Posted by The ML Team at 3:30 pm, September 30th, 2010 under In the Forums.
We all know how buildings have used planter boxes to keep unwanted street vendors from parking in front of their real estate, but this morning a building on 59th btw. Park+Lex took a different tactic: cleaning the sidewalks. Wafels and Dinges added another cart-not a truck- to their fleet recently (you might have seen the original South St. Seaport cart on our Downtown site) debuting it this morning on 59th. In retaliation, the building surrounded the cart with cones, and proceeded to power wash the sidewalks. In the rain. W&D stood their ground, but around Noon the cops came and kicked them out of the spot (presumably because the building complained?) They’re still looking for a new spot. As of 2:50pm they’re on 58th btw. Lex+3rd.
The silver lining in all this is the Wafels and Dinges Truck has a new cart that they plan on parking in under-served areas of the city (including Midtown!) And, since it is a cart it will have a slightly easier time finding parking than the truck (even though that wasn’t the case today.) Follow them on Twitter for the location of the new cart.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 2:30 pm, September 30th, 2010 under Street Vendor Issues, Wafels and Dinges.
Free Cold Stone Alert: Today from 5-8pm Cold Stone Creamery will be giving out free 3oz portions of Kate's Creation (an apple pie flavored ice cream) to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation (so I guess technically it's not free, if you have a soul.) In Midtown there are two Cold Stones, one on 42nd btw. 7+8th, and one on 9th Ave. btw. 50+51st.
Posted at 1:30 pm, September 30th, 2010 | 0 Comments
I am eagerly anticipating the Midtown debut of the Souvlaki GR truck, this year’s Vendy Rookie of the Year winner. It seems like something truly unique in an increasingly varied Midtown street food scene. As it turns out though, someone is already serving up Greek pork souvlaki right here in Midtown… the old school, new look Uncle Gussy’s (on 51st and Park Ave.) As you know from the letter they sent us last week, Uncle Gussy’s has been in business for 39 years (Nick, the owner, took it over from his uncle- natch), and recently they upgraded to a truck that makes them look more new school. Gussy’s chicken and lamb over rice failed to distinguish itself in Street Meat Palooza 3 (their first appearance) with a 12th place finish, but what we didn’t realize is they also serve souvlaki comparable to what you can get from the fabled Astoria vendors (his cousin Frank actually runs the famous souvlaki cart on Steinway).
Astoria style souvlaki, on the streets of Midtown?! This is pretty huge news indeed. Read more »
Posted by Jeremiah White at 11:45 am, September 30th, 2010 under Cart, Greek, Uncle Gussy's.
Some Vendors Are Braving the Rain: On the ML Twitter Tracker today... the monsoon has scared some vendors off the street, but there are a few toughing it out. Wafels and Dinges has their truck parked on 46th street, and has one of their carts on 59th, Eddie's Pizza in on 52nd, Uncle Gussy's is on 51st with spanakopita (welcome to the twitter tracker guys!), and Papa Perrone has got sausage.
Posted at 11:20 am, September 30th, 2010 | 0 Comments
Hide-Chan’s Hakata Ramen. Photo by J. Kenji Lopez Alt.
Oh how the tides have turned! Take that East Village! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! (Ok, scratch that last part.) When I first started Midtown Lunch we were perfectly happy with our ramen selection here in Midtown. Sapporo, Menchanko Tei, and Men Kui Tei were all perfectly acceptable bowls of Japanese noodle soup, but there was no question that the EV was where ramen aficionados longed to work. Minca, Rai Rai Ken, Setagaya, and yes, even Momofuku. We couldn’t compete with that. And once Ippudo opened, well, that was game over. Until today!
Serious Eats’ J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (the amazing Food Lab dude) has declared Hide-Chan’s Hakata Ramen the best bowl of Ramen in New York City (with Totto Ramen coming in 3rd, after Ippudo.) That’s right. Soak it in people. Midtown now officially has the best ramen in New York City!
Related:
Hide-Chan’s Black Ramen is a Garlicky Force to Be Reckoned With
Posted by Zach Brooks at 10:30 am, September 30th, 2010 under Hide-Chan Ramen, Japanese, Soups.
Now that the newish Koreatown location of Bon Chon has had a couple months to settle in, it’s time to really give them the once over. The opening was much more low-key than Kyochon’s, there haven’t been any lines out the door or anything, which is a good sign. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been some long waits and service confusion. See what we’ve found after the jump.
Posted by ultraclay at 9:30 am, September 30th, 2010 under Bon Chon, Fried Chicken, Korean.
Pop Tarts World To Become Public Plaza: When Pop Tarts World, on 42nd btw. B'way+6th closes in February (sorry if you didn't realize that pop tarts sushi was only a temporary phenomenon) it is going to be replaced by a three story retail building with more public space for us Midtown Lunchers. Also noted in the same article... Anthos is becoming a steakhouse. [NYP via Eater]
Posted at 8:30 am, September 30th, 2010 | 1 Comment
Speaking of eating bugs… Andrew Zimmern was in Midtown yesterday doing a mini tour of his favorite Midtown food trucks for MSN’s Appetite For Life. First he hit up the Schnitzel and Things truck, where he manned the fryers and chatted with customers, before heading over to Kelvin Slush for an afternoon cool down. Our man Chris H. grabbed this photo of him ordering a ginger, mint and basil slush, and the S&T Truck posted some video on their twitter account.
Our favorite is the one in which our hero shames a girl eating a “healthy” lunch into trying some of his schnitzel. Check out all the videos after the jump…
Posted by The ML Team at 3:30 pm, September 29th, 2010 under Kelvin Slush Truck, Schnitzel & Things, Videos.
This one is for those of you who can’t resist a good “I found a bug in my salad” post (we’re looking at you, Eater!) From Lunch’er Jenna: “I went to chopped [sic] for lunch today and ordered a kebob Cobb wrap and as I was eating it a ALIVE BUG came crawling out of my sandwich!!!!!!! I was so grossed out that I took the rest of my sandwich back to chopped and they refunded my money and said they try to clean the lettuce. Just want to get the word out there that if you go to Chopped you may bring back a bug!!!” Don’t be too upset Jenna… some people in Brooklyn would pay good money to eat that bug!
The photo she sent us is a particularly gross one, so as a public service we’ve placed it after the jump.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 2:30 pm, September 29th, 2010 under Salads.
