Midtown Lunch

Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

About three weeks ago, a new player hit the Flatiron truck sweet spot on Fifth Avenue in the low 20s. They weren’t totally prepared (no twitter account, website under construction, and a dish or two missed the mark), but they had a great concept with Lebanese food. The news got better when I found out that the truck is a family endeavor. The truck doesn’t say that, but I heard the man out front taking orders proudly mention that his daughter picked the name of the truck. For your reference, the name is a Lebanese garlic spread or as gourmands like to call it, aioli.

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• Famous Dal Wagon on 39th & 6th has a great sounding “non-vegetarian platter” [Midtown Eating]
• Suggestions for the new rice cart near the Time Life building [Midtown Eating]
• Hot Dogs from the Schnitzel & Things truck? [Midtown Eating]
• Trying to replace Omar is an impossible task [Midtown Eating]

Get your tickets here>>

Gotta love gyros. Eternally mispronounced to the point of redoing the word itself (I’m 99.99% certain it’s meant to be pronounced like “heroes” and not as it seems) and shifting actual names depending on the region (gyros to Greece, doner kebab to the rest of the Mediterranean) there’s too many crappy ones out there. Lezzette Mediterranean Cucina, literally just around the corner from the biggest “shut up and take my money” location in Midtown Southwest, has been around for a few years and quietly served as a go-to point for the area. There’s a couple other standouts on West 34th St. that merit a look, but as far as I know, Lezzette stands alone for amazing fresh gyros and really, really worthwhile Mediterranean salad.
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Not long ago, I began my quest to try all the tamales midtown has to offer by starting off at Sophie’s and trying a Cuban style tamale for the first time. Zach went on a similar tamale trek in 2008, and I’m excited to revisit midtown tamales four years later to see what’s still delicious and what’s new. I was fortunate enough to get some excellent recommendations from Midtown Lunch readers in the comments of my last post, and one comment inspired me to visit the “Tamale Lady” outside of the Mexican Embassy (39th Street btw Madison + Park). She received a proper review back in 2007, and the experience sounded like fun. Is she still there? I had to find out for myself.

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Earlier this week in the forums, one of our readers tipped us off on a new rice cart hoping to find a spot by the Time Life Building this week (50th + 6th). Rice pilaf you say? With chicken or beef? And whatever sauce you want? I was intrigued, so I headed to the miniature food-city-on-wheels to see what I could find. Dwarfed by its gigantic neighbor, the Nuchas empanadas truck, I found a flashy, unweathered food cart with a sign saying Rice The Great. This must be it. Mighty in name, small in size.

The cart has a very simple menu of a small pilaf platter for $3.00, a large rice pilaf platter for $6.00, or a pilaf burrito for $6.00. With any of these meals, you have a choice of either chicken or beef. Sodas and Dirty chips are $1.00 each. With the platters, you can get salad on the side with oil & vinegar or Italian dressing. As for sauce, you have a choice of house white sauce or house red sauce.

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If you’re a fan of Chick Fil A, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the PR shit-storm their President thurst them into last week with some less than nice comments about gay people.  Our lack of a real Chick Fil in Manhattan has been well documented, and Christine Quinn is trying to get the NYU food court location kicked out of the city.  But if boycotting a location you technically have to sneak into anyway isn’t really your thing, there is something else you can do to support the cause cause.

Starting today and through the month of August, both Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen locations will donate $1.00 from every purchase of a Schnipper’s chicken filet sandwich to Marriage Equality USA, a non-profit whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all. Check it out after the jump…
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• There’s a new street meat cart by the Time Life building [Midtown Eating]
• Omar has moved back to Morocco (the country, not the cart) [Midtown Eating]
• Did you see the Schnitzel & Things truck on USA the other night? [Midtown Eating]
• Steak N Shake makes a decent hot dog [Midtown Eating]
• Want to be a forums admin? [Site Support]