Midtown Lunch

Thanks to Lunch’er “Pigiron” for the photo… If you’re in the Flatiron district, BLT’s new “Go Burger” truck is parked in front of BLT Prime (on 22nd btw. Park+Lex) today handing out free burgers from 1pm until they run out.  According to the New York Times you can plan on seeing this truck at street fairs all over the city selling burgers, hot dogs, and shakes (on Saturday it will be downtown, on Sunday it will be in Hell’s Kitchen). No word yet on whether the new truck plans on operating during the week (or in Midtown), but according to Eater it is the 12th and final step in street trucks becoming uncool. Don’t want to say we called it, but we kind of called it. (Got nothing against free food, though! Flatiron freeloaders, engage- and let us know how the burgers are in the comments.)

This week my lunchtime errands took me to a part of midtown I rarely visit: the garment district. I’ve seen Djerdan get some props in several Luncher profiles, so when I found myself within striking distance I had to check it out.
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Now that Downtown has its very own section of the site, what are we going to post on Fridays at 10am? Answer… how about a new column devoted to those lunches just south of the ML boundaries. Please give a warm welcome to Jason Lam from the blog Me So Hungry. Every Friday at 10am he’ll post about lunches in Murray Hill south, Gramercy, Flatiron, and everything in between… or as we’ll call it from now on: Flatiron Lunch.

I was wondering how long I could keep my go-to lunch spot to myself. But now it’s time to give it up. The name’s Taste Good and it’s more than just another Chinese take-out spot. Not to be confused with the popular Malaysian restaurant in Queens, this Taste Good is on 25th St. between Broadway and 6th Ave. Their made-to-order menu is just common Chinese-American takeout, but at the heart is the Chinese home-cooking filling the steam trays at lunch time. It’s the kind of food that my parents made for their staff meals at their Chinese restaurant growing up …nothing that would ever be on the menu.

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• Sure you eat street meat, but what’s your take on street fruit? [Midtown Eating]
• With Carnegie John M.I.A., I need a Greek street meat alternative [Midtown Eating]
• Damn! The commenters in the forums can be ruthless [Midtown Eating]
• The next ML happy hour is April 27th, cast your vote on the venue by the 20th! [Midtown Connections]

We know it doesn’t look like it from this photo, but the long awaited Pizza by Cer Te will be opening a week from today (Thursday, 4/22) on 56th btw. Lex+3rd.  And if the sandwiches and pizza from the mothership (Cer Te, on 55th btw. 5+6th) are any indication, this should be a great addition to the Midtown Lunch’ing landscape.  (Especially for those who work in the particularly desolate area of NE Midtown.) As announced last year, the pizza spot will also be environmentally friendly, and yet still manages to keep slices and sandwiches under $10.

Check our the menu, after the jump…

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Last week Lunch’er Christene floated the idea of a banh mi tasting in the connections section of the forums. Yesterday 7 Midtown Lunchers gathered in Grand Central to turn her dream into a reality. Here is Christene’s report…

With open minds and empty stomach, 7 Midtown lunchers gathered to rate 7 different banh mi-style sandwiches in a head-to-head competition. To ensure nuance and balance in the competition, representative banh mi’s were to include Chinatown (Paris Sandwich, Banh Mi Saigon), East Village (Nicky’s), Gramercy (Baoguette) and, of course, Midtown (Ma Peche, Yushi, and Boi To Go). We rated the sandwiches with 5 points assigned to each of 6 categories: bread, pork, vegetables, overall taste, authenticity and value. To ensure purveyors and/or price-point did not prejudice the taste ratings, we labeled sandwiches A-G and provided price on the flip side of post-its, so that tasters could self-reveal price after eating the sample and thus rate value independently.

The results are after the jump…

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Sorry for the schmear-my lens had a run-in with BBQ sauce

Two very important things happened to Midtown yesterday. 1) We got the Double Down (and Mamacita immediately improved it), and 2) we got steak sandwiches! While I loves me some fried chicken, biscuits, cheese, and bacon, I love steak more. I especially like when it’s a somewhat affordable lunch. Tri Tip Grill is probably the most important thing to happen to Rockefeller Center since the ice rink, and maybe NBC calling it home, and the tree; so it’s the 4th most important thing. But it’s number one in most delicious and juicy!

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