Midtown Lunch

My friends Jeff and Dave told me about a new place in Chinatown serving Sichuan food AND soup dumplings. Just a few months ago, the space was occupied by the short lived “Family Bistro”. Red Kings has variety going for it, serving Shanghai, Fuzhou, Sichuan, and Thai food. It also has a very long menu and cheap cheap lunch specials. They even have a Facebook page.

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Shrimp Ceviche from Cantina Los Caballitos at the Night Market

• Chhaya’s chili, cheese, fried egg topped waffle looks like it works for breakfast or lunch [Mac&Cheese]
• Click through this slide show of 12 Philly food trucks, including Don Memo, Koja, La Dominque, and Buttercream [Phillymag]
• This thorough Philly burger list from uwishunu is awesome [uwishunu]
• Plus a look at the new La Frieda custom blend burger from Pub and Kitchen, that is if you have $18 to through around [Meal Ticket]

Sometimes my eating habits remind me of that Ace of Base song “The Sign”. (You remember, “I saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes, I saw the sign”) My lunches are frequently based on street signs that catch my eye and tempt me. I must have been channeling that Swedish group while passing Mango Bush, a little Caribbean eating hole.  This particular signage offered take out platters for $8. It didn’t at all specify what comes on the platter, but I was in the mood to be surprised.  Lucky for me, the sign opened up my eyes to some jerk chicken.

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Today, Nick from My Inner Fatty is hitting up the food trucks again, this time for some good old American sandwiches.

I’m gonna go right ahead on a limb and say that I’m definitely not the only one who constantly has a craving for breakfast foods. I mean, breakfast shouldn’t have to end at 10:30 AM just because McDonald’s says so. No, that’s not fair to those of us who wake up at arbitrary times because of work or class. Freedom to have breakfast whenever is just plain American, and depriving me of my eggs, breakfast sausage, and bacon because it’s 1 PM is just plain wrong. Luckily, you never have to make that choice in University City… because Bui’s Lunch Truck exists.

A favorite amongst Penn students, Bui’s Lunch Truck is a relatively plain looking grey truck parked on the corner of 38th and Spruce, open early for the breakfast crowd with virtually no lines or wait time to speak of. Compared with the other’s in the area, there’s actually no visual cue that would tell you to ever go there (there’s never a line!), but for some reason, it’s been suggested to me time after time. A brief glance at their menu reveals that they’re your general breakfast/sandwich/cheesesteak truck with a fairly robust menu, supplemented by a list of ’special sandwiches,’ (all around the $5 mark), all of which are still pretty ordinary, so I’m left wondering where all this praise stems from. That is, before my eyes reach the sandwich listed as the ‘Hangover Special.’

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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 Becca, a “pastry bitch”, who is looking for a partner in dim sum crime.

Name: Becca

Age: 24

Occupation: Pastry Cook

Where in Philly do you Work?: I’m the assistant pastry chef at a place in Old City, and the PM pastry cook at a restaurant in Center City East. I am a work machine.

Favorite Kind of Food: Burgers, big sandwiches, runny cheeses, Chinese, Spanish, Middle Eastern, anything you can eat with a beer in the other hand, soups and stews, pizza when it’s decent, root beer floats. I’m a snob about good bread. I’ll do just about anything for a good bowl of noodle soup or an open-faced turkey sandwich. If I’m free, I’ll never turn down a brunch offer, because I love fried eggs and cheap champagne based cocktails.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Squishy gelatinous stuff, cilantro, eggplant, anything too custard-y like creme brulee. I hate cupcakes too but I think it’s just because they’re trendy in a bad way.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: Sang Kee Peking Duck House on 9th and Vine for the noodle soups and “blank” over rice platters; either Mama’s or Maoz for falafel; Tin Wong for noodles and soup; Joy Tsin Lau for dim sum–the dumplings and fried shrimp are amazing when you’re hungover; La Lupe in South Philly for green chili chicken tamales and tacos carnitas, or Taqueria Veracruzana (8th and Washington, I think) also for pork tacos; Moriarty’s for wings, beer, and burgers; Jake’s Sandwich Board for the roast pork sandwich; I like that kosher style deli on 19th and Sansom–Rachael’s Nosherei? I was a regular at Darling’s Diner in NoLibs at the Piazza for about a year, and almost always had the BLT or roast turkey plate. I just found out about Han Dynasty in Old City and their banquets and I’m about to go for the second time.
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