This week for Pizza Thursday we have a smack down on Pine Street, Paolo’s vs. Pine St Pizza. 2 local pizzerias a a few blocks away from each other, both with $2 slices and very different styles. Paolo’s (above) has more of a pleasing atmosphere than Pine St (below) but whose slice will prevail?
Posted at 10:08 am, April 15th, 2010 under pizza, Pizza Thursday.
I had heard great things from friends about Taco Riendo, a colorful Mexican restaurant in Olde Kensington. The menu includes the usual Mexican favorites: tacos, sopes, tortas, burritos, etc. I ordered several items from the menu. The ingredients seemed really authentic and I was ready to dive in to some cilantro covered meat to see if the food lived up to the hype. Unfortunately, it didn’t.
Posted at 10:57 am, April 14th, 2010 under Mexican, sandwiches, tacos.
As is customary at Philly Lunch, every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Philadelphia. This week it’s Scott, a bearded systems admin who is yet another adventurous- palate –Philly -luncher -cilantro-hater, what is up with that?
Name: Scott
Age: 34
Occupation: Systems Administrator
Where in Philly do you Work?: 9th and Sansom
Favorite Kind of Food: Anything with curry. I am a sucker for the warmth and comfort that the smell of a nice toasted curry produces. Besides my own curried chicken, Palace at the Ben (9th and Chestnut), and Minar Palace (1304 Walnut St.) are good local options. There’s a new place set to open up in place of what was formerly Shinju Sushi (930 Locust St.)
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Cilantro. No, I don’t think it tastes like soap, I just don’t like it very much at all. Oh…and overcooked meat.
Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: Tampopo 2 (see “goto” lunch place) for the chicken yakisoba with extra chicken, meatball hoagie at the Ben Towne Deli (9th between Chestnut and Sansom), Moriarty’s (Walnut between 11th and 12th) for their outdoor seating and their assortment of burgers. I don’t get to do it often enough, but a good wandering about in Reading Terminal Market usually turns something up.
Posted at 10:30 am, April 13th, 2010 under PROFILE: Philly Lunch'er.
Gusto is a small, 8 year old BYO located on a pretty block west of Rittenhouse Sq. It is a few notches above a regular pizzeria. They have one little outdoor table and a handful inside. Though I hear they do a nice job with pizza, they don’t do slices, making them not eligible for Pizza Thursday. I was in the mood for parm anyway, so I tried out both the chicken and the eggplant version, and while both make for a great, cheap/fast lunch, the eggplant parmigiana was my favorite.
Posted at 10:50 am, April 12th, 2010 under Italian, sandwiches.
Photo Courtesy of Mac & Cheese
Posted at 11:05 am, April 9th, 2010 under Lunch Links.
This week I asked the forums about the best pizza places in Philly but didn’t get much of a response… so I had to take matters into my own hands. For the next few weeks, Thursday will be Pizza Thursday- a different pizza joint every week until I feel satisfied we have uncovered the most delicious pizza options. I intend to try a regular slice at each place, plus one other that strikes my fancy.
For consistency, the pizza will be assessed on the following categories:
For week 1 I went to NYPD pizza, a place I have often walked by but never went in, mostly because I didn’t love the idea of a Philly pizza place pretending to be all New Yorkish. But all of the Best of Philly awards hanging on the wall had to be justified, right?
Posted at 10:34 am, April 8th, 2010 under pizza, Pizza Thursday.
For the end of Passover, I had noodles on the brain. It seemed about time to finally check out Nan Zhou- Chinatown’s destination for hand-pulled noodle soup (recommended by Profiled Lunchers Earl and Ashley). Besides a few appetizers (think pig ears and tendon) the menu is all soup. So you better believe they know what they are doing. The soups are as follows: broth with wonton or beef/fish/meat balls, shaved noodles, or hand drawn noodles. Heat wave be damned, I decided on the beef rib soup with the hand drawn noodles, listed as “Braise Ox Spare Ribs Noodle Soup.” This set me back $5.75 plus I threw in a fried egg for an extra dollar.
