Midtown Lunch

Just a Friendly Reminder: The new Glaze Teriyaki is now open on 56th btw. 5+6th, and to celebrate their grand opening all teriyaki bowls will be $1 today from 11:30am to 10pm.  Cheaploaders, prepare to engage.

Free Pie Face Alert: Last month, Pie Face ran a promotion trading your social currency for a meat pie. The Aussie franchise is at it again, this time giving away free mini tandoori vegetable pies today (Tuesday) between noon and midnight. All you have to do is show them some love by tagging them on Twitter or Instagram, or by posting on their Facebook wall, and showing your post at any of their locations to receive your freebie.

Last Chance To Get Into Street Meat Palooza 6: Just a friendly reminder... today is your last chance to nominate the best plate of chicken and lamb over rice with white sauce and hot sauce for Street Meat Palooza 6. The event is closed to the public, so the only way to get in is to win a slot by nominating your own favorite street meat in the comments of this post.  You have until 6pm today.

Survey: Food Truck are No Threat to Established Restaurants: A survey conducted by the NPD Group reveals some interesting facts about the ongoing conflict between food trucks and brick & mortar restaurants. Focused more on the fast-food industry, 50% of adults would hit up a quick-service restaurant if no food truck was nearby. Only 20% of respondents would skip going out entirely if there was no truck, leaving the majority to restaurants. Some interesting statistics with the Vendys not too far into the future!

Free BBQ and FroYo Alert: If you hadn't noticed, our forums re-launched last week.  We're still working on some of the kinks, but we spotted this great news there this morning thanks to Luncher "MW". Brother Jimmy's is throwing a block party w/ free BBQ from 4-7pm today (at 31st and Lex) and Off the Wall Frozen Yogurt (on 41st and 8th Ave) is celebrating their grand opening by giving out free FroYo today from 5-7pm.

Tabata 2 is Opening Today: If you're one of the people who likes Tabata Ramen but doesn't like trekking all the way to 9th Ave, you'll be excited to know that Tabata 2 (the new location on 38th and 8th we told you about back in June) is opening today.  A whole one avenue closer (!!!) it'll be interesting to see how these locations operate so close to each other.  Early adopters, let us know how it is in the comments.  (via Twitter]

Free People’s Pop Alert: The Rockettes kicking off the lead up to their Christmas Spectacular isn't something we'd normally care about (enjoy yourself tourists!) but this year to celebrate they're giving away free ice pops from People's Pops at locations all over the city.   It starts today at 11:30am in front of Radio City and travels to Bryant Park and other locations.  See the entire schedule here.

Snack Taverna Expanding into Midtown: Taking over from a long-shuttered burger place, Snack Taverna is going to be opening up a second location, expanding their presence from their original location in the Village. Catty-corner from rival regional cuisine representative Troy Turkish Grill, the new location brings much-needed Greek to this corner of midtown (not all of us are within easy striking distance of Uncle Gussy's!) but their menu shows some pricey fare outside the ML limit. Doable for the $10-and-under crowd? We'll find out when they open!

New Celebrity ML Contributor: Who else is excited for the new ML contributor? You haven't heard? On this week's episode of Food is the New Rock, Jared Blake Scharff (@ScharffIsHere), the guitarist for the Saturday Night Live Band, confessed to Zach that he would love to be a contributor. And, conveniently, he already works in Rock Center! I'm excited to see what he writes about...but from listening to the podcast, I already know he LOVES Japanese food and is not G.E. Smith.

Oceana’s Lobster Roll Cart is Back: For those of you who though Oceana's lobster roll was worth the splurge, you'll be excited to know that their cart is back open from now through Labor Day.  If you were a fan of their smooshed cookies, that Blondie was so fond of a few years back, those have been replaced by a chocolate whoopie pie with popcorn buttercream. Sadly prices have gone up too.  The cookie is now $2 and the lobster roll is $18.