Midtown Lunch

The Biriyani Cart was planning on unleashing a second cart on Midtown long before they were nominated for a Vendy Award, but after all the extra coverage they have decided to park the carts next to each other.  The second cart showed up for the first time this morning (you may recognize it as the “old” Biriyani cart) right next to the main cart on the SW corner of 46th Street and 6th Ave.  The cart on the left will be serving their standard chicken and lamb over rice plates, while the cart on the right plans on selling all the Indian food (kati rolls, biriyani, and chicken tikka masala.)  The owner Meru plans on keeping the carts side by side from now until the Vendy Awards to cope with the long lines… which will probably only get worse today after their coverage in the New York Daily News over the weekend.

Danny from Food in Mouth sends along this info about the new ‘wichcraft location in Greeley Square: “32nd St. wichcraft is open now. They got employees in there and everything seems set up. They got a “cash only” sign up front.” Sure the sandwiches are small, and expensive- but if you order correctly, there is a way for to get out of wichcraft satisfied for under $10.

Related: Fat Man’s Gude to Eating At ‘wichcraft for Under $10

Originally they thought it may open today, but it looks like tomorrow will be the big day for AQ Kafe, Marcus Samuelsson’s casual Scandinavian cafe (on Broadway and 58th St.) To celebrate the grand opening, they’ll be giving away free coffee all day long. So if there was any doubt as to whether or not they’d be going after FIKA Espresso Bar’s customers– this answers that. If you haven’t been following closely, the original version of AQ Cafe, located in the Scandinavian House on Park Ave., closed a few weeks ago, and was replaced by another Smorgaschef.

Surprisingly, even though the new location hasn’t opened yet, the shilling has already started…    Read more »

 
This place didn’t last too long. (Don’t know if it’s permanent closed or not…)

• The ABC Show Pushing Daisies will be giving out free pie in front of the Good Morning America studios in Times Square on Monday from 7 to 9 a.m. [Yelp]
• A schedule has been released for the Bon Appetit Pop Up Supper Club, opening the last week in October [Grub St.]
• The Treats Truck is now selling fun dip and candy necklaces [Blondie and Brownie]
• Zibetto’s Espresso Bar on 56th and 6th is surrounded by 4 Starbucks [Grub St.]
• Scoping out bars at Grand Central, Port Authority and Penn Station [AMNY]

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 we’ll 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.  This week’s bar is Pocha, a Koreatown bar from Profiled Midtown Lunch’er Kate.  Not surprisingly the photos are kind of blurry…

I knew the first Midtown Lunch Happy Hour Post needed to be somewhere unusual- a hidden gem that perhaps was less familiar. As much as this post should be about value, it should also be about the unknown to a certain extent, right? After all, this site is about sidestepping typical Midtown- one of the best-trod sections of the world. If it included drinking out of a hollowed out fruit, even better!

My search led me to Koreatown, on the southern edge of the Midtown Lunch boundaries. I’ve been to a few bars around this area, yet none of them are as engaging as Pocha 32. A quick walk up one flight of steps leads you into the one room dive bar/eatery. The room is painted a forest green with fisherman’s nets and Christmas lights slung on all the walls and across the ceiling. On closer inspection the nets are heavily ornamented with pictures and mementos that customers have left from their visits. The nets on the ceiling are a constellation of soju caps… hundreds and hundreds of soju caps.

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It’s been all carts all the time this week!  But this one was too good not to post… “How many calories is there in a plate of street meat” is a question I get pretty often.  I guess there are a lot of people out there who are interested.  I am not one of them. Unfortunately, I spotted this (accidentally, of course) posted on a cart in Midtown East. It might be worth noting, the calorie laws that went into effect earlier in the year, only apply to chain restaurants… not carts. I’m not sure whether the white sauce is included in the 680 calories that make up a lamb over rice platter.  A good reporter would have asked… but like I said before- I really don’t want to know.

UPDATE: A savvy commenter pointed out that those numbers are for 100 grams, which is less than a quarter pound of food.  I feel like an order of street meat weighs at least half a pound… which means that sign is kind of misleading!

Related: Basic Math Blows Holes in Chipotle’s Absurd “Calorie Range”

According to Eater, the Rickshaw Dumpling Truckhit the street for the first time yesterday, parking at 51st and Lex.  Anybody see the truck or get a chance to sample?  Today they’re parking on Wall Street for lunch (what’s up with that?!?!)  Secretly, I guess I’m grateful- the last thing I want to be doing in this weather is stalking a dumpling truck.   

Eater says “they’ll be serving an abbreviated menu including six dumplings (for $6), watermelonade, and sides like chili sesame noodle salad” which kind of begs the question- why would anybody who works downtown pay $6 for dumplings, when there are so many other cheaper dumpling options. As with most of the new trucks in the city, you can follow their location on twitter. If anybody gets a chance to taste, let us know what you think.

 
We Midtown Lunchers have known about the Biriyani/Biryani Cart on 46th and 6th for awhile now, but with its recent Vendy Award nomination it looks like the word is now filtering up to the “real” media.  When I walked by today a New York Daily News reporter was there taking pictures just after Noon as the line began to swell. You could blame the line on the Vendy announcement, but it’s kind of like that every day (although today it was definitely a little crazier than normal.)  You may say the secret ingredient is disorganization.  As much as I love their food, the Biryani Cart may want to rethink their ordering situation.  With four guys in the cart, things would move a lot smoother if each guy took charge of one facet of the operation (i.e taking orders, cooking, packaging up, taking money.) 

I never thought I’d say this, but maybe they should take a cue from the Jamaican Dutchy cart on 51st and 7th.  They were dreadfully slow filling orders at first, until they opened a pick up window on the side of the cart.  Place your order in the front, go to the side to pick up and pay. With the Biryani Cart’s newfound fame, they are clearly going to have to do something.

UPDATE: The Biryani Cart ran out of food today at 2:30pm.  They’re sending out for reinforcements.

Photo courtesy of the Hungry Commuter

A lot of action lately on 53rd Street btw. 2+3rd Avenue, a small “out of bounds” block that I’ve covered a little bit in the past. Spoons, the tiny Korean/American take out deli closed up awhile back, and a second location of the East Village’s Brick Lane Curry house has opened in its place. The Hungry Commuter gets the first taste and reports that “the phaal isn’t as hot as the original. But give them some time. They just opened…” I’ve never been to the original Brick Lane Curry House in the East Village, which nobody will argue serves some of the hottest curry in NYC. Whether or not it actually tastes good, is a whole different argument.

But wait. There’s more…

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Cold Stone Creamery is giving away free 3 oz servings of two special ice cream creations from 5 to 8 p.m. to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation. There are two locations in or close to Midtown (one on 42nd btw. 7+8th, and one on 9th Ave. btw. 50+51st). To find a different location, go to their website.