Midtown Lunch

After posting about the mediocre gyro at Gyro II, I complained that I couldn’t find a decent Greek version of the gyro sandwich in Midtown (my nit picky distinction between a “Greek” gyro, and what you get at street meat carts is in the original post). As always, the commenting faithful had some good suggestions, and while most of them were out of bounds (that’s where all the good stuff is), there were a few places I vowed to check out. Seeing as how I am already a big fan of the Famous Chicken Place on 3rd Ave. btw. 38+39th, I figured I’d start there.

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Every city I’ve lived in has had some form of delicious chicken for lunch time. In Boston, there is Boston Market. The chicken is decent, the sides are eh, but man- is that corn bread good. In Los Angeles it is Zankou Chicken, a small chain of Lebanese chicken joints where the food is super cheap, and the star of the show is this unbelievable garlic sauce that every bite of chicken gets dipped into. But hands down, my favorite chicken place is in my hometown of Miami, and it’s name is Pollo Tropical! If you’ve never been, it’s basically a cuban version of Boston Market, serving char-grilled chicken with rice, beans, & plantains or fried yucca. Awesome. Everytime I go home, I never miss a visit to Pollo Tropical. They are mostly located in Florida, with two weird mysterious locations in the NY/NJ area, one of which I saw while on a bus to the Meadowlands. It was almost like a mirage in the distance, my eyes struggling to make out the sign, wishing I could stop the bus and quench my cuban food thirst… (I still haven’t been)

But alas, there is no Pollo Tropical, or Zankou Chicken in Midtown- so we’ve got to live with what we’ve got… and it seems as if “The Famous” Chicken Place is where it’s at. A small hole in the wall on 3rd Ave. (btw. 38th & 39th), they serve up char-grilled chicken & sides, at amazingly cheap prices.

Pics of the chicken, what I got and the +/- after the jump…

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