Midtown Lunch

Always Hungry has a write up on Tabla’s Indian street food “cart”, which is set up in front of the restaurant located next to Madison Square Park. It’s a little pricey, and way out of the Midtown Lunch boundaries- but the piece distinguishes between the kati roll (which we all know very well) and the “Frankie”, a term you are seeing more and more in NYC.

A Frankie is an Indian wrap best described as a Mumbai burrito. The construction of a frankie sounds very similar to a Kati (Roti) roll, but among the Indian community they could not be more different.

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A few months ago FreeFoods NYC made the exciting announcement that their Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge Entry, the amazing duck reuben, was going to be permanently added to the menu (in addition to a few more Midtown Lunch’ish sounding sandwiches.)  However, they neglected to mention one incredibly important thing:  the Duck Reuben is now $12.  How dare they serve up a $10 sandwich, get us all addicted to it, and then raise the price out of Midtown Lunching range.  It’s a travesty.  Duck reuben, you are dead to me.

Thankfully, there is an under $10 brisket sandwich replacement that is already getting raves.

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I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. I have a problem. The funny thing is others stopped by the newly opened Panda International (on 46th btw. 5+6th), took one look at the food, and walked out. From Lunch’er “Gustad”

“Went with some coworkers, and just as we were walking in, 3 guys walked out laughing. so i asked what was wrong, and they said it looked too sketchy. we continued walking in to come to the same conclusion. in their warm trays, i saw meatballs and other italian dishes. what the hell!!?? their menu had chinese dishes for 10-11 bucks (the stuff that is usually 6-8 at a real chinese joint). and heros, smoothies, etc… very odd. i saw a mexican in the kitchen and two white people up front. i can eat at the junkiest of chinese places, and i’m not saying this place looks junkie, but it was very far from appetizing. we left without food.”

I stayed and ate.

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College Humor stars Jake & Amir visited Papa Perrone’s Truck the other day, and VendrTV was there to catch the action. Why Papa Perrone’s? Because apparently pizza is “college food”. Kind of a stretch if you ask me (since I’m pretty sure no college students come to Midtown for pizza) but you know what would be college food? A Rutgers Grease Truck sandwich (which coincidentally enough VendrTV visited a few weeks ago.) I’ve been begging for this since we started the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge. Will somebody please step up to the plate and make this mozzarella stick/chicken finger/french fry monstrosity happen? Papa Perrone? Nino’s? Are you listening?

Papa Perrone’s actual sandwich entry (before the update) does make it into the video (along with some great video of the big Papa himself), and you can see it after the jump…

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Like a heroin addict who can’t stay away from the methadone, my addiction to cheap Chinese food often manifests itself in my inability to eat at a mall food court without getting bourbon chicken. Sure, “technically” it’s not Chinese food- but who are they kidding? We all know bourbon chicken (and its many permutations) was invented so all the non-Chinese food spots could lure those with the same affliction as me away from the one Chinese food option in the food court. (Plus, it works as the perfect free sample.)

So you can imagine how excited I was to discover that the people who ran the “Cajun Cafe” in the now closed Manhattan Mall Food Court, have reopened their food court stand as a brick and mortar shop- replacing Pow Wok on 7th Ave. btw. 36+37th.

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Somebody commented earlier in the week that they had heard a rumor that the new Koreatown location of Kyochon (on 32nd & 5th) was open (this despite Grub Street’s report that they weren’t opening until June.)  The comment piqued my interest enough to call the location, and I ended up having a pretty strange conversation with the guy who answered.

Me: “Are you guys open yet”
Him: “We will open April…” and then he was cut off by somebody speaking in Korean in the background. He came back and said: “July”
Me: “So, you are opening in July?”
Him: “August”

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So by now you may or may not have heard about KFC’s new “Grilled Chicken” (being hawked by B list Food Network celebs.) Knowing that few would probably pay to try this stuff, KFC is giving away free grilled chicken this Monday, April 27th (one piece person) at all participating locations. Sadly though, all the KFC’s in Midtown are owned and operated by Riese, which has a pretty bad track record of participation in these things.

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