Midtown Lunch

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.

There’s a man in Hell’s Kitchen name Dave. He’s a peculiar person with a flair for entrepreneurship, but you won’t see him on The Apprentice, no, you’ll see him walking 9th Avenue going from bar to bar, his white hair looking months too late for a cut his outfit taking a page from The Dude. You wouldn’t know it, but he’s one of the kings of NY dives. His moniker is in neon over at his first bar “Dave’s” and he seems to have an zest for taxidermy as Dave’s has a mounted wild boar head, his other bar Port 41 sports a one eyed hippopotamus head, and lastly Bull Moose Saloon (on 44th btw. 8+9th) has a majestic big horned moose to tie the trinity together.

Recently Dave decided the Moose needed a face-lift. This worried me. While Bull Moose Saloon might not have the character of his other ventures, I still enjoyed the joint. I mean, if it isn’t broke don’t fix it, right? Needless to say when they closed for renovations I feared the worst. Now many weeks later they have opened their doors and taps to the locals again and I was there to get a first look at the new Moose.

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What do you think about when you hear “Fish and dumplings”? For an Asian guy, my mind automatically veers toward dumplings like jiaozi or mandoo or gyoza. But having lived in the South for a little bit, I know that the dumplings you find in a “Chicken and dumplings” dish is not quite the same… Googling tells me that dumplings are simple boiled dough of some sorts, and some variations of dumplings have fillings. Basically all the awesome versions have fillings… As for eating fish from a street cart?  I generally view it as a test of character. Sure, you can eat all the street meat you want, but at this point, it’s not even that crazy to be a street meat lover. You only show your true colors when you’re willing to fish from a cart. So, when the Trini Paki Cart mentioned their new Friday special of fish and dumplings last week, I knew that it was time to test my worth as a street meat eater.

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Today’s lunch spot has to be credited entirely to Blondie. As soon as it started getting warm she emailed me about meeting up to check out the outdoor cart in front of Tabla (on Madison and 24th.) Every summer since 2008, the otherwise well out of ML price range Tabla opens up a “cart” in front of the restaurant selling ‘Bombay-style’ street food for take out. Being directly across the street from Madison Square Park, it’s remarkably convenient for a quick and easy quality meal in the park without having to hit the Shake Shack line.

The other day, Blondie and I met up to see what it’s all about. Check out the food and some dessert after the jump.

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Falafel fans near Times Square have reason to be happy today… the Maoz Vegetarian on 40th and 7th (which was closed because of an electrical fire last week) reopened yesterday. Enjoy!

Related:
Maoz Tastes Good, But Proves That The Best Falafel Pita is Built By Professionals
Maoz Closed By Electrical Fire

• The Famous Halal Guys gave me a rash! [Midtown Eating]
• Anybody know if Maoz reopened today? [Midtown Eating]
• Looking for the Green Taste Truck… [Midtown Eating]
• Who wants to start up the Downtown meetup? [Downtown Connections]

Serious Eats New York launched a new “street food” column this week, and first up is the Mia Dona Meatball Cart, set up in front of the restaurant on 58th just East of 3rd Ave. I don’t know if we’d really call the Meatball Wagon “street food”, but that spicy meatball sandwich is pretty amazing. They also tried the afternoon gelato sandwiches, and discovered that you can get two flavors of gelato in a single sandwich. Brilliant!

Related:
Your First Look at the Food Trend Collision That is Donatella’s Meatball Wagon
Mia Dona’s Gelato Sandwich Might Be the Best Take Away Dessert in the Area