Midtown Lunch

Happy Fat Tuesday! Or Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras…in any case today is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, a forty-day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. In many countries it’s tradition to eat pancakes or some sort of leavened fatty food (doughnuts etc) on Fat Tuesday because traditionally, all meat and dairy products were forbidden during Lent. Pancakes or doughnuts were a good way of using up the last of those meat, eggs and dairy pantry items. Whether you are preparing to observe Lent or not, here are some picks for where to get your Fat Tuesday on. Read more »

On Friday Fork in the Road posted their top 10 best vegetarian street food dishes, and almost half of them can be found right here in Midtown.  Among their faves was the beet and goat cheese taco from Mexicue, the masala dosa from the Sami Dosa Cart, the chosun bowl from Korilla BBQ, and #1… everything on the menu at Taim Mobile– who was also just named Best Food Truck in New York Magazine’s annual Best of New York issue.

Cupcake Stop Truck, the 2 year old food truck turned brick and mortar success story famously started by a law school grad who couldn’t get a law firm job during the recession, sent out this message via Facebook and Twitter late last night.  No other explanation has been given, and there has been radio silence from Lev (the owner).  Their website has diappeared, and the phone number at their new Greenwich Street location has been disconnected, but according to Grub Street their location in The Limelight is still open (although their phone # is disconnected as well.)

With no explanation, the theories are flowing… a bunch of Facebook commenters think it could be a hack job, but if that were true you’d think that at this point they would have issued a statement letting people know.  Another tipster thought maybe they got their money pulled out from under them?  Maybe Lev finally got that lawyer job?  Regardless of what the reason is, if it turns out to be a money issue we can only hope that will end the seemingly nonstop parade of puff pieces encouraging people to spend their life savings on opening a food truck.  (We’re looking at you Fox & Friends.)

As soon as we hear anything, we’ll let you know.

I’ve been wanting to try Big D’s Grub Truck ever since they came onto the scene back in January, but they tended to spend a good amount of time in Long Island City and Downtown. Downtown Lunch’s Andrea has checked them out a few times, noting that one should go for the pork or meat. When they were in Midtown last week, I saw on their Twitter that they were testing Chili Sesame Chicken and made my way over for some lunch.

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Our friends at Scoutmob have got a great deal today at one of our favorite places in Midtown… get 50% off at the Bon Chon on 38th Street (btw. 7+8th), and the best part is you don’t have to buy anything. All you have to do is enter your cell phone number and you score the coupon for free. But wait… there’s more. To sweeten the deal the awesome folks at Scoutmob have $100 in BonChon gift cards to give away to one lucky lunch’er who subscribes to receive their daily email. To enter, just follow this link and sign up by entering your email address in the box at the top ( where it says “join the nyc mob”). Already a Scoutmob member?  Post a comment below and we’ll make sure you’re entered to win the gift cards too.

So… just to recap.  Enter your cell phone number, get 50% off Bon Chon texted to you for free (on 38th.)  Enter your email address in the box at the top of the page, and you’re entered to win $100 worth of Bon Chon gift cards.  What are you waiting for?  You have until tonight (3/7) at Midnight to get the 50% off, but you can enter to win the gift card by signing up for the Scoutmob email through Friday (3/11) at Noon.  Good luck!

Last week we received a tip from the twitterverse that Cyber Café, the home of the beloved Madeleine the Crêpe Lady is now called “Cycle Café”, and that the stalls that were previously home to Tuck Shop and Madeleine, appear to be empty. I stopped by to investigate, and learned that the space is now under new management, who hope to renovate the interior. They’ve started by installing a juice and smoothie bar, and are re-vamping the counter space that Tuck Shop and Madeleine previously occupied. However they’ve assured me that the renovation should only take 2-3 weeks, and that Madeleine will be brought back afterward to keep making her delicious crêpes. We’ll do a follow-up visit next month to see if they stick to their word.

Related:
Madeleine The Crepe Lady (or the Hidden Gems of the CyberCafe- Part 2 of 2)

Last week I issued a challenge to Tri Tip Grill to outdo Dunkin Donuts’ Big ‘n’ Tasty (the new bacon, egg and cheese on Texas toast), and it only took a few days for them to accept our “suggestion”.  From the owner of Tri Tip:

Let me introduce to you, the aptly named “Midtown Toasty.” 3 strips of bacon, a fried egg, melted cheese on 2 awesome toasted pieces of our challah bread. After checking out the Dunkin’ toasty, there’s no doubt that we are going to be anointed the king of the toasties. The best part is it’s bigger, better, freshly made and is only $.50 more… you can also substitute the bacon for tri tip, if you so choose.

TriTip will be serving the Midtown Toasty ($3.99) all week, and they promise “if we sell 100 of them, we will add it to our breakfast menu permanently.”

Tri Tip Grill, Rockefeller Center Concourse, North Side, (212) 664-1003

Photos courtesy of Fork This

• Check out this good looking lunch for the often forgotten Taam Tov [Fork This]
• Yvo recommends Tri Tip Grill in Rock Center [Feisty Foodie]
• Bella Napoli on 31st makes a good square slice [SENY]
• Red Hook Lobster Pound will open a NYC truck in May!? [Grub Street]
• No 7 Sub makes a General Tso’s egg sandwich! [Zagat Buzz]
• The $12 bento from Aoki is a good deal [Tasty Eating]
• Is the NYTimes building cursed? [Gothamist]