Midtown Lunch

Beacon (on 56th btw. 5+6th) just expanded their “Side Door” take out menu. In addition to their famous Beacon Burger, and the Mr. Pink’s double dog, you can also now get a cobb salad or a vegetable and fruit salad (all are still $10). But more intriguing are the new desserts, including a dark chocolate cupcake with peanut butter brittle for only $2 and four chocolate chip cookies for a buck. Can we officially call Beacon a competitor for the best happy hour AND best lunch deal now?

See the menu after the jump Read more »

Sad news from Lunch’er “Rose” yesterday… Mantao, the Chinese sandwich shop that moved from Tribeca to Midtown East back in July of 2009 has closed. Their website is still up, but they haven’t twittered since February and their phone is disconnected. But that’s not the only news from 52nd btw. 2+3rd… Busan, the fancy pants Korean spot that was mentioned in the forums once, has also closed. Hopefully something good will replace both spots soon.

From Lunch’er Ben:  “Just an FYI — I was craving one of Mia Dona’s gelato/brioche sandwiches yesterday and trekked over there yesterday evening. Couldn’t find the cart in sight so I went into the restaurant and the manager happened to be up front so I asked him about its whereabouts. He said they stopped serving them because they just weren’t popular at all. He said he was only selling about 10/day, so it just didn’t make sense anymore. He mentioned getting a ton of press about them but that that unfortunately did not transfer into sales. They won’t be bringing them back sadly.”    You know what’s more sad than that?  They didn’t even give it a month.  (How expensive can it be to sell ice cream sandwiches in front of your restaurant!?)

Metromix interviewed Bizarre Food Host (and Midtown Lunch hero) Andrew Zimmern the other day, and chose a location that is near and dear to our hearts: the Biriyani Cart! The interview was promoting Carts in the Parc, the street food event that AZ is hosting at this year’s New York Wine and Food Festival.  It takes place October 10th in the park inside the Eventi Hotel (on 6th Ave. btw. 29+30th), and tickets are kind of pricey for Midtown Lunchers ($100) but it includes beer, wine and all the food you can eat from a great list of NYC’s finest street food vendors (plus Zimmern himself will be serving up a dish along with a “special guest”!)

We actually helped them choose some of the participants, so you won’t be surprised by most of the list. Check out the full list of vendors, plus buy your tickets here. (And don’t wait too long!  The Vendy Awards sold out this past weekend… it’s only a matter of time before this one does too.)

Last week, we covered the re-design, menu revamp and subsequent price increases at the Bapcha cart (formerly known as Bulgogi & Kimchi, on 49th btw. 6+7th), though we neglected to mention the re-design of the adjoining noodle cart extension. Like big brother Bapcha, the noodle cart has received a matching make-over, though the menu and prices emerged relatively unaffected. The most note-worthy difference, however, is the food.

In my inaugural once-over of the noodle cart, I was lukewarm on the quality of the food. Admittedly I hadn’t returned prior to last week, a decision based entirely on one plate of food- a hot mess of merely adequate jjajangmyeon with truly alarming green soba noodles.  And yet, over the past few months, I’ve noticed with increasing frequency the appearance of Bapcha Noodle Cart ramyun on my co-worker’s desks and the unmistakable whiff of jjampong (spicy seafood noodle soup) around the office. After overhearing a trusted foodie (and Korean) co-worker effusively gush over her order of spicy tuna kimbap, I decided it was definitely time for a revisit.

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Thanks to Lunch’er Emily for passing along this info…

“I heard [via Twitter] that Robicellis was selling their cupcakes in midtown starting yesterday. Happened to be near me, so I went and got one. They’re being sold for less than $2 (I think it was $1.65?) at Lily O’Brien’s chocolate shop (on 40th btw 5+6th) right across from Bryant Park, obviously. I don’t know if you report on cupcakes, but these are my favorite in the city, so I thought I would share. (A million times better than Crumbs.) This is their Butterbeer cupcake-butterscotch through and through (or their description: butterscotch soaked cake with butterscotch buttercream & edible gold dust.)”

In related (?) news , or not, a women is suing Lily O’Briens after being kicked out of the store for breast feeding. As a result there is now a sign in the window saying that breast feeding is ‘welcome’.