Midtown Lunch

From the looks of things 55th and Madison has become one of the most interesting street cart corners in Midtown.  On the NW corner you’ve got the liver sandwich from Charcoal Grill.  On the NE corner, there is a cart that serves grilled hot dogs, chili, and chicken sausages.  And on the SW corner there is the “Fried Chicken Cart”, which Lunch’er Bossman reported on back in October.  I finally made it over there to check out their fried chicken… and it was good.  Although I’m not sure styrofoam containers are the best vehicle for fresh-out-of-the-fryer fried chicken.

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What does 3 years of hardcore Midtown Lunch’ing do to a psyche?  For one thing it alleviates all food fears. I will pretty much eat anything at this point.  (Except for a sandwich from Walgreens… but that has nothing to do with fear.)  I feel kind of proud thinking back on some of the ways I’ve sacrificed my body in the name of of this site. Eating at Tad’s Steaks after being dared by a reader gave me a sense of personal accomplishment, although no dare was necessary to get me to try that street ceviche from the Ecuadorian lady on 46th Street (although some called me insane for that one.)  I admited to being incredibly frightened of the Kashmir Buffet.  but surprisingly less scared of the jury duty tripe lunch from that Chinatown cart (in fact it was a revelation.)  But all those seem like child’s play compared to this…  a liver sandwich- from a Midtown Halal cart.

Remember that cart with the liver sandwich I posted about back in February (on 55th & Madison)? Well, I finally tried it on Tuesday… and amazingly, survived to tell the story.

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Got another great tip from the commenter who goes by the name of “Bossman”:

You want to talk about crazy ass shit? There’s always been this Halal cart on 55th and Mad (Southwest corner) that had a fryer setup. Convenient when the urge strikes for fries along with your street meat. Aside from that there’s nothing that stands out about the place. I used to frequest it because they’ll throw your gyro on a hero and I always found that held up better than pita. The guys are real nice and if I found myself getting lunch at 2:45 (like today) I’ll hit it up.

So today I see a sign saying Fried Chicken w/ fries (4 Pieces) $6.00. It’s all your fault Zach- prior to reading ML I would’ve ran for the hills, nowadays it just raises a bunch of questions:

Fried chicken truck, yes. But cart? Has Zach done that? How could they? Pre-cooked and just warmed through?

…and finally “how could I not?”

Anyway, what I got was 2 tenders, a wing, a drumette, and a thigh and fries all freshly fried (obviously they’re better at dishing the food than counting it). Of course, it’s not your Grandma’s chicken but it was pretty damn good for what it was (especially as a conduit for hot sauce). What will they think of next?

The photo he sent in, after the jump…  Read more »