Out with the old, in with the… old. If you were hoping that something exciting was going to replaced the recently shuttered Sbarro’s in the subway station beneath 30 Rockefeller Center- I’m sorry to have to break this news to you. It’s being replaced by an Au Bon Pain. They make good cookies, but there’s already one across 6th Ave. on 50th Street. Can’t we get something new and fun!?! (Thanks to Lunch’er Nick for the photo…)
It’s been forever and a day since Taam Tov (the semi-hidden 3rd floor Uzbeki restaraunt on 47th btw. 5+6th) has been mentioned on Midtown Lunch, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the spotlight. The Polish version of Playboy featured them recently. Now I know what you are thinking… “Zach, I could have sworn your subscription to Polish Playboy ran out over the summer. How on earth did you find this article?” Well, that’s an easy one. They used one of the photos from my post about Taam Tov in the article. I have no idea what the feature was about, or what they said about the place, because I can’t read Polish… but it’s exciting anyway. Look Ma! All your hopes and dreams for me finally have come true. Your little boy has a photo credit in Polish Playboy.
If you can read Polish, after the jump there is a close up of the sadly-safe-for-work article (which I’ve heard are really good in Polish Playboy.)
Posted by Zach Brooks at 1:30 pm, October 16th, 2009 under Polish Playboy, Taam Tov.
It’s been a duck kind of a week. Yesterday I wrote about the Thursday duck pancake special at Yushi… and then subconsciously (or consciously) I felt a sudden urge to try the duck soup from Aura Thai. I’ve seen the soups at Aura mentioned a bunch of times on Midtown Lunch (most notably by Lunch’er “Nantini”) but the place is out of bounds (9th Ave. btw. 35+36th) and there are plenty of good soups in Midtown. We don’t need to be hiking out to 9th Ave. just for soup.
Now that I’ve tried the soup, though, I think hiking out to 9th Ave. is exactly what we all need to be doing (especially now that’s it starting to get colder.)
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:45 am, October 16th, 2009 under Aura Thai, Chinese, Out of Bounds, Soups, Thai.
Photos courtesy of Food in Mouth
Midtown Lunch’er Danny was all about carts on his blog Food in Mouth this week, giving a big thumbs up to Street Meat Palooza 2 winner Kwik Meal (on 45th & 6th). Sadly, the spicy pork tacos at El Rey Del Sabor (on 43rd btw. 5+6th) were plenty spicy but not as porktastic as he would have liked.
Related:
Street Meat Palooza 2: Our New York City Chicken/Lamb Over Rice Showdown Crowns A New Champion
All Midtown Lunch Posts about El Rey del Sabor
All Midtown Lunch Posts About Kwik Meal
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:00 am, October 16th, 2009 under El Rey Del Sabor, Kwik Meal.
Cheese Skirt Burger Challenge: Taking a page from the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge, Adam Kuban and A Hamburger Today have challenged every burger spot in NYC to make a hamburger complete with cheese skirt. We wholeheartedly back them in this endeavor, and hope that a Midtown spot will be the one to step up to the plate.
Posted at 8:45 am, October 16th, 2009 | 11 Comments
I got this email a few weeks ago from Lunch’er “Carolyn” and forgot to post it:
My colleagues and I are big fans of Shendy’s on 6th and 52nd (even before the hit it big in Street-Meat-Palooza 2009). We’re concerned about changes we’ve seen of Shendy’s as of late and is wondering whether Midtown Lunch can get to the bottom of it. I’d say this has been going on for about a month now, I’ve noticed the following:
1. New guys at the cart at lunch time– who are not as fast or streamlined.
2. The worst offense– their chicken taste has changed. I believe that they now use red bell pepper that I don’t remember seeing before and it really throws off the taste.
3. I’ve also gotten other reports about Shendy’s, including: switched from rectangular to circular containers, serving bread with the meal, new yellow rice recipe, different white sauce, and slow SLOW serviceSOMETHING IS UP!
Anybody else noticed anything out of the ordinary?
Alert! Cart Inspector in Midtown Today: From the ML Forums: "Waiting for my lamb and kofta at Halal Guys, there was a health inspector thoroughly going over everything at the cart. None too pleased that 2 of the 3 guys don't wear gloves... I suspect she'll be wandering over to other carts shortly."
Posted at 2:15 pm, October 15th, 2009 | 4 Comments
Thanks to Niko from Dessert Buzz for forwarding along this early photo from Melt, the new gelato and crepe cafe (on 2nd Ave. btw. 55+56th) that’s attempting to break a world record by giving out free gelato until 7pm tonight. Apparently as of 12:10 there still was no line… but I’m guessing the scene isn’t quite as serene right now. Or maybe rainy day = perfect day for freebies! If you end up braving the lines (and the rain) feel free to post updates in the comments so other lunch’ers know if it’s worth it. (According to Niko it’s “easily competitive with Grom or Il laboratorio Del Gelato.”)
Update: “20 people on line right now at 1:22 p.m. — that is about 5—7 minutes says Gino the manager…”
Posted by Zach Brooks at 1:15 pm, October 15th, 2009 under At Lunch Now, Free Stuff.
I had been hearing rumors that the Downtown branch of Yushi had been tearing things up on Wednesdays with a new peking duck special. So when the Midtown branch (on 47th btw. Park+Lex) announced two weeks ago that they too would be doing peking duck (on Thursdays) I was mildly excited. See, Yushi and I have always had a complicated relationship. When they first opened I wasn’t down with their expensive bento boxes, and low calorie mentality. But they’ve won me over since, with cool sushi rolls (peking duck sushi anybody!?), delicious soups, and free giveaways for Midtown Lunch’ers. Sure everything is a bit more expensive than I would like, but the food tastes good- and the quality of the ingredients is better than your average take out joint.
Peking duck pancakes and fried rice for $9 on Thursdays only? Alright… I’m down to take the plunge.
Photo courtesy of A Hamburger Today
Today, Serious Eats Grand Poobah Ed Levine jumped onto A Hamburger Today to pen a review love letter to Prime Burger, the full of charm old school Midtown burger spot on 51st btw. Mad+5th. It’s kind of surprising, considering that Nick Solares tore the place apart on the very same website when he reviewed the place back in April. In fairness to Nick though he didn’t follow all of the “ordering rules”.
According to Ed, Prime Burger started pre-cooking their burgers to keep up with the fast food burgers spots in Midtown- so if you want the full experience you have to “specify you want your burger made from scratch, and that you’re willing to wait the extra few minutes.” He also says to ask the broiler man to salt the burger before cookingit. Do all this, and according to Ed you’ll end up with “a juicy burger that tastes a lot like a Shake Shack burger.”
Related:
A Hamburger Today Deems Prime Burger Unworthy
Prime Burger (and the Battle Between Boss & Blogs)
