Midtown Lunch

Word has come in from an email tipster that House of Pita on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th is now closed:

Looks like another one bites the dust in that spot. First Mandler’s, now House of Pita. I think that location is jinxed. I walked by quickly and I didn’t see any signs (like the yellow DOH), but there’s paper over all the windows. Doesn’t look too promising.

I got the confirmation from the owner shortly after:

Someone came in and loved the location, service and the food. They made us an offer that was just too hard to refuse. Lots of $$$$, so we sold. The name is not part of the sale. We will take a long vacation and think about our next step.

The recent history of House of Pita has been a long and kind of sad one. 2 year ago they were at the center of the Midtown falafel universe. Their window on 48th btw. 5+6th, nestled inside a hallway filled with jewelers, had become pretty popular- with office workers lining up every day for their Israeli style falafel.

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Thanks to a lunch’er for spotting the White Castle Truck parked on 44th and Broadway giving out free burgers. The truck is only going to be here until 10a.m., and then they’re heading over to the Letterman studios (which is on Bway btw 53+54th) But they’ll only be there until burgers run out- which at this rate should only last until 10:45. Good luck freeloaders.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, and it’s way out of bounds (47th btw. 10+11th) but if you really love bread, Sullivan St. Bakery makes the best in New York City. They also have great (albiet slightly expensive for the size) sandwiches, and I just wrote about their latest creation-the panino de tortilla espanola-on Serious Eats: New York.

This just into the Midtown Lunch Inbox: The “imposter waffle truck” is parked on “Lexington between 58th and 59th” right now “handing out bite sized free samples.”  This is the truck that will eventually be serving pomme frites (they don’t have them today) and different from the Wafels and Dinges Truck, which was planning on parking at 51st & Park today, but was forced to move to 23rd St. & 5th Ave. because there is a movie being filmed on Park Ave.  The Dessert Truck lucked out and got their normal space near Park & 52nd St.  The Treats Truck is closed this week, so conecakes fans are SOL.

People like sending me photos of lunches they’ve had, and some of them are from places I’ve never been. So as part of a new feature, I’m going to start posting some of these lunches. After all, as much as I try, I can’t eat everything. Been to this place? Feel free to post a comment below. Want to share one of your own lunches? Email your photo(s) to zach@midtownlunch.com or post them to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Photo Pool with a description.

I switched jobs, putting me at the edge of the midtown food lunch range… Anyways, found a new (new to me anyways) cart on the corner of 55th and 3rd… Very very happy and this one you need to try. I am feasting on a great Gyro with a huge side of fries. ($6.00) They had a chicken finger and fries combo $6.00 and a burger deluxe, iirc, like 5.25… Also, a good looking fish fillet sandwich, same price range.

The grainy camera phone gyro (and some pretty tasty looking fries), after the jump…  Read more »

So it appears as if the real big problems at Toloache’s $1 taco celebration were mostly contained to the first hour.  Once they got rolling in the kitchen, things seemed to settle down a bit.  There was a line, but my to go order came out in less than 10 minutes and there were many reports of people getting more tacos than they ordered.  Case in point: me.  As you can see from the photo above, my tacos didn’t quite make it back to the office in perfect condition, but damn were they tasty.  Small, but tasty- and well worth the $1 price tag. Downing 7 for lunch was no problem.  I paid for 9, and ended up getting 11.  Score for me. Oh, and brisket was replaced by pork on the menu. Double score.

Unfortunately the early excitement of the Midtown Lunch community has ruined it for the rest of the day, and according to the restaurant they will no longer be doing $1 taco take out orders today.  (Naturally, you are free to order from the regular menu though.) You are more than welcome to come and eat $1 tacos in the restaurant, but you cannot take them to go. The promotion goes on until 11pm, and they do take reservations, so I would recommend calling ahead (212-581-1818).  Of course the way things are going today, maybe they’ll change their mind again… who the hell knows.  For once it would be nice for a restaurant to have a plan. $1 Tacos + Midtown Lunch’ers = (in the words of Eater) “a bit of a shitshow”.  Good luck to the after work crowd…

It’s pandemonium at Toloache with early arrivers getting to place to go orders… but by 12:30 the line was about 15 deep with nobody providing any information at all. They stopped taking any take out orders at 12:30, but they were seating people at tables (if one is available and you’ve waited in line long enough to get to the front and actually talk to someone.) The promotion is supposed to last until 11pm but clearly they underestimated demand.

At 12:45 I saw the guy take a to go order from somebody, but he told them it would be 30 mins. If you got turned away consider yourselves lucky. I talked to one person who placed a take out order at the door at 11:30 and just got their tacos at 12:40.

12:50 There is no more line, and the guy takes my to go order, tells me I can order more than 7 if I want, and told me it would 10 mins, maybe less. Somehow I doubt it.

12:52 The line is out the door again, and lord knows what the guy is telling people now.

Try later, and you may get lucky, but clearly this promotion is a poorly planned free for all.

UPDATE: Got my tacos in less than 10 mins. What a delightful surprise… full report coming soon.