a tiny bit worried for our boss’ health. Last week on Midtown Lunch: Los Angeles Zach agreed to eat at any and every strip mall cheap Chinese food place between Downtown L.A. and Santa Monica. If you thought Yips (or that weird Chinese food steam table in the back of Sushi Osaka) is bad, you should see some of the spots on the West Coast. Godspeed sir…

Kati rolls seem to be everywhere around midtown. There’s the Kati Roll Company (on 39th btw. 5+6th), the Biryani Cart (on 46th and 6th), Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th), Grill 44 (on 44th btw. Lex+3rd), and now Fahima’s Halal Cart– the street meat cart on 45th and 6th run by the brother of Kwik Meal’s Mohammed Rahman.  Their stir-fried noodles were unimpressive, but their biryani was a surprise hit and I even hinted that they could be equal to or even better then the Biryani cart’s well-established version. It’s no surprise that Fahima’s is also cashing in on the kati roll fever. As a steadfast devotee to Biryani’s kati rolls I wondered if Fahima could bring the game in a side-by-side taste test.

Check it out after the jump.

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Got word of two street vendor price hikes going down on 6th Ave.  First up is Kim’s Aunt Kitchen Cart on 46th and 6th.  Lunch’er Susan sends word that they raised their prices last week.  “The fish sandwich is now $4.”  Still pretty cheap by anybody’s standards, we can’t help but wonder if the oil spill had anything to do with this (although we’re guessing it doesn’t.) Also jumping on the price hike bandwagon is Kwik Meal, the already-kind-of-pricey cart on 45th and 6th.  According to this post in the forums, a sign went up last week saying that starting today they’d be raising their prices on chicken, lamb, shrimp, and fish due to “rising costs”.  Not sure what the actual increase will be, but I guess we’ll find out today.  Hopefully these are just two isolated incidents, and not the beginning of some big trend (like the giant price hike wave of 2008.)