Midtown Lunch

In the pantheon of great foods, rotisserie chicken has got to be towards the top, somewhere just below fried chicken and above every other kind of chicken imaginable. You may say the secret ingredient is the chicken fat waterfall, created by rotating chickens stacked one on top of another. Now that’s some Chinese water torture I can get into.

Golden brown skin is the key to what makes rotisserie chicken so great, but once you add super cheap prices, Latin style side dishes, and Peruvian aji (green sauce), you’ve got a real winner. Sound good? Well then head to Tio Pio West (the original is in Brooklyn) on 36th btw. 5+6th, where $7.50 will buy you half a chicken, rice, beans, and plantains. Oh, and not to mention a fairly big cup of aji.

What I got and a +/1 after the jump… Read more »

Big news hit the Midtown Lunch Inbox this morning, courtesy of Lunch’er Emily who forwarded along this photo, taken on 9th Ave. (btw. 50+51st), of the window of what I believe used to be Keni Pizza.  Apparently Hallo Berlin will be adding H.B. Express to their empire, which currently includes a beer garden on 10th Ave. (btw. 44+45th), and of course the famous cart on 54th & 5th (which won Best Cart in our Midtown Lunch readers poll earlier in the Month).

A call to the number on the sign yielded no extra information, just a voicemail message from (what could only be) Wolfgang or Rolf, urging you to leave a message or send a fax.  One can only assume that it will be similar to the take out counter they have at the front of the beer garden on 10th Ave.

Strangely enough, the Hallo Berlin Cart wasn’t in its regular spot on 53rd 54th & 5th today, just after Noon.  I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one…

For anybody who has ever been to England, it isn’t that hard to imagine baked potatoes being sold from a cart.  Jacket potatoes, as they’re known there, are pretty commonplace in the UK- but who knew we had one right here in Midtown?   The “Baked Potato King” has been on the corner of 39th & Broadway forever, and it felt like quite the coincidence that I saw it for the first time the week after I got back from London.  I’m not a huge baked potato fan (sliced and fried is my preferred method of eating spuds), so I haven’t rushed over to try it- but luckily for those who are, Midtown Lunch’er Jasmine filed this report, complete with photos:

The Potato King sits on 39th St just west of Broadway, and the guy manning it is nice.  You could tell he had a lot of regulars, as he seemed to know everyone in front of and behind me in line.  All of the potatoes are $4.00 except for the two at the bottom of the menu which are listed at $3.99.  I’m not sue what that’s about.

The potatoes are kept in a stand up oven with several shelves, sans foil or anything to keep moisture in, which left them a tad dry.  You can pick regular or sweet potato and he’ll poke at them first to find the softest one.  He doesn’t use gloves to pick them up so caution if you’re an “eat the skin” type of person.  It gets thrown into a little styrofoam container, sliced down the center and smushed to make a pit in the middle.  The “mixed vegetables” were the frozen green bean/corn/lima bean mix that is common at the supermarket.  The mushrooms are canned, and the broccoli is also frozen. 

The lowdown on the cheese (clearly the most important ingredient), plus the bad news about Jasmine’s potato… after the jump. 

Read more »

Have you figured out yet that I’m excited for conveyor belt sushi from Singapore?  It’s not open yet, but after much begging, they finally let me into Sakae Sushi (43rd btw. Lex+3rd) last night for a first look at the conveyor belt and computer system (which they’ve been putting together all week). 

The belt itself, which snakes in a u shape around the entire restaurant, carrying little small plates of sushi to every table, doesn’t actually go back into the kitchen- where all the food is prepared.  There are no sushi bars either.  All the food is made in the back, and brought out by servers to be placed on the conveyor belt.

For those “crazy” people, who don’t want to eat sushi off a conveyor belt, there is a mouse operated computer at each table you can use to order anything off of the menu.  This not only includes freshly made small plates of sushi, but larger things that don’t fit on the conveyor belt as well.

A look at the complete menu after the jump, plus an update on their “Friday” Grand Opening… Read more »

I know… I know.  What is wrong with me?  I’ll apologize up front, because it’s just not right.  I don’t eat salads.  I’m supposed to be killing myself, lunch by lunch, bite of fat after bite of fat, for all of you to see.  Salads ruin that plan.  Despite the timing, I did not eat the salad because of some stupid New Year’s resolution (I don’t believe in those), or because I had a fried pork and plantains sandwich at Tina’s Restaurant on Monday, followed by free Chinese food on Tuesday.

The salad is actually Fresh Direct’s fault.  See, the dirty little secret of Midtown Lunch is- I don’t eat out every day.  In an attempt to convince work that I’m not spending every lunch hour photographing street carts, plus to be a little “healthy”, and save some money (this shit gets expensive), I actually only eat out 3 days a week.  The other two days, I’ll bring a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to work (cute right?).  Maybe not the healthiest lunch in the universe, but it certainly has less calories than every single lunch I’ve ever eaten for this site.  Well, this week Fresh Direct forgot to deliver our damn peanut butter- leaving me feeling like I should at least attempt to eat healthy (and close to the office).  A salad it is.

I ate the damn thing- so I might as well tell you what I thought of it…. after the jump. Read more »

It looks like we are just days away from the opening of Singaporean conveyor belt sushi chain Sakae Sushi on 43rd St. btw. Lex+3rd.  Already enormously popular in Asia, this will be their first location in the USA, complete with signature computerized ordering and hot water spouts (for refilling tea) at every table, plus the main event… little plates of sushi ushered from seat to seat via conveyor belt.   

Two emails were sent out today about the place, with both Urbandaddy giving the impression that the place is already open (it’s not), while and Thrillist are reporting a Friday grand opening (albeit without hot water spouts, which they report will be installed in the next month).  (Urbandaddy did make a fleeting mention of the Friday opening, so I’ve modified the post to reflect that.  I just didn’t notice it when I read their email.) The photo above was taken at Sakae Sushi today at 2pm, and our sources are saying they *hope* to be open on Friday, but if not Friday- then “probably” Monday.  With the way red tape works in NYC, I’ll believe it when I see the conveyor belts fired up, and moving little plates of raw fish.  Either way, as soon as I know, you’ll know…

It was almost a year ago this week that the infamous “$1 Bulgogi Sandwich Cart” popped up on 49th St. btw. 6+7th.  It disappeared for a little while, and then reappeared- serving cheap plates of bulgogi (Korean stir fried beef), with a weird undercooked yellow rice, and the smallest portion of kimchee (Korean pickled cabbage) I’ve ever seen. 

It wasn’t until a month later that we got the infamous $1 Bulgogi sandwich, promised by the original sign- but it was nothing more than two pieces of white bread with bulgogi sandwiched in between.  Very disappointing.  Months went by, as they tinkered- raising the price of the pretty mediocre sandwich from $1 to $2, before getting rid of it entirely, and replacing it with a bulgogi sandwich on a roll for even more money.  This might have been good, if it wasn’t for the cucumber, and american cheese they decided to use as condiments.

They introduced a bi bim bap, which was pretty unimpressive, and even kimbap (Korean sushi) appeared on the menu- although they never seemed to have it.  But the real turnaround began with the introduction of Galbi (a thicker cut of Korean bbq’d beef).

The Bulgogi Cart of today, after the jump… Read more »

House of Pita has become the little falafel stand that could, re-opening their operation on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th, in the space formerly occupied by Mandler’s Sausage Co.  This comes a little over a month after their 2nd location, on 46th btw. 5+6th closed after 6 months in business.  According to the owner, the 46th St. location was always only going to be a temporary location- they were just forced out a little earlier then they expected.

The new House of Pita on 8th has the same falafel, salads and pickled veggies you loved at the original 48th St. window, but they are now serving meat dishes, most notably- chicken shawarma.  Because House of Pita was always a dairy (no meat served), and the new location will serve meat, the owner felt it would be misleading to keep the original name, so he plans to change it to… Chicken Bar.

Why does that name sound familiar??? Read more »

This past week saw the grand opening of a entirely new concept in fast food eating right here in Midtown.  From the owners of Zen Palate (a mid-range mini-chain of vegetarian restaurants here in the New York), comes Zen Burger, a vegetarian McDonald’s that they hope will change the face of the fast food business. 

Now, when I say Zen Burger is a vegetarian McDonald’s, I really mean vegetarian McDonald’s.  From the backlit menus behind the counter, to the numbered list of combo meals, this is a fast food joint through and through.  They even have the option to super size.  Those expecting some sort of crunchy, granola bar eating, meat hating, haute cuisine vegetarian concept are going to be sorely disappointed.  Zen Burger is cheap fast food-  and this might surprise you (considering there is no pork anywhere on the menu), but I actually really like it.

Curious what this Zen Burger food looks like?  I do something you never want to do at McDonald’s (take a bite and look inside), after the jump… Read more »

So, I’m finally back from 10 days of eating my way across Chile (more on that tomorrow), which means that this is the last category of the Midtown Lunch readers’ poll. Thanks for holding down the fort for the past week, commenting and voting. You have until tomorrow at 8pm EST to vote in any of the 12 categories, and I’ll post the final results on Wednesday. Links to posts about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section.