Midtown Lunch

I asked last week if any one had ever tried the the fairly nondescript 41st St & 3rd Ave Halal cart, specifically their fish. Since discussing A Salt & Battery and Chip Shop’s fried specialties were deemed more important (this I can understand, both are filled with fried goodness) I took it upon myself to go back yesterday to try out the $6 Fried Fish. What I discovered was the Midtown East equivalent of Kim’s Aunt’s fish sandwiches. Check it out after the jump.

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Do you wonder what the ML contributors do when they’re not eating lunch in Midtown? (They’re actually pretty easy to stalk!)

Amy was up in Harlem a few weeks ago eating fried chicken and waffles at Sylvia’s, Danny tried the chicken parm at Torisi Italian Specialties in Soho, Clay tries the bar food at Black Swan in Bed Stuy, and if you go now you might be able to catch Blondie buying strawberries and ramps at the Dar Hammerskjöld Greenmarket on 47th Street and 2nd Avenue

If you’re paying under $10 for steak, you’d expect to get a not so tender piece here and there. But apparently Tri Tip Grill, the “best thing in [the] Rock Center” concourse, doesn’t operate like that. From Lunch’er “John”

Hey guys–

I normally don’t do anything like this but figured you might be interested since I remember reading a good review of the Tri Tip Grill in Rock Center about a month back (the reason I tried it in the first place, actually).

I work in the area and have gone a few times, just getting the usual thin-sliced sandwich, because after all who can resist a delicious steak sammich on fresh bread? Anyway, went this past Monday with a few friends and tried the Roadhouse Buck, which is thick-sliced with bleu cheese, fried onions, the whole deal. Looked awesome.

Only problem was, I got a super-tough piece of meat that was impossible to cut with a knife, let alone chew. Too lazy to bring it back but just not lazy enough to type for 30 seconds, I fired off an email saying just how sad it was to look at such a beautiful and sweet-smelling sandwich but not be able to eat it. I wasn’t even expecting a response back.

But instead I got this:

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Sometimes, I get the most random craving for Indian food – chicken tikka masala, specifically – so when I passed Apna Taj (on 55th btw. Lex+3rd) and saw they offer a $9.50 lunch buffet, it immediately sparked my hunt for a Midtown Lunch-worthy Indian lunch. Last year, Zach lunched at next door neighbor Darbar Grill to get in on the make-your-own-dosa action, so Apna Taj already had plenty of competition on the “fancy Indian buffet” front. But check out what you can get for under $10 after the jump… Read more »

A few weeks ago Lunch’er “Chris6Sigma” was kind enough to check out the Korean Noodle Soup cart on 49th btw. 6+7th and report back.  This week he has turned his attention to Arirang in Koreatown, and sent in this report:

Being ‘a chicken’ is a multilateral term, but is usually used in negative connotations. e.g. “The French were a bunch of surrender monkey chickens during WWII” or “What are you McFly… a chicken?” Similarly, ‘tasting like chicken’ is a phrase reserved for bland and unimaginative cuts of protein.

At Arirang (on 32nd btw. B’way+5th) the chicken… tastes like chicken. Americans have gotten so used to battering and deep frying their birds, smothering them with sauces, gravy and a heavy hand of spice, we’ve forgotten what chicken actually tastes like. In the process of commoditization and modernization, the once noble fowl has become so bland that it’s an unspoken requirement that a chicken be heavily seasoned or sauced to make it palatable.

However, the chicken soups at Arirang taste cleanly and boldly of chicken. Sheer poultry flavor, savory, fragrant, familiar, and yet exotic for those who grew up eating skinless boneless chicken breasts deep fried or smothered in mushroom gravy or some other Midwestern concoction.

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Back in March, the ML team ate our way through the entire Grand Central’s Oyster Bar Menu. Well, almost the entire menu…the Oyster Bar offers three soups per day and two of those slots are typically taken by their classic New England and Manhattan Clam Chowders. The third slot is the wild card. We tried their excellent Tuscan White Bean Soup and I’ve had their Lobster Gazpacho, but I’ve never had their famous Maryland She-Crab Soup… until now.
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