Midtown Lunch

Last week Yushi (on 47th btw. Lex+Park) introduced a new bento specifically aimed at the Midtown Lunch crowd looking to get more for their money.  They call it the “Greatest Hot Hits”, and it’s got a mix of some of their more popular items all in one box.  Chicken teriyaki, 2 scallion and chive dumplings, edamame and fried rice all for $8.  I’m all about variety, so this thing is right up my alley.  The white meat chicken was not surprisingly a tiny bit dry (although I heard that they might be switching to dark meat) and the edamame could have used some salt… but overall it’s not a bad deal for $8 (especially for Yushi, where some of the bentos can leave a guy like me pretty hungry.)

Still worried it might not be enough food for $8?  Well fear no longer… Yushi has decided to offer Midtown Lunch’ers a buy one get one free deal on the “Greatest Hot Hits” box for one week only.  All you have to do is print out this post, and take it to Yushi during lunch any day this week, and you get two “Greatest Hot Hits” bentos for the price of one.

The fine print is after the jump…

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Thanks to Lunch’er Nick for sending over this photo from this morning.  It looks like the new location of Financier Patisserie has opened in the walkway that goes through the Fox News Building (on 6th Ave. btw. 47+48th).  The best way to access it is on 48th btw. 6+7th.  In addition to pastries they also have hot sandwiches, salads, quiche, and soups.  Also open is the new 99 Cent Pizza place on 3rd Ave on Lex btw. 45+46th.  Not surprisingly it is pretty much an exact rip-off of 99 Cent Fresh Pizza because it was opened by a former employee.  Thanks to Lunch’er Larry for sending in that photo.

Got news to report?  An opening, closing, or recommendation? Email it to zach@midtownlunch.com

Once a month the website Foodbuzz showcases 24 meals, by 24 bloggers, in the same 24 hour period around the globe. This month they chose Midtown Lunch to be one of the showcased blogs, and graciously agreed to fund a Street Meat Walking Tour of Midtown for 5 lucky Midtown Lunch readers and their guests. A contest was held, names were drawn (randomly), and on Saturday at Noon I lead 10 winners on a guided tour of the best street meat Midtown has to offer. We ate, met the vendors, ate some more, and compared. Here’s a little recap of the tour…

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Today’s New York Daily News has the obituary for Hallo Berlin Cart owner Rolf Babiel:

BABIEL-Rolf, Founder of Hallo Berlin, age 57 died at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan, NY, on Wednesday, October 21, 2009. Rolf Babiel was born June 24, 1952 in Hoyerswerd, Germany. He went to school there & later worked as a machinist in the open pit at Knappenrode. At age 23, August of 1975 he moved from East to West Berlin. There he drove a milk truck at night. In 1981 he immigrated to the United States. He bought a push cart, called it “Hallo Berlin” & began to sell German Wurst.

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Photo courtesy of Blondie and Brownie

• You can get a good chicken pot pie from Muldoon’s for under $10 [Blondie and Brownie]
• Kathy YL Chan is a big fan of Macaron Cafe‘s chocolate milk [SENY]
• The Palm finally gets their act together on those happy hour specials [Wined and Dined]
• David Sax says the matzoh ball soup at Ben’s is one of the top 5 deli dishes in NYC [Feed Blog]
• Joe and the Art of Coffee is now brewing beans from Ecco [Eater]
• Here’s a post for anybody who wonders what a free meal from Montenapo tastes like [Feisty Foodie]
• Brandy is a good way to wash down a lunch from El Rey del Sabor [Tessin Rinpoche]

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” posts about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

Zach has written about Manchester Pub’s sandwich challenge entry, and Lunch’er Sir-Eats-a-Lot emailed us about a few of their newer menu items, but I thought it was about time this pub received an official once over from this lush. Manchester is pretty small on the inside and there are 3 seating options: the bar, the wobbly cocktail tables or a few long wooden tables set off to the left. On my latest visit I arrived at 5:30pm and I was lucky to snag one of the long tables.

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I can’t believe it but Rolf Babiel’s brother Wolfgang is out right now working the Hallo Berlin cart (on 54th and 5th).  The line down the street was a fine tribute to Rolf (especially on a day when other well known carts seemed a little less crowded because of the weather.)  I let Wolfgang know how sorry we were to hear the news about his brother, and asked him what happened.  He told me that Rolf had cancer, and said as far as the future of the cart goes he’s just taking things day to day… “It still isn’t real for me yet.”

Related:
Hallo Berlin Cart Owner Rolf Babiel Has Passed Away

I guess Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop (on 5th Ave. btw. 22+23rd) is less than happy about the Cupcake Stop Truck’s Tuesday, Thursday & Friday spot right across the street from their 80 year old storefront.  It’s 10 blocks outside the Midtown Lunch boundaries, but kind of appropriate to the events of the past week. Eisenberg’s can always retaliate by opening a truck in front of the Cupcake Stop’s new East Village storefront.

Thanks to Lunch’er Rob for sending along the photo.

When the news first broke that Kwik Meal was going to be opening a pasta cart on 45th and 6th (next to their very famous street meat cart) I think we were all understandably skeptical.  Nevermind the simple fact that pasta from a cart seems like it would be difficult to pull off for anybody, but even if the noodles are cooked right what would pasta even taste like made by a guy known for his lamb over rice platters?  That being said, Muhammed Rahman is a good cook.  He famously spent time cooking at the Russian Tea Room, and he even owns an Italian pizza and pasta joint up in Harlem.  So maybe it’s not far fetched.  And once the positive reviews started pouring in, I had to go check this out for myself.

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