Feb 06 2009
W&D Sponsors 100% Halal & Healthy Food’s ‘Gino Sandwich’ in The Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge
Midtown Lunch, which has been a go-to website for me and thousands of others looking to find “cheap, fast, interesting and good” food for under $10 in Midtown, has put forth the following sandwich challenge to all restaurants and food carts in Midtown: “Come up with a new sandwich. A bold sandwich. A sandwich that pushes the boundaries of what human beings were meant to ingest. And you shall call it the “Midtown Lunch Special”. Add this special sandwich to your menu (temporarily or permanently) and we will post about it on Midtown Lunch. That’s it.” Only other rule — charge under $10 for it. It’s no secret that my favorite food cart in Midtown is the 100% Halal & Healthy Food, aka Cart with the Greek Salad, at the northwest corner of 55th and Park. Earlier this week, I spoke with Gamal, the man behind 100% Halal & Healthy, about the Midtown Lunch Sandwich Challenge and we brainstormed some ideas for his sandwich entry. We talked about him maybe doing a pita sandwich version of the famous Greek Salad w/ Grilled Chicken. Not creative enough we decided. It then dawned on us that what sets 100% Halal & Healthy apart from the competition, other than the Greek Salad, is its Kofta. For those who don’t know, Kofta is basically a type of slider formed out of of minced or ground meat — usually beef or lamb — and mixed with spices and/or onions. Jamaal whipped up a test sandwich for me on a roll with kofta, grilled chicken, grilled onions and peppers, melted cheese, his famous thick hot sauce and some white sauce. There was born the “Gino Sandwich”, aka the “Kofta Kombination.” We then discussed what he should charge for it. I told him part of the challenge is to offer the sandwich at the best price-point possible. Jamaal said he would charge just $5 for this massive combination sandwich, which is a steal. It’s available starting TODAY. Go get you some! I had it on a roll, but I recommend going with a pita and feta cheese. I’ll grab one for lunch and post some pics. I’m still trying to figure out where he got the name Gino.
Beats me! I got mine from my parents…
had this on friday…i’m declaring it the early winner. have to get it on pita with feta cheese. he’ll give you choice of american cheese, but don’t do it. go with hot and sweet peppers, grilled onions and hot sauce/white sauce and you’ll be set.
not sure this is 100% healthy but it was 150% delicious.
Spoke to Gamal yesterday about where he got the name for the “Gino” sandwich. Apparently Gino was his childhood nickname so when I told him to think of a name for it, he said that was the first thing that popped into his head.