Midtown Lunch

I love a good deal as much as anyone else, but it’s been years since I’ve found any great pleasure surfing the dollar menu anywhere. That said, when I saw the sign for $1 burgers and dogs at Pop’s in last week’s Links, I knew I’d have to investigate. Lunchtime Monday afternoon, I went over to 7th Avenue to check it out.

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There is only a certain number of times a guy like me can walk past a place like this without stopping.  I have a special place in my heart for Chinatown Express, the pay-by-the-pound cheap Chinese place on 7th Avenue btw. 33+34th (right next to Gyro II).  Long before I lived in NY, I used to visit from Boston- and Chinatown Express was usually my first stop after leaving Penn Station or even Port Authority. What can I say?  I’ve been addicted to cheap Chinese food for a long long time (in fact, General Tso’s chicken put me in the hospital in college… *allegedly*). Of course my early flirtation with Chinatown Express was long before they set up the satellite stand on the sidewalk selling cheap chicken wings, egg rolls, fried chicken and lo mean. And, after walking by this sidewalk “cart” more times than I can count on my hands, I finally succumbed to the pressure of the easy access super cheap Chinese food.

What I got (who am I kidding, I ordered everything), and how it was (who am I kidding, you know I loved it) after the jump.

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Since I started this site, I’ve been on a quest to find a *real* gyro sandwich in Midtown. And when I say ji-roh or yee-roh or however the hell you want to pronounce it, I mean the Greek inspired sandwich, featuring slices taken from those giant hunks of rotating meat you see on every street meat cart in Midtown, topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce (the white yogurt sauce with shredded or sliced cucumbers). Not shawarma (which has a distinctly Middle Eastern flavor), not the pre-made gyro ovals they serve at diners, and not that chopped up stuff you see served off of every street meat cart in Midtown. I want a real Greek style gyro. (I say Greek style because I don’t actually know what an authentic gyro sandwich in Greece is all about… I just know what I ate at Greek festivals growing up as a kid, and I love it.)

I understand the economics of the situation. While most street meat carts have the generic lamb slab used by most Greek restaurants that serve gyro sandwiches, they don’t have the time to allow it to fully cook up on the spit. So what do they do? They cut it off before it has a chance to brown, chop it up into pieces, mix it with onions, peppers, and whatever else, and cook it on the flat top. Tasty… but not a gyro. I just want a simple sandwich, with gyro meat that has been given the chance to get crispy on the spit, sliced and put directly into a piece of soft pita, topped with onion, lettuce, tomato and Greek yogurt (not the street meat “white sauce”).

Last time I mentioned this on the site, the only in bounds recommendation I got was for Gyro II on 7th Ave. btw. 33+34th. I checked it out last week… Read more »