Midtown Lunch

Just because so much has been written about street vendors verbally threatening other street vendors doesn’t mean that people should get the impression that it never gets physical. In fact earlier today two ice cream vendors got into a fist fight over the corner of 6th Ave and 50th Street. The cops were already on scene when I walked up, and an ambulance showed up shortly thereafter (although it looked like only one vendor was hurt, and it was just a black eye.) I’m not sure exactly what happened because both the Police sergeant and the vendors pretty much refused to talk to me- but it looked like the vendors were given the opportunity to press charges and both get arrested, or make up with each other and just receive tickets. It looked to me like they both chose citations (natch), and the ice cream truck left pretty soon thereafter.

As contentious as you normally hear the relationship is between cops and vendors, this interaction looked pretty civil. I guess the cops mind less when the vendors are beating up each other.

One thing everybody involved can agree on is this: Don’t say anything to the short fat guy with a camera asking questions.

Lucky for us Lunch’er Rich was on the scene when the fight broke out and emailed in a first hand report…

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Here’s what lunchers are talking about right now in the forums…

• The Treats Truck is shilling for Visa *and* American Express!?! [Miscellaneous]
• I’m looking for a $4 milkshake near Grand Central. Anybody? [Midtown Eating]
• I don’t hate all generic Midtown delis [Midtown Eating]
• Best place for tuna salad? [Midtown Eating]
• The spiciest street meat can be found on 39th and 7th [Midtown Eating]
• Food related dating deal breakers [Miscellaneous]

At this point Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) is the only place left creating new sandwiches for the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge– although after reading this New York Times article about Pastrami Burgers, Lunch’er Adam had a great suggestion for the Steak Truck (on 47th and Park Ave.) in the forums yesterday:

“There’s the steaktruck… they have both burgers, and pastrami. I suggested to the steaktruck guy that he make a pastrami burger! If enough people ask for it, maybe he’ll add it to the menu (or perhaps he’ll just be nice enough to make one upon request.)”

I like it. A pastrami burger from a truck. Let’s make this happen…

Related:
Pastrami burger midtown or anywhere Manhattan?

A few more bits of info about the annual Bon Appetit pop up supper club were released today via the Bon Appetit blog. First off, the event is moving to 57th & 6th Ave. (which I believe is where the Delta Pop Up Cafe, and Target pop up store were located.)  Plus there is going to be outdoor seating, which is pretty exciting. This year’s participating chefs include José Andrés, Mario Batali, Rick Bayless, Cat Cora, Tom Douglas, Emeril Lagasse, Gina DePalma, Renato Poliafito and Matt Lewis, Nancy Olson, Alex Stupak, and they’ve already announced a few of the dishes including “Jose’s JLT with Jamon Serrano and Manchego” from José Andrés, a shrimp etouffee from Emeril, and a Venetian apple cake from Gina Depalma.  Very exciting!

The Bon Appetit Supper Club & Cafe will be open for lunch September 21-25th from 11am to 3pm.  Mark it on your calendars!

Related:
Day 1: Lunch at the Bon Appetit Pop Up Cafe (2008)
Emeril, Giada, Govind, Cat Cora, Pichet and more serve up lunch for under $10 in Midtown! (2007)

Every Tuesday I turn over the site to a different Midtown Lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Midtown. This week it’s Joe, a theater guy who wants to let you know about the show his company is putting on this week in Midtown West (also known as “the theater district”.)  More important than that, the show includes $1 beer!

Name: Joe

Age: 27

Occupation: Ruthless Theatrical Tyrant (actually, the producer of the nascent theater company called Big Rodent)

Where in Midtown do you Work?: Right now we’re putting on a production of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure at Theater 3, at 311 W. 43rd St (at 8th avenue). So I’ve basically lived my entire life there for the past couple weeks, including a few 6am-2am days. SHAMELESS PLUG #1: Tickets to the show are $20, but use the code NYCFOOD for $10 off at NYCmeasure.com. Plus we have $1 beer! In Midtown! After work!

Favorite Kind of Food: Tex-Mex. I was born and raised in Orlando, FL, so the lack of local Tex-Mex in NYC greatly disturbs me. Thankfully I’ve started to find a few acceptable places, but none in midtown yet. Taco carts are not enough for southern appetites.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I will seriously try everything. The only thing I can’t stand is when I have to eat the same food every day.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Midtown: Very tough choice, but I believe I’ll have to go with Island Burger (on 9th Ave. btw. btw. 51+52nd). Top notch cow, both in meat and shake, sways me. The Tijuana burger is my favorite: bacon, jack, guacamole, onion. And of course, the no-fries thing is rather charming, and good for the heart. I don’t usually work in midtown so it’s rare I get the pleasure to eat there (but I always check this site when I do)

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I know that most of you already know this, but sometimes it bears repeating for the new folks.  There are official ML boundaries that I do my best to stick to.  3rd Ave. on the East, 8th Ave. on the West.  32nd Street to the South, and Central Park South to the North.  I know a lot of you work outside those boundaries, but if I expand to 30th Street, then what about 28th?  And then from there, it’s only another 2 blocks to 26th.  In other words, you’ve got to have limits.

Occasionally, though, something amazing will come to my attention that excites me enough to cross those imaginary Midtown Lunch lines.  And those places we refer to as being “Out of Bounds”.  There are plenty of cheap Dominican/Cuban/Latin food options in Midtown, but none of them have what Papasito has (on 53rd btw. 8+9th).  A $6 lunch special.

For me, paying only $6 for a heaping plate of Dominican food makes it worth the extra bit of walking.  (Especially with Margon and Sophie’s Cuban costing $8+) But if the price isn’t enough for you, I discovered an extra little bit of incentive.

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Photo courtesy of Food in Mouth

Danny from Food in Mouth hit up Shilla (on 32nd btw. 5+B’way) last week, and was nice enough to report back. They are still running their lunch special, where $6 gets you a different soup or stew each day- plus a ton of banchan (the little dishes you get at the beginning of a Korean meal.) For take out they charge you $1 more. Here’s the daily lineup:

Mon – Kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew)
Tues – Sul lu Tang (beef knuckle soup)
Wed – Dwenjang jjigae (Korean bean paste stew)
Thur – Soon doo boo jjigae (spicy soft tofu soup)
Fri – Haejang guk (tradition Korean beef soup)

Danny went on Thursday, and got the Soon doo boo. You can check out his report here>>

Related:
Choong Moo Ro Introduces new $3 Lunch Special
Shilla Offers $5 May Lunch Special… If You Can Read Korean