Midtown Lunch

Yes please.

If you’ve been following the ML Twitter Tracker, you know that Uncle Gussy’s has a new venture up their sleeve. For the past few months they’ve been perfecting Greek-style frozen yogurt, ice cream and sorbet recipes. Early reports from yogurt sampling they did back during that hot spell in March were good and with some luck the cart will be opening today.

I recently had a chance to catch up with Nick to get the full scoop (haha) on their new cart.

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Do you wonder what the ML contributors do when they’re not eating lunch in Midtown? (We’re actually pretty easy to stalk!)

Testing out recipes for Blondie & Brownie’s upcoming book. Photo by Brownie.

Rachel had short ribs at home, Brian checked out the All American at SmashBurger, Donny had dinner at Il Paiolo in Williamsburg, Blondie went to Dekalb Market for Dinner and a Movie, and Brownie tested recipes for Chinese Tea Eggs.

Elsewhere in the ML universe… Zach designed a two hour taco tour through Los Angeles, Jamie in Philly admits to a craving for Ikea’s Swedish Meatballs and Andrea reports on Okadaman, a new Japanese food truck that’s hitting the streets next month.

If you’re into large, splurge worthy Midtown dinners you’ll be excited to hear that Ma Peche (on 55th btw. 5+6th) has introduced 2 new large format dinners to their menu.  But that isn’t the only news to come out of Midtown’s Momofuku today.  We hinted at it a few weeks ago when we looked at Ma Peche’s new lunch options, but today it becomes official.  You can now have Ma Peche’s take out lunch menu, featuring sandwiches, buns, small plates, and Milk Bar cookiesfor delivered to your office.

Check out the delivery zone after the jump…

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It’s been several years since we’ve talked at all about Ustav. Zach pretty much covered all the bases when he originally reviewed the upscale Indian joint in 2007, focusing on their $7.95 or $9.95 take out lunch that costs $18.95 if you eat in their dining room. A lot has happened since 2007, not the least of which was some crazy financial turmoil, so it’s surprising to me that Utsav’s lunch deal remains the same both in price and in quality as when Zach originally reviewed it. And, even more surprising, I hardly hear people talking about this place, yet it is still really great Indian food.
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A while back I had tried the Blue Halal Cart on the SE corner of 46th St and 3rd Ave and found their hot sauce to be quite spicy. I haven’t been back since (there’s just too much good street meat to eat in the area!) but was always happy to see a long line of people getting their lunch from this cart. So the other day when I was craving the flavors of street meat I though it might be a good time for a return visit. There was just one problem though. It was Monday and I have been trying to be good about doing the “Meatless Monday” thing (I know..I know I should get my ass kicked.) So how does one get the flavors of street meat over rice and not get the street meat? It’s actually quite easy, get the falafel over rice combo- which the Blue Halal Cart happens to fry fresh to order.

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In case you were unable to pay your respects to Prime Burger, which sadly closed its doors over the weekend, you can relive all the old school charm through a video produced by Lost & Found Films. The beautifully shot documentary short focuses on the food and the people who made Prime Burger tick. It was filmed before the announcement of the closing and is even more heart wrenching when you get to meet the employees who have made this place an institution for decades. Thanks to Lunch’er Rattmouth for tipping us off to this in the comments.

Check out the video after the jump.

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Schmackary’s has officially become my new favorite place to get cookies since the Treats Truck left Midtown. They just opened a couple weeks ago, and in my first visit, I was going to get something pretty standard, like chocolate chip, to be able to properly judge based on familiarity. But, apparently I’m really attracted to buttercream frosting, because instead I went with cookies covered in it. And, it’s amazing, by the way.
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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 Emily, an office admin who has graciously agreed to brave the ML commenters to help out fellow vegan Midtown Lunchers.

Name: Emily

Age: 29

Occupation: Office Admin and vegan blogger

Where in Midtown do you work? Grand Central Terminal area

Favorite Kind of Food: Any Asian cuisine, bonus points if it’s spicy.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: A mushy veggie burger

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Being vegan, it can be pretty difficult to find quality vegan meals in Midtown. My ultimate favorite is when The Cinnamon Snail vegan food truck is in the neighborhood… I can’t resist their food and pastries. My favorite thing from there is their General Tso’s Seitan sandwich, but that’s only on special every now and again. I love Franchia’s (vegan Korean) vegetarian Stone Bowl (on Park btw. 34+35th) with their spicy chilli sauce as well as their assorted dumpling platter. I’m also big fan of the raw pizza from the FreeFoodsNYC (on 45th btw. 5+6th) lunch bar, the edemame salad from Dishes in Grand Central Marketplace, the super protein plate from NatureWorks the food bar at Health Nuts. The food court in Grand Central also has a couple places with good vegan options — Two Boots V is for Vegan pizza, the green curry from Thai Toon (on 42nd btw. Park+Vanderbilt) and cucumber avocado rolls from the sushi joint (the name is always changing so I’m not sure what its called now).

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