PROFILE: Philly Luncher “Lauren”

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 Lauren, who has great tastes in food except I can’t relate to her disdain for olives.

Name: Lauren

Age: 30

Occupation: Government Affairs

Where in Philly do you Work?: City Hall area

Favorite Kind of Food: Mexican food, Vietnamese, sushi, Thai food. Pretty much anything spicy or which can serve as a guacamole delivery vehicle. I thoroughly enjoy a great burger. I’ve also been known to put truffle oil on anything.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Salmon. Or olives. Salmon with olives could possibly be my worst nightmare. I don’t know if that would taste good together even if you did like both those things. Which I don’t. I also don’t get capers, beets, those baby corn things or hominy.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: I LOVE QT’s Bahn Mi sandwich (48 N. 10th) with extra jalapeno. Reading Terminal (12th and Filbert) has a lot of great dishes. I’m a huge fan of Salumeria’s chicken cutlet sandwich, the cheese steak stuffed pretzel from Miller’s Twist (think Auntie Anne’s not Philly style pretzel); the Chicken Caesar sandwich with roasted peppers or the goat cheese and carmelized onion pizza from By George. Now that the weather is nice, Honest Tom’s Tacos (truck) and Jose Garces Trading Company (1111 Locust Street) will both make it back into the rotation. If you are near Washington Ave. – big props to Nam Phoung (11th and Washington), which makes an awesome #170, as well as a surprisingly amazing spicy shrimp pad thai. Also, Taqueria Veracruzana (908 Washington) is still unparalleled for both its tastiness and budget friendliness. Their guac isn’t the greatest, but their tacos are awesome.

“Go-To” Lunch Place You and Your Coworkers Eat at Too Often? See above. I also frequent 13th Street on a regular basis. Barbuzzo (110 S. 13th) is open for lunch and may be the only way to actually get in there without reserving a table 2 months in advance. The Uovo pizza may be my favorite pizza in Philly. Who knew how awesome cracking eggs on things was? El Vez (121 S. 13th) has a great lunch special and they always sling some solid guac. Grocery (105 S. 13th) is also a great stop for soups, salads, sandwiches and a hot bar from Lolita.

Place you discovered thanks to Philly Lunch (if any) Dim Sum Garden (59 N. 11th Street). Do not let the grimy exterior deter you. Walk in and you will be very pleasantly surprised. Great food, great service and some seriously amazing soup dumplings.

If you could work anywhere (just because of the lunch) where would it be and why? Purely for lunch purposes, I’d probably say NYC, because of its superior food trucks. I don’t know if awesome food truck access could compensate for undoubtedly having to hear people complain about the Mets everyday, but as this is a hypothetical, I’m not going to worry about it.

Is there anything you’d like to ask the Philly Lunch readers? Is there anywhere in the city to get a decent beignet (French or American style), or even a mediocre one? I know it’s not a lunch thing, but I can’t understand how we have creperies and nary a beignet in sight. So, if someone were to start a beignet food truck, I’d know at least one person who would be into it.

I am pretty sure that Beck’s Cajun in Reading Terminal serves beignets. I hope they don’t disappoint.

If you would like to be next week’s Profiled Philly Lunch’er (or know somebody you’d like to nominate), email me at jamie@midtownlunch.com

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3 Comments

  • Cajun Kate’s, Cajun Kate’s, Cajun Kate’s. I LOVE Cajun food and am always confused how anyone can eat Beck’s. Kate’s is worth the adventure to Delco. Only open on Friday and Saturday. And in a weird flea market. Best Cajun food around. From beignets to fried oyster po’ boys.

  • so Thad are you volunteering to drive us then??

  • Absolutely. We should have a meet up and drive. Don is the man!

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