Midtown Lunch

Recently I had a hankering for some jjajangmyeon- noodles with a brown sauce made from fermented soybean paste. The Chinese version uses ground pork and is less saucey than the Korean counterpart, but both versions are quite excellent. Hyo Dong Gak a Chinese/Korean restaurant (on35th btw. 5+6th) has been the ML jjajangmyeon go to for awhile now, but while looking at the lunch specials (just to see if there was anything tasty looking) I spotted double cooked pork!

Ever since my mediocre experience at Joe’s Shanghai I’ve been on a mission to try all the double cooked pork dishes I can find in Midtown (going to save Szechuan Gourmet for last since it’s probably the best). Will this version come with pickled daikon? Maybe the spiciness is from kimchi? (It is a Korean/Chinese restaurant after all.) But mostly… will this be any good?

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Last week A Voce, in the Time Warner Center, emailed us to request that we cover their new 3 course, Italian lunch menu for $29 that is perfect for a business lunch because it takes under an hour (provided that you call ahead for reservations.)  We told them that it was a bit out of our price range, but if they wanted to give away one of their fancy pants lunches to one of our readers we’d happily take the free grub on your behalf!  Want to score a free prix fixe lunch for 2 at A Voce?  Let us know in the comments why you deserve the lunch, and you’re entered to win.  (It’s that easy.)  A winner will be drawn at random on Wednesday, April 20th at 3pm.  Limit one entry per person.

Time Out New York reports that Top Chef All Stars winner, Richard Blais will be slinging various pork dishes throughout the day Thursday at a promotional pop up cafe for the National Pork Board at 470 Park Ave. South off 32nd St. Freebies will be doled out at 10:30am, 2:30pm, 4:30pm and 6:30pm. At least it’s not a truck…

Grinder’s, heroes, subs, whatever you want to call them, I’m a longtime fan and I can’t seem to think of a single place in midtown where I can find a good one. I’m talking about coils of hot and sweet sausages sitting on a griddle with piles of onions and peppers, served up on a hero roll thick enough to soak up all the resulting grease. Carts selling them seem to pop up all over the city at summer street festivals, but the rest of the time, they seem to hibernate.

Last week, Andrea’s Downtown Lunch post about Dominic’s reminded me that I never did track down a decent Italian Sausage sub after the sad, sad halal cart sandwich last year. My first thought would be a pizza shop, but most of those leave their sandwiches as a second thought, drying out on steam trays for hours along with rubbery calzones and strombolis. I’m told Papa Perrone sells them, but I haven’t made it up that far north to investigate. What do you guys think? If anyone has ideas, chime in in the comments.

Imagine my surprise and amusement when I opened this month’s issue of Food & Wine magazine, and saw that our very own champion of eating-out-for-lunch, Zach Brooks, was featured in an article advocating home cooking(!?). The article features healthier home cooked (and frankly tasty looking) interpretations of some of Zach’s favorite Midtown lunches, including Kwik Meal’s lamb shawarma and General Tso’s chicken.

So click through to check out F&W’s spin on these ML classics; And though we encourage everyone to try these recipes at home, we urge you to resist the temptation of bringing your leftovers to work for lunch.

Last time I wrote about Joe’s Shanghai, fellow Lunch’er Harry recommended I check Pearls (7th btw. 48+49th) out. I’m always skeptical about restaurants in and near Times Square. But I should have an open mind right? So I took a friend along so that we could try it out.

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Have Korean tacos gone the way of the cupcake, or the ‘bacon-on-everything’ trend? We at Midtownlunch are certainly guilty of perpetuating the hype, whether it be stalking Café Duke’s Korean tacos or getting maybe a little too excited for the Korilla BBQ truck. So when the Kimchi Taco Truck broke into the food truck scene earlier this year, I made it a goal to eat my way through the menu and save the tacos for last. A couple of weeks ago, Brownie beat me to the Kim-Cheesesteak and rice cakes, but I recently had a chance to try their kimchi bowls and couple of their side dishes.

As it turns out, like the Kimchi Taco Truck’s Kim-cheesestak, their other non-taco options also warrant a visit to the truck.
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It’s been some time since we’ve seen the Ecuadorian lunch truck El Guayaquileño. Last I’d heard, they had temporarily converted it into the Malaysian Kitchen Food Truck in the fall.  Then yesterday, I stumbled across it at its old spot on 37th Street between 6th Avenue and Broadway. Does anyone know how long they have been back? Just as I got there, the lady inside darted off on her break, so I didn’t get to ask any questions. Regardless, I’ll be keeping an eye out so I can try some of that goat stew Mamacita raved about last year. Seems like the perfect thing to brighten a rainy spring day.