Midtown Lunch

Pee Wee Herman was everywhere yesterday! From Katz’s deli to playing basketball on 4th Street, Pee Wee spent the day twittering (and Four Squaring his way) through New York to promote his new/old Broadway show opening on 43rd Street. So, if you’re on a twitter marketing tour of NYC where do you stop to eat at the very end of the day? 4Food of course! (I guess nobody told him Shack Shack is around the corner from his theater?) Wonder if this means we’ll be spotting Pee Wee at Midtown Lunch spots for the next few months. That would actually be kind of cool…

• Where can I find good tamales? [Midtown Eating]
• Where to take a vegetarian friend in K-Town [Midtown Eating]
• Spaghetti tacos!? What the wha? [Miscellaneous]
• Looking for a good ice-less smoothie near 42nd St. [Midtown Eating]

Josh Ozersky was one of the original Bill’s Bar & Burger cheerleaders, and the opening of their new, massive Rock Center location hasn’t changed his POV.  He was there on opening day, and filed this little video proclaiming the sliders (a new item on the Midtown menu) the thing to get.  “Like a giant, high class White Castle”.

Check out the video after the jump.

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Everything’s coming up Wafels & Dinges this week. First the news that they are expanding to a new permanent vending spot in Central Park just over the ML boundary. Then the news that they tied for the #1 slot in the new Zagat cart ratings. I decided to pay them a visit and lo and behold their special of the week, the S’mores Waffle, had my name all over it. How could I resist?
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I’ve been enthralled recently by the goings on at Uncle Gussy’s Truck (on 51st and Park). I had a lot of respect for the well thought out letter that Nick, one of the truck’s proprietors, wrote to ML about truck legality. And of course Jeremiah’s recent post about their souvlaki gave me lunch’er envy. But when I saw that they were grilling up lamb chops (yes, genuine lamb chops) over rice for a lunch special this week, that sealed the deal. I high tailed it over to midtown east to finally give them a try.
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The good news is, starting on Monday (Oct. 11th) the Malaysia Kitchen Food Truck will be driving around town giving away free samples from 9 different local Malaysian restaurants.  Next week there will be a schedule up on their website or you can follow them on Twitter.  The bad news?  According to this, they’ll be using the El Guayaquileño Truck.  Not sure what this means for our fave Ecuadorean food truck (last spotted on 37th and 6th) but at least we’re getting free Malaysian food out of it! The truck will be out Monday-Friday from 11am to 3pm through November 19th.

It looks like the days of Mad For Chicken being a “hidden bar for those in the know” are all but gone.  Yesterday they put this big honkin’ sign up announcing the news that was reported last month… Mad For Chicken is now Mono + Mono. Based on what we heard from the staff when the name change was announced (and this report from the new downtown branch) things aren’t expected to change considerably. They updated the menu a few months ago to include maki and some bar foods, but it sounds like there isn’t going to be anything new or exciting beyond what we’ve already seen. That doesn’t mean that a return visit isn’t warranted, just to be sure… y’know, for science.

Related:
Mad For Chicken to Become Mono + Mono
Korean-Fried-Chicken-Palooza: Kyochon vs. Bon Chon vs. Mad For Chicken

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

Blondie and Brownie checked out this year’s Epicurious’ Ultimate Lunch Break, and were (naturally) big fans of Pies N Thighs, Ultraclay has launched a new tumblr account showcasing his photography, Danny decided to see what happens when you mix cheap chinese food and wine,  Amy is a big fan of Guerilla Ice Cream, and Chris H. has been busy defending the Vendy Awards on Yelp.

In the other sections of the site… Andrea discovered *another* biriyani cart in the Fidi, Jamie is taking advantage of some Oktoberfest specials in Philly, and I’m busy in L.A. stuffing my face at all you can eat Korean bbq joints. Finally, just wanted to say a quick thanks to Food and Wine Magazine, who included me in their list of “40 Big Thinkers Under 40” list in the November issue of the magazine (emphasis on “big”?) Kind of shock, considering that not much thought went into creating Midtown Lunch, beyond “How can I come up with an excuse to stuff my fat face every day at lunch?” Anyway, it’s a huge honor to be in such good company. Check out the full list on Eater. My portion of the piece is after the jump…

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