Midtown Lunch

It just goes to show, it’s never too late to change things up.  People were pretty underwhelmed by the meatball sliders that the Papa Perrone truck entered into the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.  Complaints were lodged in the comments, and Papa Perrone himself responded…  not just in the comments, but with a brand new sandwich entry.  Eggplant Parm + Meatballs + Garlic Bread = Full and Complete Redemption.

Check it out after the jump.

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I stopped by the new, second location, of the El Rey del Sabor cart yesterday (on 49th btw. Lex+3rd) and discovered a few little tidbits.  First, for those of you wondering what happened to the teriyaki/udon cart that popped up in that same spot a month ago… the new Mexican cart is the ramen cart.  The El Rey del Sabor people bought the udon cart (and the spot, in theory) and converted it into a second branch of their popular Mexican food cart (the first one is on 60th and 3rd).  The teriyaki guys gave no reason for wanting to sell their cart after only a month and a half, but the El Rey del Sabor people suspect it might be because they were intimidated by the street meat vendors in the area.

The same intimidation El Rey del Sabor has been feeling since setting up shop two days ago on that corner.

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Always Hungry has a round up of the best matzo ball soups in New York City, and surprisingly they only liked three versions.  Even more surprising is that 2 of the 3 are right here in Midtown: Sarge’s (on 3rd btw. 36+37th) and 2nd Ave. Deli (on 33rd btw. Lex+3rd).  Carnegie Deli’s version got a C (barely passing) and the Cafe Edison (on 47th btw. B’way+8th) was totally left out!  I wonder how they would have stacked up.

Duck Pastrami Reuben. Photo by Food In Mouth

FreeFoods NYC may be expensive and a lot of their food might be completely against what Midtown Lunch stands for, but you can’t fault them for trying.  Their Duck Pastrami Reuben was one of the best entries of the entire Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge, and apparently they’ve got some more similar offerings on the way.

“Just letting you know we’re planning on launching the Spring/Summer Menu April 20th and we’ve added some great new sandwiches that we feel are considerably closer to what the ML crowd might be looking for, after learning a bit more about what they enjoy as a function of your website, so thank you.”

A sneak peek at a few of the new additions (custom made for you!) after the jump:

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If you are observing Passover, then starting tomorrow Midtown Lunch’ing is going to get a whole lot tougher for you.  Thankfully the Treats Truck is saving your ass in the desserts department.  Kim just started serving apricot bars (on the right) which are made with matzoh meal, and plans on having macaroons and other assorted Passover cookies all week long.  She also was quick to remind me that her peanut butter cookie sandwiches are all gluten free, so maybe that means they’re Kosher for Passover?  Doubtful considering all the stupid non bread things you supposedly can’t eat (corn & rice? wtf!)  Then again I doubt Kim has a Rabbi there in the morning blessing her apricot bars… so if you want to get super technical, you probably can’t eat those either.  I’m going to avoid the hassle by sticking with the amazing looking pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting on the left.  (What can I say?  I’m a terrible Jew.)

You can visit the Treats Truck on 45th & 6th today from Noon to 4 p.m., or you can follow them around using their website, or Twitter.

If you were bummed out about the Pinche Taqueria news from earlier today, this should immediately cheer you up:  There were a lot of comments and emails yesterday asking what happened to the El Rey del Sabor cart (on 60th & 3rd).  Apparently they were missing from their usual spot yesterday because they were… wait for it… wait for it… setting up a second cart on 49th & 3rd!!!  That’s right- El Rey del Sabor now has a second cart on 49th Street and 3rd Ave. So if you’ve been meaning to try what I think is the best Mexican food in Midtown, but couldn’t make it all the way up to 60th street and back to work in an hour, now you have no excuse.  And for those who were missing the original cart yesterday, fear not- it will be back in its normal spot today.

Related:
The New El Rey del Sabor is Serving Authentic Mexican Food from a Cart
El Rey Del Sabor Round Two: Mole, Tamales, and a Spicy New Creation You Won’t Want to Miss

I was pretty excited when Pinche Taqueria (with two well known locations downtown) announced they’d be serving food out of Mantra on 2nd Ave. and 52nd.  Well, almost two weeks have gone by and-despite promises of a “lunch service” that was supposed to start last Monday- nothing has happened.  I finally called Mantra yesterday and got a completely different story than the one they were peddling a week and a half ago.  Pinche doesn’t come in every day… in fact they have only been coming on Thursday through Sunday, and only for dinner.  Plus, there are no plans right now to open for lunch.  Lame.

Though, I’ve been hearing rumors that eventually the Mantra space will be converted into a full time Pinche Taqueria.  I guess we’ll just have to wait for that to happen before we get some lunchtime Pinche action.