Midtown Lunch

For those of you who looked forward to Lily O’Brien’s Monday and Friday Robicelli’s deliveries, effective this week, the Robicelli’s have terminated their relationship. The  good news is their cupcakes are now available at Joe the Art of Coffee in Grand Central Terminal. Joe gets delivers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (so they’ll be fresher mid-week) and best of all, they are selling the cupcakes for $3 instead of $3.50 at Lily’s. For flavor schedule, you can follow Robicelli’s Tumblr, though be aware that because of space constraints Joe doesn’t get all of their flavors… so if you’re very particular about which one you want, you may want to call ahead.

Joe The Art of Coffee, Graybar Passage (off Lex.) in Grand Central Terminal, 212-661-8580

Tri Tip Grill has quickly become a ML darling. For a chain restaurant they provide a good product at a decent value and they listen to what the customer wants (hello, Midtown Toasty!). And it’s easily one of the best brick and morters to come to Rock Center in ages. While they are best known for their beef, if you’re a huge salmon fan and observing meatless Fridays you might want to make this a Lenten Lunch destination.

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Becoming a mobile vendor is not quite as easy as ehow would have you believe. So in anticipation of Softee Season 2011 we’ve asked Chrissy (aka Miss Softee) to show us the process of what it takes to become an ice cream vendor in Midtown.

You’ve met the first few hires here and here and seen what it takes to get your paperwork in order to become a licensed mobile vendor, and where the trucks live. After the typical bureaucratic paperwork delays, today marks the official beginning of Softee season and for her last regular post, Miss Softee has some big time announcements. Take it away Miss Softee!

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Every Friday our man UltraClay goes south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

I really like crepes. On my honeymoon, my wife and I spent a week in Paris staying upstairs from a crepe joint on a particularly festive nightlife strip. At least once a day, whether for breakfast or a snack at the end of a night of eating and drinking, we’d hit the crepe stand and get those delicious buttery pancakes filled with ham, cheese, eggs, chocolate or some combination thereof. It was amazing and somehow seemed vaguely healthier than the nearby shawarma stand  (which we actually went to whenever we weren’t eating crepes.)

There aren’t nearly enough crepes stands around New York so the first time I saw The Crepes Truck parked on 5th Ave at 23rd Street, I was pretty psyched. Enough so that I almost ordered something up right then even though I had just eaten. My tune changed once I finally did try it. See the whole sad story after the jump.

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Ultraclay’s weekly Flatiron review will be up in a bit… but first, a round up of the news happening just south of the ML boundaries.

It may not feel like spring, but it’s about that time of year when new places start popping up around town, while others call it quits. This week, we’ve got some news from around the Internets about a few newcomers, favorites and hidden gems. Follow the jump for the good, the bad and the fantastic.

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Not entirely surprised that the Learning Annex is trying to profit off the food truck craze by teaching a live course about it, but some people might be a  bit surprised by who they chose to teach the class.  We love the Dessert Truck, but after this episode we didn’t think Jerome would recommend food trucking to anybody.  And Feed Your Hole has been open two months!  I highly doubt either of them are making “big cash with little money down.”  [via Midtown Lunch Forums]

The Village Voice’s Choice Eats festival is one of our favorite food events of the year, but with so many amazing restaurants, from all five boroughs, Midtown doesn’t usually make a strong showing. Not so this year! According to Gothamist, the pulled pork sandwich with curry lime BBQ sauce from Mooncake Foods (which recently opened a new location on 54th btw. 8+9th) was one of the 5 best bites of the whole event. And it’s on their menu for just $9.25. (I think we know what we’re getting for lunch tomorrow.)

You won’t see many carts or trucks in this city selling a bake. Sure, the Sweetery and Treats Truck make tons of baked goods. But a real “bake” is a Trinidadian street dish that is eaten at breakfast or after a late night of drinking, which might actually be one in the same for some. The most popular way of serving it is with a piece of breaded and fried shark – known as a Shark and Bake, which sounds like it could be a national fast food chain.

The bake itself refers to the bread pocket that holds the fish together. It can be fried, roasted, or um, baked! I’ve only had it once before at A & A Doubles in Bed Stuy and have never seen it in Midtown. So I’m certainly no expert, but I was beyond ecstatic when I learned that the Trini Paki Boys (on 43rd and 6th) have been running it as a special and will be adding it to the regular menu.

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Best Week Ever has a pretty hilarious look at Social Eatz, Top Chef Angelo Sosa’s new restaurant in Midtown East.  They not only took note of the massive number of Z’s on the menu, but also the porno shop next door, and the “food dick” on the bathroom door.  Looking for a (slightly) more serious assessment?  Immaculate Infatuation also posted their thoughts yesterday, noting that the restaurant is just as strange as Angelo Sosa himself. [via Eater]