Midtown Lunch

I don’t know about you guys, but one of my favorite parts of that “Turf War at the Hot Dog Cart” article in the New York Times a few weeks back (the one about the infighting between street vendors) was the super cool Elwood Smith cartoon of all the fighting carts. I feel like it sums up so much of what’s going on in the Midtown Lunch world of street carts… but in a fun way that I thought would look awesome on my wall. In fact, I emailed the artist to see if he was selling prints, and he is! For just $50 you can actually own your own copy of the piece (it’s 12.25 x 9″).

Elwood is a really well known humorous illustrator, whose work you might recognize from Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. You can read more about the cartoon on his blog at Dawger.  And for information on how to purchase a print email  info@elwoodsmith.com (I think I’m going to put mine in my kid‘s room.  Is that wrong?)

Related:
NYT Cartoon Begs the Question: Is There a “Clam Roll” Cart in NYC?
New York Times Turns Giant Eye Towards the Street Vendor Issue

The NYMag Cheap Eats issue has always had a questionable but somewhat forgivable view of what constitutes “cheap”… everything has to be under $25 (although Minetta Tavern’s $26 black label burger somehow makes the cut.) Despite the high benchmark, this year’s issue (which focuses on pizza, sandwiches, and burgers) stays pretty true to a normal person’s idea of what is considered cheap. Only one problem… where’s the love for Midtown!?! With the exception of the $16 croque monsieur from Le Cirque (how is that cheap!?!) Midtown is completely ignored. I can understand being left off the 20 best pizzas list (we don’t have a good enough slice of pizza to compete with that amazing collection), and the 9 best burgers are arguably better than anything we have in Midtown (although I haven’t tried HB Burger yet), but they couldn’t find one good Midtown spot to include?

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Blondie and Brownie get a first taste of the Schnitzel & Things Truck, which opened for business this past weekend in Brooklyn.  They sampled both the cod and the pork, and thought the platters (which comes with two sides) were well worth the $9 price tag.  Sadly I saw no mention of veal on the menu or in the post.  Maybe it will be Midtown special! The post did mention that they will occasionally have veal as a special!  (They plan on hitting Midtown in the next two weeks, once all the kinks are working out.)  Follow their twitter, or the Midtown Lunch Twitter Tracker for updates.

Related:
New Schnitzel & Things Truck Launching in Early July

It sounds like last week’s Street Meat Palooza 2 caused a few problems for some of the vendors that scored well. Kwik Meal, the winner, reported larger than normal lines, while on twitter there were complaints of a 20+ minute line at Shendy’s (the second place cart) that was not moving. And this one probably has nothing to do with SMP 2, but another lunch’er complained they got a counterfeit $10 bill from the Steak Truck (the waffle fry plate of street meat that surprised everyone by taking 4th place.) On Wednesday I waited on line at the Famous Halal Guys cart (SE corner of 53rd & 6th) for 15 minutes, but that’s pretty much been the standard wait for at least a month now.  See the results from Street Meat Palooza 2 here >>

The awesome burger news just keeps on coming today. From HB Burger (on 43rd btw. B’way+6th): “This week only (July 13th through July 17th) from Noon to 5pm, get a beef cheeseburger with french fries, tator tots, or onion strings for $9.95. Limit one per customer, and you must mention Midtown Lunch to get the deal.” Take all the great reviews this place is getting, and combine it with my love of onions strings and tator tots, plus charge under $10 (the Midtown Lunch limit) and the writing is on the wall: I clearly need to try this place.

After the news broke that Tim Hortons was invading New York City by taking over 13 Riese owned Dunkin Donuts locations, blogs and newspapers exclaimed DOUGHNUT WARS!  Personally, I couldn’t care less about the doughnuts or free coffee from Tim Hortons.  I just want an ice cappucino! But whatever your morning poison is, there can be no question it’s a war. via the ML comments: “The scene at 50th and 7th this morning, where there is a recently converted Tim Horton’s on the NE side: Tim Horton’s guy giving out free coffee coupon on the NW corner. Dunkin Donuts girl giving out $1 off coupon on the NE corner. Question is, are there still any Dunkin Donuts in midtown?”  A second comment answers that question in the affirmative…

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It looks like Friday was a just a test run with a limited menu at the new Mantao Chinese Sandwiches (on 53rd btw. 2+3rd).  Today is their “Official Soft Opening” (which I’m guessing is code for “don’t blame us if everything isn’t perfect”.)  It opens at 11:30am and, you didn’t hear this from  me but, if you mention the super secret password “Ramones” you get 20% your order today only.  (Although technically I think that is for mailing list people only, so if you plan on using it be a sport and sign up for their mailing list.) Oh, and they’re also on twitter (natch.)

Related:
Mantao Chinese Sandwiches Coming to Midtown

Eater dropped this great news late on Friday afternoon: “A PR rep informs us that Five Guys Burgers and Fries secured a lease for a 1,700 square foot space at 690 Third Avenue (between 43rd and 44th Streets).”  For those keeping track, that’s the old Prince Deli space… and even though they had a 99 cent pizza deal, and decent falafel I don’t think it will be missed once Five Guys goes in!

Related:
Five Guys is NYC’s Closest Thing to In N Out Burger
SHOCKER: Prince Deli is Closed For Good