Midtown Lunch

Felt some major pangs of jealousy this morning reading about the new Downtown location of Bon Chon chicken on John St. As for our Bon Chon (comng soon to 38th btw. 7+8th), somebody in the new Downtown location told me it might be open at the end of this week, if not next week. As for the new branch of Kyochon coming to 5th btw. 32+33rd, the plywood might be down but they don’t plan to open until next month. In the meantime, there is still Mad For Chicken (the spot on 5th Ave. btw. 31+32nd that used to serve Bon Chon) but it’s not exactly fast food.

Related:
More Korean Fried Chicken Coming Soon to Midtown & Downtown
Mad For Chicken is So Not a Midtown Lunch… But Damn That is Some Good Chicken

As much I love meat on a stick, I admit I haven’t been back to Kushi Q (on 3rd Ave. btw. 45+46th) since they first opened almost 3 years ago. I liked it enough, for a fast food-under $10 yakitori spot, but it’s always tough for me to revisit a place. What can I say? Midtown lunch is a tough a gig. :-)

But when I heard they had opened a new location in the CitiGroup Center basement food court (on 53rd btw. Lex+3rd), I figured it was a good excuse for some fast food meat on a stick action… and it turns out they’ve made some positive changes in two years (go figure!)

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Always Hungry has taken on the massive task of finding the best slice of pizza near the Empire State Building, and all I can say is… wow. They visited a ton of places, including Little Italy (on 33rd and 5th), Sabina’s aka Kabab and Grill (on 36th btw. 6+7th), Cafe Rustico II (on 35th btw. 5+6th), Aroma (the Kosher spot with the fake pepperoni on 36th btw. 5+6th), Arome (on 32nd btw. 6+7th), and even the pizza inside of Gyro II (on 7th btw. 33+34th). Their verdict… Squisito (on 34th btw. Mad+Park) beats out Little Italy for the top spot.

Related:
Little Italy Pizza Proves You Can Get Good Pizza in K-Town

Last week Lunch’er Bill tipped us off to the Munch Truck, a brand new street vendor parked on 56th & Park: “New Clean and very large looks like a catering truck but is open to the public complete with a satellite tv to watch while they are cooking… Husband and wife team… We can only wish them the best but you may want to check out and do a write up? I haven’t eaten there yet…”  All the standard Midtown cart food is accounted for (falafel, gyro, chicken over rice), but they’ve got a whole bunch of not so standard items as well.

Check out their menu after the jump…

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On the Left, My Lobster Roll; On the Right, the Twittered Lobster Roll

Shame on Urban Lobster Shack! I enjoyed my under $10 lobster roll at the newly opened Urban Lobster Shack inside the basement food court on 3rd Ave. btw. 49+50th. But I was a little surprised by the lobster roll photo they tweeted last week. I didn’t really notice any significant amounts of claw meat in my sandwich, but check out their bad ass claw filled lobster salad sandwich.  Not quite lobster-gate, but whoever got the sandwich in that photo was a lucky lunch’er if you ask me!

Related:
Urban Lobster Shack’s $10 Lobster Roll Is Worth the $$ (But More Importantly, the Price is Permanent)

Back in October Kwik Meal owner Muhammad Rahman got some competition from an unlikely source when his brother pulled up his “Fahima Hala” cart to 45th and 6th to sell chicken and lamb over rice right next to the Kiwk Meal cart. The brother didn’t last long at the spot, and Muhammad brought in the Kwik Pasta cart to try and keep him away.  Well from the looks of things it didn’t work because according to Lunch’er “Victor” Fahima Halal, which had been parked on 42nd btw. 8+9th for the past few months, spent last week (and today) parked on 45th and 6th.  Anybody try the food.  I’m curious how it stacks up to his brother’s.

Related:
Kwik Meal Kin Stirs Up Weekend Vendor War