Midtown Lunch

*******THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CALLED MAD FOR CHICKEN*********

All Photos by Daniel Krieger

When Bon Chon opened up a few years ago in Koreatown (on 5th Ave. just south of 32nd Street), it probably never intended on being a lunchtime destination. It was meant to be an Izakaya style restaurant, made for after work and late night drinking and snacking- in this case, on their much lauded Korean fried chicken. It looks more like a night club, or fancy restaurant, than a branch of KFC- and the service is not exactly conducive to a one hour lunch break. But, after many years of hearing complaints about the lack of Korean fried chicken in the area during lunchtime hours, Bon Chon clearly decided that it was time to capitalize on their popularity. And a few months ago, they opened for lunch.

It took awhile for this unbelievably exciting news to make its way to Midtown Lunch HQ, but once it did, I rounded up a crew and headed to Koreatown for some kfc action!

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Forget about vacuum packed sandwiches made in Massachusetts and shipped to Walgreens… this is what I’m talking about! From an Egyptian cart called the “Charcoal Grill” on 55th btw. Mad+5th, which also has “Egyptian sausages” (whatever that means.) Anybody sampled the liver sandwich from this cart yet?

More Sandwich Challenge News: As you know Friday is the last day for Certe’s Thanksgiving Dip, but FreeFoods NYC has decided to extend their Duck Pastrami Reuben into March.  Originally the sandwich was going to be a Feburary special but the response has been so great they’ve decided to keep it on the menu for the time being.  The real question is, is it the same sandwich I had 3 weeks ago?  A few commenters say no:

I had the opportunity to try this today [and] mine looks nothing like the picture. not pink and fatty duck, but dry, grayish, and liver-y tasting meat. duck, cheese, bread, cannot go wrong, but i have to say i was disappointed. and probably would go as far to say that if one goes to freefoods expecting it to look like the picture above, they’d be let down. the bread in one half of it was falling apart and for a few bites i was holding the duck itself. not sure if this is a trend or a few instances of negligence, but i’d say to anyone looking to try this sandwich to keep your expectations in check

There are definitely people who got sandwiches that looked like mine, but recently there have been a couple complaints like this one, and it corresponded with a rumor that FreeFoods was no longer making the sandwiches to order.  I emailed FreeFoods to make sure they were still making the same sandwich I got on day one, and the General Manager’s response is after the jump…

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The Serious Eats: New York crew attacked the $5 for 5 items lunch special at the Lunch Box Buffet (on 34th btw. 7+8th), awarding the Midtown branch of the cheap Chinese steam table chain a “B”. Ed Levine got two plates (10 items) and decided that three items were worth “at least double or triple the dollar they cost.”  Barbecued spareribs, chicken with oyster sauce, and the curried fried chicken drumsticks.

Related:
Fay Da Bakery Elevates the Lunch Box Buffet

Terrible news from Midtown’s only branch of Popeye’s (on 40th btw. 7+8th): “The location… was shut down due to a tax/rent levy issue. The notice on the door had yesterday’s date. First MG in many years without Popeye’s red beans & rice.” That is very upsetting. Nobody answered a call to the location… we’ll keep an eye out, and let you know as soon as it reopens. (Thanks to nolafunknyc for the tip, they are always appreciated.)

Another day… another entry in the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge.  The Cucino & Co next to Naples 45 (inside the Met Life Building on 45th btw. Mad+Park) announced last week that their entry would be “brisket of beef, sauteed onions, guacamole, jack cheese wrapped in flour tortilla”.  A brisket burrito sounds pretty amazing in theory, but how would it be in practice?  I stopped by the other day to test it out.

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Photo courtesy of Ultraclay dot com

Back in September my quest to find the best chicken parm in Midtown took me to Mondello (on 37th btw. Mad+5th).  It was “satisfying, but nothing to write home about.”  And yet, it appears as if I missed something crucial that would increase the awesomeness of their chicken parm tenfold.

From the blog Ultraclay:

Where other places may dump pizza sauce on top, they offer a choice of regular and a meat sauce. Both have a salty, sweet flavor, but the meat sauce has a richness that adds another dimension to the sandwich.

Shut up! Meat sauce on a chicken parm!?! That… is… awesome. I don’t remember them giving me a choice, because if they had I would have obviously gone with the meat sauce.  Clearly it’s time to revisit this one.

Mondello Pizzeria & Restaurant, 3 East 37th (btw. Mad+5th), 212-684-2411