Midtown Lunch

Apparently Monday at 1:30pm is the time to hit up the new Baja Fresh on Lexington btw. 45+46th.  5 people in line.  Nobody at the salsa bar.  Got my food in five minutes. (A stark contrast with… I don’t know… say… opening day.) Finally, the chance to enjoy one of the things I really miss about living in Los Angeles: the Baja Chicken Burrito.  Since this chain opened up their first Manhattan location last Monday I’ve heard a lot of words thrown around.  Overrated, overhyped, meh.  To those people I say… you may be right.

Expecting Mexican food greatness from Baja Fresh is like hoping for rare roast beef on your Arby’s Sandwich. And complaining that it’s not real Mexican food is like wishing that In N Out Burger served thicker patties. You don’t compare In N Out to JG Melon; you compare it to McDonalds.  In other words, in the world of fast food pseudo-Mexican corporate chains (Chipotle, Qdoba, Taco Bell), Baja Fresh is the king. And in a terrible Mexican food city like New York, any decent addition is welcomed with open arms.

Of course I base that opinion entirely on the Baja Chicken Burrito, which is pretty much the only thing I order at Baja Fresh. But after hearing negative things about the New Jersey locations of Baja Fresh, I was concerned that this NYC franchise wasn’t going to be able to pull it off.

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It’s only fitting that with Fashion Week set to leave Bryant Park next year, Fashion Soup (on 41st btw. 6+B’way) would run into some problems of their own. Anybody know what’s going on with this place? They were closed last Friday (the 22nd), and then again yesterday. The last time specials were posted to their website was on Friday the 29th, and nobody is answering their phone. There doesn’t seem to be any problems with the DOH, so what’s the deal? Anybody eat at Fashion Soup recently? Or have some info? Post it in the comments…

Update in the Comments: “It appears they are selling all of there store supplies so… this place is history. On a side note if your in need of a really big pot or spoon you can stop by and probably get a good deal..”

Speaking of Kwik Meal, I guess last week wasn’t the best week for Meal O’Bama- the fourth cart in Muhammad Rahman’s Kwik Meal empire. Apparently because of complaints from the building he was parked in front of (and surrounding restaurants), the police forced the cart to abandon its spot on 37th & 7th. And to add insult to injury, the cops told Muhammad he should probably change the name of the cart or he was “going to have problems.” The Obama administration has stated in the past that they disapprove of using “the president’s name and likeness for commercial purposes”, but as far as I know there is nothing illegal about it.

The cart has been renamed Kwick Meal IV, and is now parked on the NW corner of 6th Ave. and 37th.

UPDATE: This cart is now parked on 45th and 5th

Related:
Kwik Meal Names New Cart After (Irish?) President Obama

A video has finally surfaced online of Bobby Flay’s falafel Throwdown victory over Taim (in the West Village). Even Bobby’s Food Network assistants were shocked that his falafel won, but Midtown Lunchers shouldn’t be. He got help from Kwik Meal’s Muhammed Rahman. It happens around 4 minutes and 30 seconds in the video if you want to fast forward.

Check out the video, after the jump.

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After a few months of being out of commission, Wafels and Dinges hit the road again a few weeks ago with a brand new, tricked out truck.  To celebrate, they gave away free wafels on Thursday… so naturally I was there to wait on line and get my bit of free waffle goodness. The new truck is quite a sight to behold, with a giant lit up menu and newly installed speakers that pump 50s music from Sirius/XM satellite radio onto the street.  If you’re really lucky, they’ll throw on the kind of annoying/kind of amazing “Waffle Song” while you’re waiting on line.  It’s really loud, and I’m guessing at some point it’s going to get them kicked out of at least one of their regular spots.  After15 minutes of hanging out, and listening to music, I thought for sure the guys serving the waffles were going to jump on top of the truck and start singing and dancing.

For free waffle hour, you got a half portion of whichever kind of wafel you wanted (brussels or liege) topped with two dinges (I went with banana and chocolate.)  Delicious.  Of course, the fact that it was free helped tremendously.  I’ve never actually done a proper post about the Wafels and Dinges Truck, which spends a few days a week in Midtown.  As you may or may not know, they not only sell waffles with sweet toppings but they also have savory waffle topped with BBQ pork and cole slaw that’s perfect for lunchtime. I posted about this when they introduced it back in October, but never actually got to try it for myself.

Well, as long as I was there…

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Beard Papa fans shouldn’t be too upset about Friday’s news that they’re leaving Cafe Zaiya (on 41st btw. Mad+5th). Not only is Beard Papa going to look for another Midtown location to sell their cream puffs, but Cafe Zaiya will be converting the extra space into a dessert/drink bar. From the GM of Cafe Zaiya:

“We will be creating a drink/dessert bar as time comes. A big store like us and all we serve is hot coffee/tea? We just got a nice state of the art machine as well. Our plan is, sometime in June, to offer a full service drink bar w/ a japanese touch just like the one down the street in the bookstore.”

Oh… and that includes bubble tea.

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Following in the footsteps of Chop’t, FreeFoods NYC (on 45th btw. 5+6th & 52nd btw. Lex+3rd) is introducing their own version of the banh mi today.  Of course “their version” means it’s free range chicken and wildly overpriced.  It comes topped with pickled carrots, toasted peanuts and red chili mayo on a Sullivan Street Bakery baguette. If you thought paying $8 at Boi Sandwich was ridiculous, I can’t imagine how you’ll feel spending $11 on this version of a banh mi. Unless some (rich) early adopters say it’s the greatest sandwich of all time, I don’t think I’ll be breaking the ML price boundaries for this.

Also happening today in the Midtown Lunch sandwich world… Certe (on 55th btw. 5+6th) introduces their June entry to the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge: a beer battered jumbo soft shell crab with bibb lettuce, remoulade sauce on a toasted butter potato roll ($8.95).  Nice.  I love soft shelled crab, so I’m thinking this sandwich will continue the same streak of awesomeness that brought us the Thanksgiving Dip and The Primavera.

The 5 competitors with the owner of Go Go Curry (in the Yankees gear)

On Saturday “Gentleman” Joe Manchetti dispatched four other competitors to win the first ever Go Go Curry Eating Championship. I was there to witness the carnage, and quite frankly I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. Sure, I’ve been to an all you can eat buffet with professional competitive eaters– but that was like dining at the Four Seasons compared to this spectacle. After watching these 5 guys compete, I’m embarrassed to have ever referred to myself as “fat”.

The photos are after the jump.

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Thursday, waiting on line at the Wafels & Dinges Truck (on 45th btw. 6+7th)

• Pinkberry will be testing a new parfait at their Koreatown location [Eater]
• The best time to enjoy Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen is during Happy Hour [BLD Project]
• Not everybody found Kashmir Buffet to be as a sketchy as I did [Me So Hungry]
• There’s a good Cafe Metro in Brooklyn! (Oh wait, sorry.  It’s Metro Cafe.) [VV]
• The budae jjigae from Pocha 32 is enough to feed three or four people [Serious Eats New York]
• Sapporo gets upgraded to a “buy” [Blondie and Brownie]
• The only thing worse than getting your purse stolen, is when your purse is stolen with your Woorijip frequent eater card is inside [Fressagirl]
• Ever wondered what the inside of my fridge looks like?  [Umamimart]

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” will post 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.

After I wrote about Opal, a couple of commenters said that Metro 53 (a few blocks away) had a great happy hour. After having some strong 2 for 1 drinks at Opal I was excited to see if Metro could take on my liver and beat it in to submission. I was even more surprised to have showed up on “Detention Night: School is out but detention has just begun.” All the bartenders were dolled up in tiny pleated plaid skirts, curve hugging buttoned down shirts and the inevitable perky pigtails.

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