Midtown Lunch

We already reported on the fact that some of our favorite food trucks are noticeably absent from Midtown because they are donating time and food to help the hurricane relief efforts. After support from Jet Blue and individual donations, the program is being continued with the help from none other than the Mayor’s Office. The New York Food Truck Association, which includes Schnitzel & Things, Taim, and Souvlaki GR as members, is being sponsored by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. This is really wonderful news for those victims of Hurricane Sandy and let’s hope this will also be good news for the city’s thoughts about the food trucks when they get back to serving the streets.  Get more info and donate to the cause yourself on the NYFTA’s website>>

As we reported a few months back, 99 Miles to Philly is bringing their cheese steaks and munchies back to Midtown. Luncher Brad sent us an email alerting us that the new location on East 45th Street (and Second Avenue) is finally open. He sent over the photo of the menu and assured us the sandwich was good enough to eat.  Anybody else been since they re-opened?

Upon surveying Midtown post-hurricane, I noticed two things since I was here over a week ago: the population of both human beings and newer, fancier food trucks had gone down. Why the absence of food trucks? Many are in Red Hook, Staten Island, the Rockaways, and New Jersey, helping with hurricane relief by providing free food to victims. Others, like Red Hook Lobster Pound, were devastated by Sandy. Others, like Vendy Award sweethearts Cinnamon Snail and Uncle Gussy’s ran into problems with gas and power shortages. However, the older food carts, like hot dogs carts, street meat vendors of all kinds including Kwik Meal and Trini Paki Boys, El Rey Del Sabor, and Hot Soup Cart were all chillin’ in their same spots like nothing had happened. Baked Potato King, which has been around for eighteen years, was no exception. Although Lunch’er Jasmine reported on it back in 2008, this veteran cart hasn’t received much coverage.

As I approached I could smell sweet potatoes as well as regular, and since they are $4.50 each and I feared one wouldn’t be enough, I went ahead and ordered one of each. Although $4.50 seems steep for a baked potato, they are very big mf-ers with ample toppings. I’ve got to admit, my bag-o-food was a lot heavier than what I would normally schlep back to the office for under $10 in Midtown!

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Many people are slowly making their way back to work today and most restaurants are back open, but you may notice less food trucks and carts on the street. And this time it’s not because of the NYPD. Many of the gourmet food trucks are continuing their effort of donating food to the hardest hit areas like Staten Island, Red Hook, and the Rockaways, thanks to the generous support of Jet Blue, the New York City Food Truck Association, and private donations. You can continue to donate money with their indiegogo campaign. These neighborhoods need Phil’s Steaks and Wafels & Dinges much more than we do right now.

But it’s not all feel good stories coming from the food truck world…

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Potbelly Sandwich Shop is expanding to take over the old Taz space next door to Sophie’s (on 45th btw. 5+6th).  They were supposed to open last Tuesday, but Sandy ended up pushing the opening to tomorrow at 11 a.m. I guess this is a step up from the generic deli that once kind of almost served up Vietnamese food … but are we actually excited for yet another Potbelly?

Potbelly Sandwich Shop, 19 W. 45th Street

• Tabata’s black sesame ramen is not the same thing as black garlic ramen [Food in Mouth]
• Rice the Great has raised their prices, post Street Meat Palooza [Food in Mouth]
• Mami PG’s Nasi Lemak is great [Chubby Chinese Girl]
• All locations of Chop’t above 24th Street are offering free stuff for people who have donated to the Red Cross [Eater]

Stuck in the no-mans-land between Port Authority and Penn Station and looking to break the chain of tuna cans and penicillin-infected bread as you trudge back into the office? Fret not, you have options today!

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If you check the Midtown Lunch Twitter Tracker today, what you’ll find is that many of our beloved food trucks are giving away free food to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. As first reported by Businessweek, this effort is sponsored by JetBlue and from tweets we could gather that this effort is coordinated in part by the NYC Office of Emergency Management. Wafels and Dinges and Big D’s Grub Truck were featured in the article, and more food trucks are out helping today. Toum NYC, Wafels and Dinges, and Rickshaw Dumplings are at Astor Place; Milk Truck and Frites & Meats are in Chelsea (19th and 8th); Eddie’s Pizza is in the Far Rockaways; Coolhaus and Big D’s Grub are at NYU; and Sweetery NYC and Mexico Blvd are at Tompkins Square Park.

We still have a few trucks serving Midtown today, like Bob & Jo, at Vanderbilt & 46th. One of the Wafels & Dinges trucks is at 60th and 5th, Valducci’s is at 52nd and Park.