After having been missing in action for the past five months, the Salume Kiosk has reappeared in Times Square in the pedestrian walkway on 46th and Broadway, moving Snack Box back to their spot across the street. They’re not open yet, and I’m sure Times Square tourists will shell out $11 for a panini, but I’m interested to see if their return also brings an updated (more ML friendly) menu …
Posted by Rachel Goldner at 2:30 pm, May 8th, 2012 under Salume Kiosk, Times Square.
Free Cone Day At Haagen-Dazs: If Penn Station is part of your daily commute, you're in for a treat tonight! Today Haagen-Dazs is giving away free cones from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at select locations, including those in Penn Plaza. The full list is on their Facebook page, so even if you're not headed to Penn Station tonight, your local Haagen-Dazs store might have a sweet treat in store for you!
Posted at 1:15 pm, May 8th, 2012 | 0 Comments
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 Mike, a non profit marketer who has a good halal rec near Columbus Circle.
Name: Mike
Age: 34
Occupation: Non-profit marketer
Where in Midtown do you work? 61st & Columbus
Favorite Kind of Food: Mexican
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Chinese-American (I won’t say Chinese because I’ve never had the real stuff)
Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Chai Thai (55th and 8th) – super tasty, quick and cheap sit-down joint. The Pad Sea Eiw is like crack. The Flame Diner (58th and 9th) – dependable diner food; vines on the ceiling. Turkey burger and turkey club are standards. Halal Food Cart (61st and Broadway) – in a land of a thousand Halal carts, the guy with the beanie hat is king. Chicken over rice goodness for just $5.
I know Bryant Park’s Southwest Porch is kitschy, but I’m a sucker for porch swings. And fire pits. And I keep thinking that someday we’ll wake up and it will be gone. No more porch swinging! Horrors! For this summer, they added a few things to the menu, including calorie counts. When I heard an actual grilled burger was on the menu, I was game–even if it was $1 above the ML ceiling.
The Hallo Berlin empire has lost one of its outlets, as Hallo Berlin Express on 9th Avenue between 50th & 51st closed some time ago. We clearly didn’t catch that closing, but sharp eyed luncher Hightemp wrote in with a tip that The Claw restaurant had opened in its place. I walked by, and confirmed that they are open for business.
It’s not a devastating loss considering that Hallo Berlin itself is only an avenue away (on 10th between 44th & 45th) and the Hallo Berlin cart returned to 5th Ave. and 54th street last year. But we’re being careful to not get too excited over this opening. First, the menu at The Claw is priced well beyond what we’d want to pay for lunch, it’s well out of our normal bounds, and their Chelsea location received a pretty tepid review over at the Village Voice. Personally, I’ve been 100% faithful to Luke’s Lobster, and Lauren Shockey’s take is that The Claw probably won’t change your mind on Luke’s. She then adds, “Nevertheless, even an OK lobster roll is better than no lobster roll at all.” Truth.
Posted by Chris H. at 9:00 am, May 8th, 2012 under Hallo Berlin Express, Out of Bounds.
I received some very exciting news this week when Meru, kati roll master and owner of Biryani Cart told me he would be opening his first restaurant this week. My excitement waned only slightly when he told me it would be in Jamaica, Queens. Field trip, anyone?
The restaurant is called Voot-er Adda NY and if all goes according to plan, it will open on Thursday. The menu is a very interesting fusion of Bangladeshi and Chinese cuisine. Meru gave me a copy of the menu and it looks like a perfect Midtown Lunch spot (except for the whole geographical issue) with most dishes well under $10. Some of the wings he was serving at Juicy Wings are featured as appetizers, along with some deliciously described entrees like sizzling chicken katsu, Manchurian fried rice, and Thai style masala beef. The famous kati rolls are offered, along with (surprise, surprise) a $6.95 lunch special.
For now, Meru will still be manning the 46th Street cart during the day and will be at the restaurant in the evening. When I asked the busy chef if he plans on bringing any of these new dishes to Midtown, I got a good-for-now “maybe.”
Now through May 15, 35 of our favorite food trucks will be helping to raise funds for Citymeals-on-Wheels, an organization that delivers meals to the city’s housebound elderly. All the trucks will be collecting donations, while two rotating trucks will donate 5% of their revenue each day. It’s a partnership with the New York City Food Truck Association and you can find a list of participating trucks here. Who knew that Korean tacos could actually be used for good?
We’ve sang the praises of Certé for years now, but I’m continually amazed by the versatility and inventiveness of their food. On the surface, this place looks like any other generic deli, but the sandwiches are far superior and always affordable. When it was announced that the May sandwich was a “Chip & Crab Dip Sandwich,” there was a little tug of war among the ML contributors as to who would actually get to taste this bad boy. Needless to say, I won.
One of the most interesting discoveries Brian made at the Choice Eats food truck event a couple weeks ago was a new truck from Chinese Mirch, a Chinese & Indian food mash-up chain that has a Murray Hill location Clay enjoyed a while back (as well as a now defunct location on the Upper East Side that I used to like very much). While running errands on the Upper West Side the other day, I ran across the truck, and while chatting with the truck staff, I found out they plan to hit up Midtown very soon — unfortunately for me, most likely on the East Side. In the meantime, I immediately abandoned my previous meal plans to check out some Tibetan momos and other goodies.
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