Midtown Lunch

The Food Cart Song video I posted earlier in the week was fun, but this video that Sarah DiGregorio from Fork in the Road discovered this week about food vendors in Midtown is the real deal.  It aired on Al Jazeera earlier in the year, and actually delves into serious issues that effect the people who serve some of our favorite food in Midtown.  One of the issues, which rarely gets mentioned, is the “unwritten brotherhood” between vendors over who can park in which spots (especially in Midtown.)  In fact, one of hot dog vendors interviewed talked about how angry he was over the Steak Truck’s arrival on his corner back in August of last year. 

Here are some of the more interesting tidbits (but I would recommend watching the whole 12 minute video if you have the time:

• The hot dog vendor in front of MoMa paid $300,000 to occupy the spot for 3 years.
• Most vendors only make between $7000 and $14,000 a year
• Sean Basinski, the lawyer who runs the Street Vendor Project and Vendy Awards, used to sell burritos from a cart on Park Avenue
• Tony Dragonas took over his cart’s spot from his father 25 years ago
• In 1994, one street vendor went on a hunger strike for 3 days when then Mayor Giuliani turned his street into a “no food vendor parking” block

Watch the whole video here

I have no problem turning over the site to lunch’ers who want to write about favorite places of their own.  Lunch’er Grace put together that awesome list of Midtown Soups, and Lunch’er Kayoko introduced us to the Out of Bounds Chinese food in Midtown East.  Now, I’m excited to introduce the newest contributor:  Danny from the blog Food in Mouth.  He works near Madison Square Garden and is checking in with a report on Carribean Kitchen, a hidden fast food place in a Midtown South alley.

“You look like Harold.” Wait, what? My name is Danny. “You know, from Harold and Kumar.” I chuckled along with the friendly cashier lady at Caribbean Kitchen, but really all I wanted was to pay for the jerk chicken and be on my merry way. Actually what I really wanted was a substitute for the Jamaican Dutchy Cart because for those of us who work in the Southern part of Midtown it is out of the way sometimes. No worries though, Caribbean Kitchen to the rescue. Semi-hidden from foot trafic, Caribbean Kitchen is located in this alley in between 7th and 8th ave. You might think an ‘alley’ sounds shady, but as you can see from the map, it’s really quite close to Macy’s and Madison Square Garden.

The menu covers all the common Caribbean dishes like curried chicken, curried goat, oxtail, jerked chicken, jerked pork, stewed chicken, and escovitched fish. They have small portions ($7 to $8) or large ($8 to $10), but unless you have munchies like Harold and Kumar, you can probably get by quite nicely on the small. You get the standard option of white rice, or rice and peas, a little bit of vegetables, some plantains, and the meat of your choice. 

Read more »

I’ve never really met a bubble tea I didn’t like.  I’ve heard rumors of bad bubble teas;  gross powder mixtures, hard tapioca pearls, etc.  But I don’t think I’ve ever had one. There are varying degrees of good and great, but never terrible… until yesterday when I stopped at Grand Sichuan on Lex. btw. 33rd+34th.  Just inside the ML boundaries, it’s unclear whether there is a relation to the famous chain of Grand Sichuan’s (I’m inclined to say no.)  Either way, I thought I’d be safe getting one of their bubble teas.  And that’s when my streak ended.   The tapioca pearls were rock hard in the middle, dry, and they had a strong taste of prunes or raisins or something.  Disgusting.  2 sips later I threw it away, a once in a lifetime occurance (being fat *and* cheap means I never throw away food.)  I don’t normally write about stuff like this, but it was so bad I don’t want anyone to make the same mistake I did.

However, I will be back for one of their lunch specials. $6.25 and it comes with soup, egg roll, or soda.  Not bad at all. So cheap, and I’m sure their double cooked pork or Ma Po Tofu is better than their bubble tea.  Anybody been before?  Thoughts?

Grand Sichuan NY, 227 Lexington Ave. (btw. 33+34th) 212-679-9770

As soon as I sat down for lunch at P.J. Clarke’s (on 3rd Ave. & 55th) and looked at the menu, I prayed that I wouldn’t bump into anybody I knew.  Looking around at all the blue button up shirts with ties I realized that probably wouldn’t be an issue. Is this how the other half lives?  Amazing.  If you get to go out to fancy work lunches like P.J. Clarke’s on a regular basis, consider yourself lucky.  I never go, unless I’m invited by pizza and hamburger king Adam Kuban.  He immediately pointed out that I could get a hamburger for $8.90 (under the $10 price range.)  No cheese though, and no fries either (of course.) Not really much of a deal, so P.J. Clarke’s gets disqualified from being an official Midtown Lunch. But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell you that the burger is pretty damn tasty (you may say the secret ingredient is salt.)

Read Adam’s full review on A Hamburger Today…

The date is set, and tickets are on sale, for the biggest food event of the year… the 2008 Vendy Awards.  It’s a street cart battle of epic proportions, and it all goes down October 18th at Tobacco Warehouse in Dumbo.  Tickets are more expensive this year ($80 in advance/$100 at the door) but all the money goes to The Street Vendor Project, a great organization that fights for the legal rights of vendors all over the city.  There are also donor packages available, with added perks, if your company would like to get involved.

Tickets are on sale now, and nominations are officially open- so head over to their website and represent for Midtown!  Last year Kwik Meal won the fan’s choice award, but this year I want Midtown to take home the whole thing! (There are fancy shirts for sale as well… very exciting.) The nominations close on September 7th, so don’t wait!

Related:
Street Meat Palooza: A 13 Cart Chicken/Lamb Over Rice Showdown
Dosa Man Wins, But Kwik Meal is the People’s Choice at the 2007 Vendy Awards

In October of last year it was reported that Obika would be opening one of their Italian mozzarella bars in the atrium on 56th Street and Madison Ave.  Plywood went up, and everyone in the upper right hand corner of Midtown has been waiting for the arrival of what could be a pretty cool place in an otherwise desolate part of Midtown east.  On Monday I stopped by to see if any progress had been made, sticking my camera through one of the holes at the bottom of the plywood.  My strange discovery, after the jump…  Read more »