Midtown Lunch

Thanks to Lunch’er Jennie for this great tip… Bann, the pricey Korean restaurant on 50th St. btw. 8th+9th (in Worldwide Plaza), has blocked off a corner of their existing space, packed in four tables, and called it “Bann Next Door” (even though it’s technically not next door, but inside the restaurant.)  Confusion over location aside, Bann has always been out of the Midtown Lunch price range (save for Korean Restaurant Week 2008), but Bann Next Door’s under $10 menu, complete w/ pork spare ribs and Korean fried chicken, sounds right up our alley. (Yes, I said Korean fried chicken.)

Check out the menu after the jump… Read more »

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This place is already incredibly well known in L.A., but I’m new here so I didn’t know about it (and thought you guys would get a huge kick out it.)  After reading Mamacita’s post yesterday about the double down, I was completely drawn in by the top of this (what I thought was a) KFC in the Palms section of L.A.  yesterday. Sadly, when I pulled up to score my double down I discovered it had been converted into a weed dispensary!!  Yes, this is the spot that was the inspiration for the recent KFC South Park episode.  Yes, I completely felt like Cartman (complete with yelling and cursing.) And yes, I was foiled in my attempt to eat the new double down.  (Which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you ask.)

Speaking of which…

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Got a number of reports about the little “clash” this morning on 55th btw. Park+Mad that was briefly mentioned in the ML twitter tracker post this morning.   From Lunch’er “K”:

“FYI, went to get a waffles at the wafels and dinges truck on 55th street (madison and park) and they look like they are closed down.  Papa Perrones is on the phone yelling at someone and the wafels guy is with him.  Papa Perrones seems to be really upset that they are on his turf.  Hopefully they can work it out and the wafels and dinges truck won’t have to move.”

Thomas from Wafels and Dinges jumped in to explain what happened in the comments…

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Every Tuesday I 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 Alison, a media salesperson who wishes we would do a Street Coffee Palooza!

Name: Alison

Age: 35

Occupation: Media Sales

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Rockefeller Center

Favorite Kind of Food: Things I can’t teach myself to cook at home, and that are so much better in restaurants anyway, like Thai, Sushi, and Ribs.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Anything I had to wait for, pay a lot for, or that left me hungry.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Roast Beef and Arugula sandwich at Pret a Manger, the C1 sandwich from Lenny’s, ‘Wichcraft, Koi at the Bryant Park Hotel.

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Before we dared to stuff two fried chicken fillets between biscuits and before we knew of Franken pie, there was a time when I got excited over good deals from places I walk by everyday. The other week, I passed East Japanese (on W 55th btw 8th+Bway) which had a banner advertising its awesome $5 Hiru-Bento AKA an “un-ignorable and unforgettable restaurant quality to-go lunch with restaurant price!” I’m a sucker for hype (Momo. What? Where!), but love cheap and satisfying grub even more. (Unintentionally funny translations are just a bonus.) So, of course, I had to find out what’s inside the box…

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If you like giant tasting events, Midtown’s biggest is coming up at the end of the month… It’s the 10th Annual Grand Gourmet: The Flavor of Midtown, presented by the Grand Central Partnership, and it will feature dishes from over 30 Midtown restaurants- including ML favorites the Grand Central Oyster Bar, Murray’s Cheese, Naples 45 and a ton more.  It all goes down April 29th from 7 to 9:30pm at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central. Tickets are $75, but we’ve got a pair to give away to one lucky Midtown Luncher. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below letting us know what free samples you’d be most excited to house at the event (a full list of participating restaurants can be found here.) The winner will be drawn at random on Monday, April 19th at Noon.

Don’t want to leave it to chance? You can buy your tickets for the event here.