Midtown Lunch

Street Vendors *Are* Heroes: The street vendors who spotted the smoking car in Times Square on Saturday night and alerted authorities are being called heroes. The car turned out to be a makeshift bomb, and there's no telling what would have happened if the vendors hadn't noticed. Just another reason to support putting more vendors in Times Square!

A Happy Hour For Every Hour of the Day: This week's Village Voice has a list of recommended NYC Happy Hours for every legal drinking hour (from 8am to 3am!) Sadly only one midtown bar made the grade- a 6pm trip to Russian Samovar (on 52nd btw. B'way+8th). What no Jimmy's Corner, Rudy's, or Subway Inn? Obviously I need to take this writer Ben Detrick on a midtown bar crawl!

It’s D-Day For Schnitzel: On the old ML Twitter Tracker today... Frites N Meats is in the Flatiron, Rickshaw and Treats Truck are on 45th, Wafels and Dinges is on 51st 58th, Street Sweets is on 50th, and the Schnitzel & Things Truck is back on 54th & Lex- the same spot they got kicked out of last week for being called a "terrorist threat". UPDATE: They've moved to 52nd. That was quick!

WSJ Clears Up Schnitztastrophy: Today's Wall Street Journal has a bit more on last weeks Schnitzel & Things truck dust up with Citigroup. The article clarifies that it was a tenant in the Citigroup building that complained, not Citigroup itself. The complaint was that the truck was "occupying parking spaces." Stupid. They say they'll be back in the same spot tomorrow.

Midtown West Food Truck Bash On Sunday: Speaking of food trucks in public places, if you're unlucky enough to be stuck in Midtown this weekend, the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market (on 39th btw. 9+10th) will host a Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar on Sunday. Frites & Meats,  Go Burger, Calexico and more will be there. (Plus some food trucks from Jersey!?) Almost makes me wish I was working this weekend.  Almost.

Free Ice Cream Alert: Thanks to Lunch'er Ben for this tip... Carvel will be giving away free cups of their new low fat ice cream and flavor shots today, but be forewarned- the only location that is participating in Midtown is the one in 1 Penn Plaza.  (The one on B'way says "no free ice cream for you!")  Freeloaders engage.

Talent Thai Also Makes a Great Green Curry: Village Voice critic (and Profiled Midtown Lunch'er) Robert Sietsema called Talent Thai's khao soi (on 34th btw. 2+3rd) one of the 10 best noodle dishes in the city earlier this month, so it should come as no surprise that the ML favorite would get a full write up!  According to the review they also make a great stewed beef soup and green curry.

8 Cent Chaat Reminder: If you can stand waiting until 2pm for lunch, today is 8 Cent chaat day at Indus Express (on 48th btw. 5+6th), courtesy of 8 Coupons. The deal is only good from 2-6pm, and you have to text yourself a coupon to redeem it. Don't know what chaat is? Here's a good primer.

Welcome Our New Downtown Lunch Editor: Just wanted to say a big thanks to Chris and Kevin over on our Downtown NYC section. They're both leaving Downtown at the end of the week, and handing over the reigns to Andrea. Please give her a warm ML welcome. In related news, is it just me or does Midtown need a Puerto Rican food cart!?!

Tim Zagat Likes Rickshaw Dumplings: Our own Amy Cao interviewed Tim Zagat for the VendrTV blog, and got him to talk about street foods place in the perennial restaurant guides that bear his name.  The big reveal?  He's particularly fond of the Rickshaw Dumpling truck, which has been parking outside of the Zagat offices.