Midtown Lunch

Dishes Gets the DOH?: For those who thought the Grand Central Terminal Food Court was immune to the Department of Health... "I wasn't there, but I heard DOH shut down Dishes in Grand Central this morning. Supposedly, the employees were standing around looking shocked while the inspector was carrying out his inspection."

Half Off Chocolate Alert: Speaking of Groupon, todays deal is a pretty good one. $15 for $30 worth of chocolate from 5th Ave. Chocolatiere (which ironically is located on 3rd Ave. and 43rd St.) Just remember you can only access the coupon until the end of today.

Papa Perrone Returns Today: It's been a week since a fire broke out on the Papa Perrone truck... but we're hearing everything has been fixed, and the big papa himself (J.P.) has been cleared to return to work today.  Glad to have him back...

For the Freeloaders: If you're reading ML, you must be a cheapo at some level... in which case you should enjoy this Frugal Traveler's guide to cheap stuff in New York. In addition to linking to us, it also mentions Profiled Midtown Lunch'ers Wined and Dined & The Skint.

Barros Lucco Adds Great Lunch Special: Barros Luco, the Chilean sandwich shop on 52nd nr. 2nd just announced this great lunch deal via twitter: "Add a medium fountain soda AND cheese OR ham & cheese empanada to any sandwich for just $1.50"

Rain Can’t Stop the Carts: Get out and support the street vendors who are working in the rain! Street Sweets is on 50th, Rickshaw is in Columbus Circle, Wafels & Dinges is on 52nd, and Schnitzel is in the Flatiron.  And you don't need the ML Twitter Tracker to tell you that most of the old-school carts will be braving the weather.

TONY’S Best of 2009: Time Out New York has released their 100 Best Thing to Eat and Drink of 2009, and there are a couple of Midtown Lunches on the list- like the lagman at Taam Tov, the Mysore masala dosa at Minar, and the chicken yakitori lunch at Yakitori Totto.  See the whole list here, or view it in map form.

Midtown Lunches Represent!: We're still accepting nominations for the Midtown Lunch Reader's Poll, but you should also vote for your favorite lunches in the Serious Eats People's Choice Awards.  Our own Ess a Bagel has jumped out to an early lead in their bagel poll, but I was sad to see Azuri Cafe and Olympic Pita lagging far behind in their falafel poll.

88 Cent Burger Reminder: Don't forget, today from 2-6:30pm today you can get two sliders from Pop Burger (on 58th btw. Mad+5th) for 88 cents, if you text yourself this coupon from 88coupons.

Congrats Are In Order: to a couple of good friends. The Eaten Path turned two last week, and Serious Eats just turned three. (Don't tell Serious Eats, but we thought they were a lot older...)