Midtown Lunch

Photo courtesy of Blondie and Brownie

I usually prefer fritos or cheetos in my sandwiches, but beet chips could work too!  Blondie and Brownie hit up the Rock Center Greenmarket last Friday, and had this inspired lunch from Katchkie Farms: turkey sandwich stuffed with beet chips and a delicious looking bowl of cold zucchini soup. If you’re still deciding where to eat today, this looks like a damn good choice. (The Greenmarket is open Wednesday through Friday, but Katchkie Farms is only there on Fridays.  On Thursdays you can find them, and this sandwich, at the new Port Authority Greenmarket.)

Related:
Rock Center Greenmarket is Now Open

It looks like the day I have long been praying for has finally arrived!  It’s not a pork bun cart, or a Korean burrito bar- but it will have to do… The rumors are swirling that East Village based Momofuku will be branching out into Midtown in the next six weeks- opening a large (probably upscale) restaurant “in the old Town space in the Chambers Hotel on West 56th Street.” No word on lunch menu, or prices, but if this ends up being true (and Eater has it on good authority that it is) you’re about to see me break my Midtown Lunch $10 price cap.  (Sorry, but it has to be done.)

Related:
The Perfect Space For the Next Momofuku is in Midtown

UPDATE: New York Times’ Diner’s Journal confirms the news, and David Chang is quoted as saying they are kicking around the idea of “installing a milk bar in the front of the street-level entrance.”  Yes please.

Got some sad news for sushi fans in the inbox yesterday afternoon from Lunch’er Christina: “Went to Norimaki today, they have a sign up by the counter that says their last day is 8/28—they are closing.” Decent and cheap sushi is tough to find in Midtown, and Norimaki was one of the better options for that area. It will be missed.

Related:
And the Sushi Parade Marches On… to Norimaki

• Where do you eat after your wisdom teeth get pulled? [Midtown Eating]
• Macaron Cafe makes an excellent tuna sandwich [Midtown Eating]
• Buffets without sneeze guards are gross [Miscellaneous]
• You can also find a pastrami burger at Sarge’s [Midtown Eating]
• Can you imagine not dating somebody because they don’t use chopsticks? [Miscellaneous]
• A high school kid’s ode to Sammy’s Halal [Eating Outside Midtown]

With all the bad stories we’ve been hearing about vendors lately, it’s good to read about one who is giving back. (Sadly I don’t think poor Midtown office workers qualify as “needy”.)

I love how after three years of doing Midtown Lunch, plus Street Meat Palooza and Street Meat Palooza 2 there are still chicken and lamb over rice surprises left in Midtown. Take Little Morocco, on the NE corner of 39th & 7th, which I actually read about in the Midtown Lunch forums (yes, they are good for something!) Lunch’er NoPickles posted about the cart under the title “Spiciest Street Meat Cart”, which naturally caught my attention. After reading his rave, I had to check it out.

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El Rey del Sabor has added a third cart to their Mexican food empire. They’ve been flirting with the just out of ML bounds location on 28th Street and 6th Ave. for months now, but made it a permanent spot a few weeks ago.  This should considered great news for lunchers in the southern part of Midtown.  Their other two carts are located on 60th & 3rd, and 49th & 3rd.

It sounds like the cops were pretty busy with vendor complaints on Monday.  There was the ice cream fist fight on 50th & 6th, the Schnitzel Truck twittered that cops were called to a vendor fight downtown, and there was this thing on 45th & 5th…

I got word a few weeks ago that the owner of Kwik Meal, Muhammed Rahman, has a brother who opened a new cart on 45th & 5th, and was selling biriyani (in addition to chicken and lamb over rice.) Even though this new venture is not associated with Kwik Meal (this year’s Street Meat Palooza winner) in any way, I was still excited to try the food- after all, cooking skills could be genetic, right?  Sadly though, by the time I made it over to the corner, the brother’s cart had disappeared.

You may remember that Kwik Meal, which currently has four carts in their empire, used to park another cart on the corner of 45th & 5th called Kwik Meal 2, before it was stolen from the garage it was parked in.  They still operate Kwik Gourmet on 47th and Park, Quick Delight on 45th & 3rd, and Kwick Meal IV on 37th and 6th. But 45th and 5th has remained Kwik Meal-less… until Monday.

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