Midtown Lunch

If you have any dramatic music, now is the time to throw it on…

2 years ago, a group of trailblazing Midtown Lunch’ers converged on Bryant Park with 13 plates of chicken and lamb over rice with white sauce and hot sauce from 13 different Midtown vendors.  The goal?  Crown a street meat champion of Midtown Manhattan, the undisputed chicken and lamb over rice capital of the world.  If you’ve ever been to New York City, you can’t help but notice the street meat.  A mix of Middle Eastern tradition, with cabbie induced street vendor ingenuity, it’s a lunch you won’t find in any other city in the world. The captivating smell will draw you in, and the taste doesn’t disappoint.  And while street meat neophytes will make the mistake of thinking that most carts serve pretty much the same dish, eating 15 different plates of street side by side instantly destroys that notion.

In 2008, The Famous Halal Guys’ daytime cart (parked on the SE Corner of 53rd and 6th) took home the inaugural Street Meat Palooza crown– silencing critics who have called the ultra popular cart bland and overrated.  A year later, the equally popular Kwik Meal cart (on 45th and 6th) had its revenge at Street Meat Palooza 2.  This year, both champions were retired in order to give somebody else a chance to shine- and 3 weeks ago 40 Midtown Lunch’ers converged on Bryant Park for a blind taste test of 15 different plates of chicken and lamb over rice with white sauce and hot sauce- all nominated by you.

The ballots were then sent to an accounting firm (not true) to be meticulously tallied and analyzed (that part is true) and the results are in…

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After noticing Chef’s Secret (formerly known as Thai Nam on 45th btw. Lex+3rd) was offering pho bo last week, I went back to try the Vietnamese beef and rice noodle soup to relieve my curiosity. They describe their new offering as “hearty beef broth scented with cloves and anise. Served with thin rice noodle. Choice of beef/chicken/seafood.” All for $9.50! OK, not the best deal in Midtown, but I figured it’s worth a try since they’ve pretty much plastered the NEW pho bo flyers all over their window, their sidewalk sign, and walls inside…

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• ML Happy Hour is today! Your chance to get out and meet your fellow lunchers [Midtown Connections]
• Luncher Adam Prato has been saying it’s good for over a year now, but Ipanema finally gets its due props in the forums [Midtown Eating]
• Spicy ramen soup with kimchi and dumplings? Yes, please! [Midtown Eating]
• It’s a sad day when your wife makes you eat at Cosi over Pizza by Certe [Midtown Eating]

After nearly six weeks of prelims, the Go Go Curry Eating Championship is happening a week from Saturday (June 5th) at 5pm inside of Go Go Curry (on 38th btw. 7+8th). Space is tight, and tickets to the event are incredibly scarce- but finalist (and Profiled Midtown Lunch’er) Will Millender has agreed to give up his guest ticket to one lucky Midtown Lunch’er. He’s looking for a Flavor Flav style Hypeman (or hypewoman) to cheer him on as he attempts to defeat last year’s champ, “Gentleman” Joe Manchetti. And to sweeten the deal Go Go Curry will toss in a special prize as well to the lucky winner (we’re guessing it involves free food of some kind) 5 free medium size curry coupons. To register to win, tell us why you deserve it in the comments.

Need some inspiration? Watch Will’s qualifying video after the jump. (Warning: If you’d be embarrassed to be seen at work watching an enormous man eat two plates of Go Go Curry in 42 seconds than the video after the jump is NSFW.)

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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 Adam, an accountant who offered his services to tally the results from Street Meat Palooza 3… which will be posted tomorrow!

Name: Adam

Age: 23

Occupation: Accountant

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Berdon LLP

Favorite Kind of Food: I love all food, but if I had to eat the same thing every day it would be seafood, even if led to me developing mercury poison and having to quit my job (ala Jeremy Piven). I also love sweets, so I try not to go to the Chelsea market because Witch Brownies stimulate a crack-like addiction and Bouchon Macaroons and Levain cookies are only blocks away from where I live.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I detest tuna fish or any other food that reminds me of it i.e. chicken salad, egg salad, etc. But besides that I eat anything, a nice Jewish boy who loves all the good things in life.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: XPL and Kwik Meal carts (Combo over rice w/ extra hot sauce), Blarney Stone on 3rd btw. 45+46th (Burger w/ onion rings), Toasties (had cut steak sandwich with onions and horseradish sauce), and I love taking the hike up to Gourmet 53 (on 3rd btw. 52+53rd) for whatever the daily lunch special happens to be. Although its prices are high I have to mention Dishes cause their hot buffet is great. My favorite midtown dish is the Wok Tossed Chicken and Chilis at Szechuan Gourmet.

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Street Sweets introduced their new expanded menu yesterday and added a bunch of items, like gelato sandwiches and lunchtime sandwiches. Since I’m an ice cream sandwich fiend, I decided to brave the rush hour crowd and ventured west from Midtown East after work to snag a gelato sandwich and to check out their new offerings.

Check them out after the jump…

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We do our best at Midtown Lunch to support buffets. Sure, they feature meats from unknown sources, and sometimes you might not feel so good after the fact… but sometimes you just can’t help it, you know? So it kind of scared us to see that the International Food House Restaurant & Buffet (on 35th btw. 7+8th) is now Cafe Nunez. Even though the awning is new, I was relieved to find that the interior is unchanged, and the buffet table is still intact. They still have takeout menus that say International Food House, but the Cafe Nunez website has their new menu.

Apparently after 5pm the restaurant turns into a fancy tapas place from Executive Chef Rene Hernandez- who according to the website, trained at the ultra famous Il Bulli in Spain.  Not sure about all that, but the lunch menu is pretty much the same- and features mofongo, sandwiches, burgers, and $8 Dominican specials like oxtails, stewed chicken, and pork chops.  As for the Happy Hour special that Mamacita wrote about last year, we’re not exactly sure if that’s still going…

Related:
Midtown Happy Hour: Stuff Your Face (and Drink Too) at the International Food House
All You Can Eat Meat at the International Food House Restaurant & Buffet