Midtown Lunch

 Village Voice gathered over 20 trucks on the pier of the Intrepid last night for Choice Streets and those lucky enough to have a ticket got to sample some of the goods. This year, lines proved to be a big problem. One of the reasons for the huge lines might have been the absence of some originaly scheduled food trucks. Four trucks that were on the program (Gorilla Cheese, The Squeeze, Phil’s Steaks, and the Jersey-based French Quarter) were missing in action. There was still lots of food to go around…

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Got a craving for sushi? Head down to East Japanese Restaurant (44th St. btw 2nd+3rd) for a mini chirashi bowl for only a dollar. Only 20 of the $1 bowls are available each day, though, so plan on getting there early. Throw in a sushi roll (I’d recommend the negi toro – tuna belly and scallion) and you’ve got a nice, affordable lunch.

If you follow the street food scene as closely as we do you’ll want to read this piece in the New York Times Magazine by Adam Davidson from NPR’s Planet Money.  He interviews Thomas DeGeest from Wafels & Dinges and the owner of Taim, and gets them to say something that very few vendors will admit publicly… the food truck business stinks.  It chooses to focus on the city restrictions more than the actual business model of street food (which also sucks, btw) and compares the street vending scene of Midtown to a third world country.

When we last visited the Toast Monster cart in January, Brian gave a favorable review of their mac and cheese / sloppy joe sandwich. Since then, the menu has expanded a bit, with pepperoni being added as a $1 add-on for the grilled cheese and chicken parm sandwiches. More importantly, though, the steak and potato sandwich has become a permanent menu item. Check it out after the jump!

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As we had suspected back in March, the former Menchanko-Tei location on 55th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue has now been replaced by the new Natureworks Restaurant, having its grand opening yesterday. This is the second location of Natureworks, as the first location on 31st between Park and Lex had replaced The Pump – Energy Food. Natureworks seems to carry on the same tradition of The Pump by offering high energy protein plates and whole wheat burritos. Early adopters, can Natureworks still pack flavor while trying to offer healthy options? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Natureworks Restaurant, 43 West 55th Street (btw. 5th and 6th Ave)

Yes please.  Starts tomorrow at Cer Te (on 55th btw. 5+6th) and is available through the month of May.

34th isn’t so bad, food-wise. We’ve got the Nameless Empanada Cart and horrible, horrible soup, as well as kickin’ awesome pork buns and noodle soup, but it’s hard to find good stuff around here that isn’t tourist-infested or over the ML price limit. When Patiala started building into the old Tawa Tandoor space, my hopes were raised. This part of town may not be Curry Row but we’d sure as hell like our fair share of decent Indian. It may not be a flashy start-of-Spring opener from a big name, but damn, we lucked out with Patiala.
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Cafe China’s Cumin Spicy Lamb. Photo courtesy of NY Mag

• Midtown has become the Sichuan belt of NYC [NYM]
• Cafe China has good vegetarian options [SENY]
• The Okadaman Truck plans on coming back this spring [Tasty Eating]
• Disappointment at Burger Joint [AHT]
• Street Food Stories: Uncle Gussy’s [SENY]