Midtown Lunch

In their newest “Chefs Give Back” sandwich, Num Pang has added Indian flavors to its repertoire. We told you last week that they’ve teamed with Top Chef Master Floyd Cardoz (formerly of Tabla) to concoct the Cardoz Pang. And let me tell you, it’s a mighty tasty collaboration.

I have very strong memories of a game changing sandwich at Tabla’s Bread Bar many years ago. It was a pulled lamb sandwich with mustard mashed potatoes on a thick piece of grilled naan. So I was very eager to see what else Chef Floyd could do with lamb and bread.
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Every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Allen, a packaging design wizard who loves General Tsao but can’t seem to find a decent slice in Midtown.

Name: Allen

Age: 28

Occupation: Packaging design wizard

Where in Midtown do you work? Right around 38th & 6th

Favorite Kind of Food: In Midtown, the less English spoken, the better. There is definitely an inverse relationship here. Outside of NYC I’ll just eat any kind of comfort foods. But seriously, Asian and Latino foods of all kinds, green sauce of all kinds, stuffed things, burgers. Not sure if this qualifies as Chinese food, but occasionally I’m still a sucker for General Tsao chicken/tofu/whatever. Chinese people make it. I never heard of the great general in the history books, but the man had a sweet tooth. Candied meats are awesome.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: “Just a salad” is not a meal. Stuffed grape leaves are the crabapples of stuffed foods. Cricket quesadillas (yes, I really tried it, and it tastes like how the back of a Petland discount smells). Dollar pizza has ruined the pizza landscape of NYC. Sometimes tourists on the street with their families in tow politely ask me where to get “a good slice of pizza.” I look across the street at the 2 Bros next door to the Indian chaat/pizza deli and politely laugh in their face and walk away. Then I cry once I’m at my desk. I will SO pay up to $10 for 2 good slices of pizza at this point. I’m getting really desperate.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Picnic Basket on 37th+6th has great Mediterranean-ish food. The sandwiches there are really well made, and the owner is a bit of a chatterbox but cool. It’s good to still see someone try to make a connection at their store instead of just grabbing your money and throwing food at you. It’s still kinda new, so we’ll see. I like Szechuan Gourmet for a good, spicy lunch, but stay away from the boring dishes like chicken with broccoli and general Tsao. I like Ming Du, despite whatever the DOH throws at them. Cafe Zaiya is good for all their baked goods — it is totally possible to have a lunch made completely out of desserts. Secretly, Yagura puts out some kind of after-lunch buffet. Not a huge selection, but really simple great stuff. Lunch is whenever my gut says it is. 4:30 can still be lunch. Dig Inn is a godsend for when I try to have a complete healthy meal. Woorijip over in K-town rules … even at 3 a.m., same great stuff. Homeboy runs a tight ship at that one cart over by 45th. Green sauce, word up. Comme Ci Comme Ca truck. All the sandwiches are good, but merguez is best. That secret Mexican place, Riconcito Mexicano, where everyone complains that nobody there speaks English. They are definitely right, but how hard is it to order tacos? Quit trying to describe your food allergy situation to these people. The place isn’t for you if you need Rosetta Stone to order enchiladas. It’s just a nice grimy quiet lunch spot.

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Trini Paki Boys have been with us since the early days. They were with us back in 2006 on the street corner of 43rd and 6th, where they remain today. The menu has evolved over the years and still draws in many loyal customers. I checked back and noticed they haven’t gotten any love from Midtown Lunch in a while.

But we’ve got a long history, we and the boys. They’ve participated in the Street Meat Palooza. Chris reported the Shark and Bake last year (a dish with a solid fan base in my office). The doubles have been covered by both Zach and Clay. (If you’re not familiar, doubles are a Trinidadian treat with chickpeas between two slices of roti, and at $2 a double from Trini Paki Boys, perhaps one of the best deals in midtown for cheap eats.) But besides the doubles, the veg menu has been largely unexplored.

Now I know Midtown Lunch is all about the meat, but I’m out to prove you can be just as fat when you eat your veggies. If you haven’t read any other posts about the vegetarian world of midtown, I’ll explain again my main reasoning for going meatless one day a week: variety. Just by going vegetarian one day a week, I’ve been able to try many new dishes I’ve never tried before.
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Koreatown, the buzzing stretch of bars and restaurants on 32nd between 5th & 6th, packs a lot of venues into one street. With such limited space, competition is fierce, especially among restaurants that serve similar food. For quite some time, Mandoo Bar, has served as the sole Korean dumpling specialists in K-town, but not for long. As we reported earlier, Daheen Wang Mandoo, a dumpling chain from South Korea, is scheduled to open in October. But we didn’t realize that they would be opening right next to Mandoo Bar. Sure, it could be a coincidence, but I like to think that this is a ballsy move to steal some of Mandoo Bar’s fire. Although their product isn’t perfectly fungible – Mandoo bar focuses on boiled and fried dumplings while Daheen focuses solely on steamed mandoo – given how cheap and awesome Daheen’s dumplings are, my money’s with them.

Last month, Flatiron Lunch reporter Sarah tried a new family-run Lebanese truck called Toum. As I read her review, I couldn’t wait for the truck to start making stops in Midtown, because the menu reflected many familiar foods from my childhood. Yep, as I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in Japan, but what you don’t know is that while there I enjoyed not only Japanese food, but also my grandmother’s amazing middle eastern recipes. The truth is always stranger than fiction. Anyway, Toum’s menu, plus the fact that the truck is family-run, gave me high hopes for authentic recipes in some way reminiscent of those days making Syrian food in Japan.
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With the crispness of impending autumn and the spices of street meat hanging in the air, thousands upon thousands gathered — along with 24 very special food trucks, carts and vendors — to spend their Saturday on Governor’s Island stuffing their faces celebrating the crown affair of the season: The 2012 Vendy Awards. After yet another tumultuous and passionate year on the food streets, the folks at the Street Vendor Project take a day to gather and celebrate the cream of the crop. It is always a delicious affair, and one that ends with awards for the top dogs. To hell with the poetic lead-up, we’re talking about the Vendys. Let’s let the vendors and the food speak for themselves.

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Kwik Meal’s pita cheesesteak. Photo courtesy of SENY

• Margon’s steak sandwich and Kwik Meal’s cheesesteak are 2 of NYC 25 best beef sandwiches [SENY]
• A look at ‘wichcraft’s Bryant Park ice cream kiosk [Ramen & Friends]
• Another look at Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar [Gothamist]
• The new Murray Hill location of Pie Face will give out free stuff all next week [Fork in the Road]
• I was featured on Storyboard this week for Food is the New Rock… [Tumblr]
• … and this week’s podcast guest is The Amateur Gourmet Adam Roberts [FitnR]

And finally, who’s coming to the Vendy Awards this weekend?!  If you want to get in early, avoid the lines, and hang out with me, Blondie & Brownie, Brian Hoffman, Kate Krader from Food & Wine, and Ed Levine from Serious Eats, today is the last day to score your VIP tickets. They’ve also released a limited number of tickets that will be available at the door, for all you super procrastinators.  See you tomorrow!

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

A few weeks ago I was cajoled into watching a theater show, one of my least favorite activities ever (think: boredom marries claustrophobia). And even though it’s already been reviewed by Mamacita in 2008, Smith’s Bar (44th and 8th) was the closest bar to the theatre we were headed to, and a great pit stop to slam back as many beers as possible between the end of work and the opening of curtains.

I had noticed Smith’s half-lit neon sign on some of my lunchtime excursions, and I thought it looked like a really cool place. In fact, it’s been around since the 50s, and although it has changed ownership in the past decade, it was still more appealing to me than any other bar in the immediate vicinity… mainly because of its facade. And the happy hour specials looked okay. From 12-7 they serve $3.75 domestic light bottles, $4.00 Amstel and Sam Adams Light, and $4.00 wells and SoCo (Southern Comfort) shots. The Long Hammer IPA I ordered was $5.50.

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