Midtown Lunch

Last week we (half-heartedly) defended Oceana against charges of racism, writing off Chubby Chinese Girl’s lunchtime photo of their all-Asian back room as a hilariously funny coincidence caught in a photo.  But after reading the letter Oceana sent to Eater on Friday afternoon, I think we might be reconsidering our stance.  Rather than just laughing off the whole incident as a coincidence, they actually tried to make it seem like the photo was a misrepresentation of the scene.  Hilarious. Dude… just admit it.  The back room was filled with Asians last Sunday for lunch (6 out of 6 tables to be exact). Who cares about the “other 82 tables”.  Those tables aren’t in the back room!  Also, how stupid do you have to be to send a letter about this to Eater.  Most of their readers probably didn’t even notice their initial mention of the story… but you better believe they saw your letter.  Well played sir.  Well played.  (Oh, and thanks for calling me a journalist!  That was the funniest part of the letter…)

Don’t be fooled by the beautiful food porn! Photo by Kathy YL Chan

• I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree about Gryo II [A Passion For Food]
• You can get an open face sandwich at Aquavit for just $11!? [SENY]
• Yvo is a big fan of the burger from Beacon’s Side Door… [Feisty Foodie]
• … and turned down free food, for like, the first time ever! [Feisty Foodie]
• Michael Cluizel will start serving Van Leeuwen ice cream soon [Feast]
• The NYT confirms that Mister Softee makes less money when it’s super hot [City Room via GS]

f 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.

Morton’s, the upscale steakhouse based in Chicago with outposts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, is by no means a Midtown Lunch. The burgers start at $23 and a Double Porterhouse Steak for two is a whopping $108. I would never consider this a happy hour destination but when I saw they had a $6 bar menu I reconsidered. Could it be that an expensive steakhouse might have a ML worthy happy hour deal? It’s not unheard of. Beacon has an amazing burger, fries and double drink special, Del Friscos used to have a hidden steak deal at the bar (until they caught on and raised the price), even City Lobster’s $1 oysters and a beer special is a welcome surprise in the usual corporate expense account joints. Fancy filling feast or a wallet draining disappointment? I put the call out to the contributors, who would man up?!

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Your resident shiksa goddess has finally made it to Quick Stop Kosher (aka the kosher waffle truck) the other day. It was hard to track them down; first there wasn’t a Twitter, then they went to serve Mt. Sinai and on a religious fast. But I finally got my chance to have some falafel, and a waffle for lunch- even though it came with quizzical looks from their kosher patrons. For extra Jewish points, they now serve the layer-challenged Moshe’s Falafel (whatever that means. Maybe they buy all the ingredients from Moshe’s?)

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Remember “The Taj”,  the crazy Indian falafel that Crisp entered in the Midtown Lunch sandwich challenge?  It had poppadums, and a mango chutney in the pita with the falafel- and came with a yogurt dipping sauce on the side.  It was delicious, but sadly they took it off the menu after only a few weeks.  Well, Crisp sent word yesterday that if their twitter account (@eatatcrisp) reaches 1000 followers by August 21st they will bring back the Taj.  A stupid publicity stunt to up their twitter count?  Uh… yeah.  But if it means the return of The Taj, it’s a small price to pay.  Plus, every one of their first 1000 followers on twitter will get a special coupon code they can use to buy the Taj when it returns- and one lucky winner will receive free Crisp for a week.  I suppose we can get behind that… You follow them on twitter here.

All the Shake Shack chatter had me craving a good west coast style burger, but without all the waiting in long lines.  A few days ago, there was a deal posted for Fresh and Fast, the “In n Out Ripoff” that opened last year . I’m a fan of originality just as much as the next guy, but you’ll have to forgive me if I wasn’t put off. Usually, Five Guys would be my go-to spot for this kind of burger, but there aren’t any branches between 42nd Street and 14th Street, so I’ll take what I can get.

See what I found after the jump.

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You might have seen part of this story on Eater this morning, but starting tomorrow (Friday, 7/23), the Mia Dona Meatball Cart that Clay tried back in April (on 58th just East of 3rd Ave.), will extend their lunch hours to 3pm.  And in even more exciting news for those who have a sweet tooth… every weekday at 3pm it will be replaced by a cart selling gelato sandwiches.  For $6 you’ll get your choice of pistachio or ricotta gelato drizzled with honey, and sandwiched inside a toasted house baked brioche bun with a dusting of powdered sugar. That’s kind of pricey for an ice cream sandwich, but I’m sure one of the contributors (Blondie and Brownie, I’m looking in your general direction) would be willing to take one for the team and see if it’s worth it.