Midtown Lunch

Back in September, I checked out a 50% off deal at the just opened Peter’s Since 1969 (9th ave. btw 42+43rd). Even at half off, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the food, and didn’t really think much of trying them again. That is, until I saw them advertising a BBQ chicken sandwich for $4.82. That was a good enough reason for me to give them another shot. My return visit proved two things: 1) I’m a sucker 2) not much has changed at Peter’s.

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Baklava photo courtesy of @emilyarupp

It was almost a year ago exactly that Uncle Gussy’s, the Greek truck on 51st and Park Ave., went from a cart to a truck. And despite the current turmoil they are vowing to stick it out. Part of the reason is the great specials the truck allows them to serve, like today’s gemista courtesy of the owner’s Aunt Georgia (that’s tomatoes stuffed with rice and ground beef.)  Oh, and they also have a fresh batch of baklava, which we’ve heard is the “best… ever”. Here’s hoping they have better luck than the Jamaican Dutchy, whose recent move to a truck has put them in a lunchtime purgatory of sorts. (They were spotted last week in Queens, and haven’t twittered at all this week.)

In late May I blogged about the new breakfast service at Big D’s Grub truck. On my first trip I enjoyed the jalapeño corn cakes. But on a second trip I took Lunch’r beastegrl’s suggestion ordered the cakes with cheese (which Lunch’r beastegrl called “a MUST to balance sweet with salty”). Delicious. Sweet, salty, spicy, this makes for a killer breakfast. Adding the cheese will cost you an extra $.50 on top of the base $3.50 price but it’s totally worth the extra quarters. My only complaint is that they utilize the typical midtown fast breakfast technique of sandwiching the cheese between the hot cakes and wrapping it, thereby using the residual heat from the hot cakes to melt the cheese–if you tend to be eager to tear into your breakfast immediately, you’ll have to remember to wait for optimal melted cheese enjoyment.

Big D’s Grub Truck serves breakfast until 10ish (lunch service starts at around 11), and they should be on 53rd and Lex tomorrow (Friday), but as always check the Twitter Tracker before heading out.

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

Yesterday was Blondie’s birthday and she celebrated with this delicious looking strawberry pie, Brownie stuck with the pie theme and got a slice of blueberry pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds, Brian decided that it’s time for some ice cream, Donny finally tracked down Filipino food at Philly Pinoy, and I wrote a guide on SLR food photography on Foodspotting.

Elsewhere in the ML Universe, Zach splurged on some amazing looking Peruvian food in Downtown L.A., Andrea wrote about a Korean BBQ kiosk near City Hall and Jamie tried out the ‘Holy Grail’ of pork as she gets ready to judge Philly’s first Vendy awards this weekend.

Ever since Bouchon Bakery opened earlier this year, I’ve been having fun eating through the menu of sandwiches and sweets. I’d previously declared their tuna niçoise to be a fine sandwich, and I recently decided to splurge a bit for the slow roasted pork sandwich on a Dutch crunch roll ($11.25).

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Couple weeks ago we brought you news that Mangu Dominican (45th btw. Lex+3rd) was getting ready to open and had gave us a first look at their menu. They finally opened this week and I took a peek inside. Check out the photos after the jump.

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