Archive for April 2012

Whoa. How Do I Get A Job In This Building?: I have never been so jealous. The New York Times ran a piece on a building in Chelsea that every weekday has been bringing food trucks, like ML favorites Coolhaus and Treats Truck, into the building. And not just into the building, but -- via their massive freight elevator -- the trucks set up shop on the various floors! They're calling it "the first indoor vertical food-truck court in the city." Anyone work at 601 West 26th Street? We're dying to hear more about it in the comments!

Southwest Porch Is Opening Up Again: The Southwest Porch is opening up again starting today with a new menu featuring a grilled cheddar burger and a BBQ-spiced grilled chicken sandwich, along with menu items from 'wichcraft. Those passing by in the morning are in luck too, since they'll have Greek yogurt and La Colombe coffee.

Trini Paki’s Got A New Design And Some New Dishes

If you’ve walked by Trini Paki Boys on the SE corner of 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue lately, you may have noticed a few changes. They have a new yellow sign and a slightly fancier looking design on the back of the cart. Based on the Forums, Luncher Xerlic must have unfortunately looked for them on a day they stayed in, but the cart has been out pretty consistently.
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New Munchie Mobile Comes To Midtown Today

I noticed a brand new food truck in the East Village this weekend. I didn’t have time to stop and order anything, but I grabbed a quick photo. Their menu looks pretty darn delicious (although maybe a little too all over the place). It’s comprised of burgers, fried stuff (pickles, mozzarella sticks, oreos, etc.), grilled cheese, and pancakes (!?!) Seems this weekend was their first on the streets and they spent it downtown and in Brooklyn. According to their Twitter feed, they’re parking on 57th and 8th Avenue today. This is great news, since I think we could all use a Wake and Bake burger (bacon, egg, and cheese) right about now. Early adopters leave us comments below.

Madison Square Eats Returns Friday


Madison Square Eats returns to Worth Square (more commonly known as the intersection of Broadway, 5th Avenue and 25th Street) this Friday. They’re planning a familiar month-long stint — May 4 through June 1.

According to a recent blog post, you can expect to find a lot of familiar food surrounding the brightly colored umbrellas, as well as some new additions: Antica Focacceria, Arancini Bros., Asiadog, Bar Suzette, Birch Coffee, Caffe Moak, Calexico, Eataly, Graffiti/Mehtaphor, Gravy, Hong Kong Street Cart, Hot Blondies Bakery, ililli, La Sonrísa, Macaron Parlour, Mayhem & Stout, Mexicue, Mighty Balls, Mile End, Momofuku Milk Bar, Nunu Chocolates, Quartino, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Resto, Roberta’s Pizza, Sigmund’s and Stuffed Artisan Cannolis.

Check out our Madison Square Eats post from last spring to find about Ilili’s kafta wraps, Momofuku’s compost cookies or Bar Suzette’s savory crepes. And, in last fall’s post we wrote about Sigmund’s pretzels, Hong Kong Cart and Graffiti/Mahtaphor’s burger. I’m kind of bummed Fatty Crab isn’t back, but I am personally excited for the Mighty Balls sliders, which I was a fan of at last year’s Grub Street Food Festival. Mark your calendars, my friends, Madison Square Eats is coming fast!

Ma Peche Menu To Become More … American?: Eater reports that the menu at Ma Peche is about to change. Moving away from Tien Ho's French Vietnamese food, chef Paul Carmichael will focus the Midtown Momofuku on American cuisine. No word yet on what that means, exactly, but last week David Chang tweeted, "Chef Paul Carmichael & Má Péche team slow unveil of new menu over next couple weeks. About as vietnamese as Ssäm bar 2012 = burritos.Tasty." The new menu should materialize in the coming weeks.

Lunch Links (The “Best Dan Dan” Edition)


Photo courtesy of Fork in the Road

  • Balducci’s has a new take out store in Hearst Tower [Ramen & Friends]
  • Lunch at Virgil’s BBQ can be perfectly decent [Tasty Eating]
  • Cha Pa’s grilled pork vermicelli bowl is enjoyable [Tasty Eating]
  • Don Antonio was shuttered by the DOH the other day [Eater]
  • A look at Caffe Bene [SENY]
  • Wu Liang Ye makes the best dan dan noodles in NYC [Fork in the Road]
  • A Rafiqi’s cart in Midtown East caught on fire earlier in the week [Gothamist]
  • Our old VendrTV friend Dan Delaney is starting an underground brisket club [Blondie & Brownie]

Players Sports Restaurant is Saved by Their Sampler Platter

If 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 posts 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.

My K-town excursion a few weeks ago got me thinking. Where there’s one hidden gem, there must be others…right? This week, I was determined to find another est. 1986 Wine Bar. You know, the kind of place that’s so good, it pains me to tell you about its existence.

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Download the Food is the New Rock Podcast on iTunes

We interrupt your regularly scheduled lunchtime content to bring you this news: the preview episode of the Food is New Rock podcast is now available!   If you haven’t seen it yet, Food is the New Rock is a little Tumblr side project that Zach started last year to celebrate the places where food and music intersect.  He was working at Sirius Satellite Radio (on 48th and 6th) when he started Midtown Lunch, so it’s no surprise that a free podcast is where he was going with this thing.  The preview episode is 35 minutes long, and features Mike D from the Beastie Boys and Los Angeles Chef Roy Choi (who you may remember from this Midtown Kogi visit) talking food and music. You can download it from iTunes or Soundcloud and if you like what you hear please leave a comment and subscribe to receive future episodes.  You can also follow FitnR on TumblrFacebook and Twitter.  Thanks… and we now return you to your regularly scheduled lunchtime programming.

Flatiron Lunch: Rainbow is More Than Just Falafel…Shawafel!

Every Friday we go 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.

If you have spent any time lunching in Union Square or if you have been keeping up with “The Best of New York/Cheap Eats” (Falafel Edition), you probably know about Rainbow, and you have probably already tried their falafel. The large number of press clippings taped in the door are a clear indication that they are well known for it. But I encourage you to take a second look, as they have an even more brilliant item lurking on their menu…Shawafel!

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