Midtown Lunch

Your resident shiksa goddess has finally made it to Quick Stop Kosher (aka the kosher waffle truck) the other day. It was hard to track them down; first there wasn’t a Twitter, then they went to serve Mt. Sinai and on a religious fast. But I finally got my chance to have some falafel, and a waffle for lunch- even though it came with quizzical looks from their kosher patrons. For extra Jewish points, they now serve the layer-challenged Moshe’s Falafel (whatever that means. Maybe they buy all the ingredients from Moshe’s?)

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Remember “The Taj”,  the crazy Indian falafel that Crisp entered in the Midtown Lunch sandwich challenge?  It had poppadums, and a mango chutney in the pita with the falafel- and came with a yogurt dipping sauce on the side.  It was delicious, but sadly they took it off the menu after only a few weeks.  Well, Crisp sent word yesterday that if their twitter account (@eatatcrisp) reaches 1000 followers by August 21st they will bring back the Taj.  A stupid publicity stunt to up their twitter count?  Uh… yeah.  But if it means the return of The Taj, it’s a small price to pay.  Plus, every one of their first 1000 followers on twitter will get a special coupon code they can use to buy the Taj when it returns- and one lucky winner will receive free Crisp for a week.  I suppose we can get behind that… You follow them on twitter here.

All the Shake Shack chatter had me craving a good west coast style burger, but without all the waiting in long lines.  A few days ago, there was a deal posted for Fresh and Fast, the “In n Out Ripoff” that opened last year . I’m a fan of originality just as much as the next guy, but you’ll have to forgive me if I wasn’t put off. Usually, Five Guys would be my go-to spot for this kind of burger, but there aren’t any branches between 42nd Street and 14th Street, so I’ll take what I can get.

See what I found after the jump.

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You might have seen part of this story on Eater this morning, but starting tomorrow (Friday, 7/23), the Mia Dona Meatball Cart that Clay tried back in April (on 58th just East of 3rd Ave.), will extend their lunch hours to 3pm.  And in even more exciting news for those who have a sweet tooth… every weekday at 3pm it will be replaced by a cart selling gelato sandwiches.  For $6 you’ll get your choice of pistachio or ricotta gelato drizzled with honey, and sandwiched inside a toasted house baked brioche bun with a dusting of powdered sugar. That’s kind of pricey for an ice cream sandwich, but I’m sure one of the contributors (Blondie and Brownie, I’m looking in your general direction) would be willing to take one for the team and see if it’s worth it.

Oceana, the fancy seafood restaurant on 49th btw. 6+7th, is definitely not a Midtown Lunch… but this is way too funny not to post.  On Sunday, Chubby Chinese Girl (the Midtown Lunch’er who came up with Cer Te’s Feburary Sandwich of the Month) had a restaurant week lunch at Oceana and was escorted through a practically empty main dining room to a back room that was filled with all Asian diners (6 tables in all.)  Obviously (or not?) Oceana isn’t racist, according to this their Executive Pastry Chef is Asian and even CCG admitted that she enjoyed the service and the food.  But the photo is kind of damning.  (Hilariously damning.)  There must be a perfectly good explanation for all of this, right Oceana?

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Lunch’er “Chris” is on fire! Yesterday he gave us a rundown of all the decent options at Taste of Summer in Rock Center (today is the last day, btw.) Today he files this pretty amazing report on Ramen Totto, which is now open for lunch. I think it might be time to make this guy official. Please welcome the newest contributor to the fold… Chris H.

Few would consider ramen to be good hot weather food. Even fewer would consider a restaurant located on 52nd btw. 8+9th to be within midtown lunch bounds. However, with Totto Ramen’s recent announcement that they would start serving lunch I felt compelled to schlep (schvitzing all the way) to the outer regions of Midtown to check out Ryuichi “Bobby” Munekata’s latest offering. Was the journey worth it? We noodle over the answer after the jump…

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