Midtown Lunch

Yesterday we reported that (retired) professional eater Don “Moses” Lerman has entered the Go Go Curry Eating Championship with an amazing preliminary qualifying time of one minute. Today, Lunch’er Lydia informed us in the comments that there is video proof of Lerman’s time. And folks… it is ugly.

If you were considering entering the competition, thinking it would be a fun way to show your friends how much you could eat (and possibly win $500 for doing it) this video might make you reconsider. Some might say Lerman’s presence puts a damper on the whole competition… after all who is going to want to enter knowing they are going to lose to a pro eater. But I look at it a different way. No matter how much you love basketball, you are never going to get to go one on one with LeBron James. But if you love to eat, this is your chance to go toe to toe with one of the greats! And who knows… maybe there will be a Buster Douglas moment.

The very intimidating video is after the jump…

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Check it out… Margon (the amazing Cuban/Dominican lunch counter on 46th btw. 6+7th) is Roadfood’s “Restaurant of the Day”.  I’ve never fully understood Roadfood and its criteria- after all, who is going to pull off the freeway to eat at a place in Times Square?  But it’s cool to see Margon getting some love from such a popular site.

They’ve also been recently added to the Not For Tourist Guide, and I’m kind of into their one line description.

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I have nobody to blame for this but myself.  Do I think Goodburger has the best combo meal in the city?  Obviously not… but I did post those words on the site (unsurprisingly they didn’t care that it was a half-sarcastic attempt to get Midtown Lunch on their wall of fame.)  Of course they left out the “if only it was cheaper” part, a crucial impediment to fully enjoying Goodburger.  And, the quote is completely misleading now- because at the time I wrote it, it was meant to be kind of a joke- since they were the *only* burger place to offer combo meals in Midtown.  (Since I wrote that, City Burger has appeared with combo meals eerily similar to Goodburger, but Burger Joint and Five Guys still don’t offer them.)

Oh well.  You live and learn.  Now I’m immortalized on their wall as saying something nobody would agree with. (At least I am in good company.)  Awesome.  Well, as long as I’m here I might as well try their Steak & Egg Burger- which was just reintroduced to the menu as a lunchtime item (and an official entry in the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.)

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Like Tom Collichio returning to the kitchen of Craft… Muhammed Rahman has returned to the cart that made him famous: the original Kwik Meal cart on 45th & 6th.  He has spent the better part of the past few months manning two new Kwik Meal carts- Quick Delight (on 45th & 3rd) and the hilariously named Meal Obama (on 37th and 7th).  All four of his carts are still in their normal spots… but if you worked near the original Kwik Meal cart, and have been missing Muhammed’s smiling face, this is the week to hit up Kwik Meal for some lamb over rice.

You had to know this was coming: following the success of Papa Perrone’s entry in the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge, now you can get any sandwich from the truck (on 55th btw. Mad+Park) on garlic bread.  We’re also hearing rumors that the special sandwich (meatballs and eggplant parm on garlic bread) has morphed into a baked ziti & eggplant parm on garlic bread ($7.50)  The hits just keep on coming…

Three new spots have opened on the east side that are most definitely not what I consider to be Midtown Lunch material… but I won’t discriminate. Just because I’m a fat bastard doesn’t mean you all have to be. (Plus it’s Earth Day, right?)

The Green Room Cafe (on Lex and 45th) opened this past week- and it turns out it’s not a health club cafe from Singapore, but a total Pret rip off playing up how fresh and organic their lunch stuff is.  The free sample (and make no mistake about it, I will never turn down free samples) of tuna sandwich I tried tasted like every tuna sandwich on wheat bread I’ve ever had. Thanks but no thanks.

The second place, Recharge (on Lex btw. 39+40th), has probably been open for awhile now, but I hadn’t walked by in a long while.  I made fun of their menu back before they had opened… but nothing could have prepared me for the scene inside this Pump Energy Food/Energy Kitchen wannabe.

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If you were interested in entering the Go Go Curry eating contest, there is good news and bad news.  The good news is: only 10 people have entered over the course of 3 preliminary rounds.  The bad news?  The time to beat is 1 minute… and it was set by Don “Moses” Lerman, a professional eater you may recognize from past Nathan’s Hot Dog eating competitions.  One thing though- I was under the impression Go Go Curry’s event would be off limits to professionals since it is not an officially sanctioned IFOCE competition.  What gives?

I checked in with our resident competitive eating expert “Crazy Legs” Conti, who cleared up the brewing controversy.

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I don’t know if it’s the weather or what, but this could be the shortest free cone day line I’ve ever seen. Last year the Rock Center line came all the way back down and around the corner. Not sure if it will get better or worse as the day goes on Apparently it will get worse as the day goes on (update below)… Feel free to post updates in the comments. 1:30pm wait time for my cone: under 10 mins. (And keep in mind, if you tip they usually give you more.)

UPDATE via comments: “Nice pic. Just went down again but line has gotten longer since you took this.” “20 minutes just now, it has snaked back and around the corner all the way to the pharmacy.”  Holy mackerel.  I guess 3:30 is the prime ice cream time.