Midtown Lunch

• Indus Express has a for rent sign in the window [Midtown Eating]
• Has the gyro at the Famous Chicken Place gone downhill? [ML Comment]
• Ocha’s 3 roll combo is better than Aoki’s [ML Comment]
• The Five Guys on 3rd Ave. is training their staff [ML Comment]
• “I Need a vegetarian lunch for a big group” [Midtown Eating]
• Kyochon looks like they’re still on track to open next month [ML Comment]

Back in April Always Hungry did a Best Matzoh Ball Soup in NYC round-up that conspicuously left off Cafe Edison (on 47th btw. B’way+8th.) Well they finally admitted their mistake this week, after visiting the Midtown landmark for an awesome looking lunch. In addition to the soup, they also gave high marks to the Cafe Edison kasha, blintzes, and called their chocolate egg cream “perfect”. Somebody should tell Ed Levine!

Related:
Midtown Has 2 of the 3 Best Matzoh Ball Soups in NYC
Celebrate the New Year at Cafe Edison

When Kwik Meal cart owner Muhammed Rahman announced that he’d be bringing Kwik Meal IV to 45th and 6th and converting it into a past cart, I admit I kind of thought he was crazy.  Pasta from a cart?  Sure, he owns a pizza and pasta joint up in Harlem (and he famously used to work at the Russian Tea Room), but pasta just doesn’t seem like it would lend itself to the high volume craziness of the Midtown lunch street food scene.  I was quickly proved wrong by my first visit to the cart.  The angel hair with chicken and veggies was a good lunch, and not only was the pasta not over sauced (a crime in my opinion) but it had this great spicy kick to it that reminded you in every bite you were eating pasta from a street meat cart.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was “amazing” or the best pasta I’ve ever had, but it was definitely better than I expected.  And for $6, how could you go wrong?

Since then Muhammed has expanded his menu from 3 to 5 pastas, and yesterday I stopped by to try his new penne with meat sauce.

Read more »

Papa Perrone just can’t catch a break.  The popular Italian food truck (which parks on 55th btw. Mad+Park) has been having loads of oven problems over the past few months, and yesterday the Papa himself ended up getting burned.  From owner Jon Paul: “We had a fire on our truck and I got burned pretty good.  Went to relight the oven and there was gas still in the oven.  It came out like a fire ball and burnt my face.  The doctor gave me some cream, and I am gonna follow up with a burn specialist just to be safe.  Looks like it will be okay.  Hope to be back by Tuesday, but I am trying to get somebody to work the truck tomorrow.”  This comes just two weeks after a fire broke out on the Schnitzel Truck, but luckily nobody was hurt in that one.  Glad to hear Papa Perrone is ok, and hope to see him back on the street soon.  Follow his twitter account or the ML Twitter Tracker for more updates.

It’s good to see that the El Rey del Sabor Mexican carts aren’t content to just rest on their laurels. We all know their huaraches are boss, their mole is tight, and their lengua tacos are tongue-tastic. But they’re always coming up with new specials, and  “The Hungry Commuter” checks in to let us know about the latest:

El Rey de Sabor is serving chalupas!!! I had lunch yesterday at El Rey de Sabor on 43rd and 6th and while I was prepared to get my standard 3 salt beef tacos, I noticed a sign that said they had a chalupa platter special for $6. It includes 3 chalupas with your choice of meat (I got the spicy pork) and rice and beans on the side. Score! Chalupas were on point! They use the same corn tortillas they use for tacos, but these are fried and stuffed with the meat, sour cream, salsa verde and queso fresco. Had to send a pic, too.

Read more »

The Rock Center Tree Lighting wasn’t the only thing causing craziness on 48th Street yesterday.  Fork in the Road is reporting that disgruntled Wu Liang Ye workers (from the now closed 39th & 86th Street locations) were protesting the branch on 48th btw. 5+6th yesterday. You might remember that back in July these same workers held a demonstration outside the Wu Liang Ye on 39th and 3rd Lex., claiming that the restaurant (along with the 86th Street location) was owned by the Chinese Government and horribly mistreated their employees.  In October, a judge ruled that the locations had to pay back wages and compensation to the workers, but those two branches have closed since then- leaving the Wu Liang Ye on 48th Street the only location left to protest in front of (even though 48th Street was excluded from the lawsuit by proving they had a different owner.)

The workers told Fork in the Road they don’t care what the paperwork says, all three Wu Liang Ye locations were opened and run by the same person. If these allegations turn out to be true, it’s hard not to side with underpaid and mistreated workers- but my stomach hopes that the 48th Street location really does have nothing to do with this.  Wu Liang Ye serves some of the best Szechuan food in Midtown (a fact that I discovered thanks to Fork in the Road, coincidentally enough.)  It looks like Blondie and Brownie agree with me as well.  They broke the picket lines yesterday for some Dan Dan Noodles.

Related:
Workers Stage Protest Against Chinese Govt. Owned Wu Liang Ye
Fork in the Road Weighs in on Wu Liang Ye