Midtown Lunch

I heard that Marabella was serving Turkey meatballs this week, a special not on the regular menu. I had enjoyed the cheese covered beef and pork meatballs there, and I am curious to see how the turkey meatballs were since I have had much experienced with them being often dried out. Alas when I got there, they were out. But I was still hungry. I had never tried the chicken or veggie meatballs, and I had recently read good things about them. I also found out on this trip that you can do combo sandwiches, why did I not think of that before. I ordered the traditional with 2 chicken and 2 veggie balls ($8.50).

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A while back some ladies were selling sticky rice and congee outside of Ming River Side Walk House, they were delicious but I wanted to check out the actual restaurant. Inside, Ming River has a small menu with an emphasis on soups.

My meal went from good, to edible, to scary. Ladies and gentleman this story is not for the faint of heart. I have eaten at my share of dives and places of questionable practices, but I have never really dealt with grossly unappetizing food like this. I’ll start you off easy, but be warned there will be a twist of M. Night Shyamalan proportions.

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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 Mackie, who is our first luncher to report no least favorite foods!

Name: Mackie

Age: 24

Occupation: Law student by day, food blogger by night

Where in Philly do you Work?: West Philly

Favorite Kind of Food: Anything spicy

Least Favorite Kind of Food: None!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: Tacos Don Memo truck for carne asada, chicken, and pork carnitas tacos, and then a stop at the Sugar Philly truck for milk and honey macarons for dessert (both at 38th and Sansom); Koreana for dol sot bibimbap (at 3801 Chestnut St.); Han Dynasty for dry pepper chicken, cumin lamb, and green beans with minced pork (108 Chestnut St.).

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Way back in the day, after reading about a type of Indian food I had never heard of on the original Midtown NYC Midtown Lunch, I checked it out for myself and was hooked. Chaat means Indian “snack”, and  usually refers to a unique combo of crunchy dough things topped with a yogurt and tamarind sauce.  In Philly, I had assumed that the only place to get some without hoping on a bus back to NYC was all the way in University City. I just found out that the UCity Desi Chaat House opened up a location in the food court of The Bellevue this past winter. I hopped on those escalator stairs immediately with chaat on the brain.

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• Must have this sandwich now!!!! I have been requesting that tasso make it to Philly! Now in a tasso panini from Plenty in South Philly [Serious Eats]
• Phoodie is all about the Mexican Chicken Soup at Grocery while the weather is still chilly [Phoodie]
• We really could use some more good Thai food, so I was happy to hear Erawan is expanding to Chinatown [Meal Ticket]
• Row Home Eats agrees with us that the chicken lunch at Meme is worth checking out [Row Home Eats]
• Penn Appetit has only good things to say about Marrakesh Express [Penn Appetit]

While I may have gotten some sugah from my diner experience this week, I was craving some actual dessert. I had been meaning to try the Sugar Philly truck for many many months. Finally I made my way over to University City to check out their treats. The first lesson I learned was that college students love their macarons. So much so that many flavors were sold out by the time I arrived in the late afternoon. The chef even mentioned he might be moving towards a more macaron centered menu.

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This Saturday at 2pm, professional and amateur shuckers will be competing for cash prizes at the Oyster House (1516 Sansom St). The entrance fee is $5 which gets you access to the shucked oysters. Each contestant will be judged on speed and accuracy by Art from Foobooz, Drew from Meal Ticket, and yours truly. Don’t forget to say hi!

These are oysters collected and shucked by my Dad. I’d give him a good score.