Midtown Lunch Philly will be on hiatus next week while I am traveling in… CHINA! I will be stopping in Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai. Follow me on twitter, because I will be posting lots of pictures of my meals.
Before I leave, who has China suggestions for me??
And if you want to pretend like you are eating with me, all of my Chinese lunches in Philly can be found here.
Shabu Shabu, the dining experience that required diners to dip raw food into broth until cooked to the desired temperature, is popular in other major cities but has not yet made it big in Philly. There are a handful of Chinatown restaurants who offer hot pot and shabu shabu on the menu, but month-old Simply Shabu, is the first to offer only this high heat meal.
I haven’t dabbled much in the culinary offerings of the Chinatown tea joints that have popped up in the past few years. I walked by the newer branch of Tea Talk, the one located in Market East as opposed to Chinatown, and noticed the food menu in the window was pretty substantial. And ever better, I saw an item on the menu I have been searching for since I moved to Philly.
I am a big pig and have eaten hundreds of exciting lunches this past year. I am both grossed out and proud of myself when looking back at all the damage. I wrangled up my favorites of 2013 to share.
January started the year off strong, with peirogi’s from Donna’s smokey bar, Caribbean platters from Little Delicious, tom yom beef jerky from Ratchada, and the gooey mac and cheese brisket sandwich from MeltKraft.
In February, the Uzbeki meal from Samarkand was pretty legendary.
Taco truck, Taco El Rodeo was a pleasant surprise in April.
Pennsylvania 6 did the fancy business lunch right for me in May. Less fancy, but still satisfying: Poi Dog cart’s fried chicken and Campo’s monster of a meat sandwich called “The Stockyard”. Plus, this month brought the opening of Sizzling Woks (called Xi’an Famous Foods then), which meant slippery, spicy liang pi noodles in my mouth.
In June, I was obsessing over the lamb tacos at Border Springs Farm.
The meatball sandwich at Corner Foodery and the beef sandwich at Pura Vida were stand outs. Slightly more upscale, I loved the grilled pastrami and mac and cheese at Twisted Tail.
The meaty torta from American Sardine Bar and meaty burrito bowl from Animo provided tasty protein in August.
September is beautiful in Philly. Perfect for a picnic provided by Talula’s Daily. I was also overjoyed to find pupusas at Tamalex. I also ate a large amount of pork from Freddy and Tony’s.
The sandwiches at El Soto and cheesy tacos from Quetzally satiated Mexican cravings for October. I was also in love with the bread from High Street and much of the Cambodian snacks at Kavei Express.
Rounding out the year; in the past 2 months I was impressed by the dim sum at Wokano, the Godfather sandwich from Cosmis, and the soup dumplings from I-Green.
I think its time for a salad. Please keep your fingers crossed that I fit in to my New Year’s Eve dress tonight. So- What were your favorite lunches this year?
Posted at 12:37 pm, December 31st, 2013 under American, Cambodian, Carribean, Center City, Chinatown, Chinese, dim sum, dumplings, event, mac & cheese, Mexican, noodles, North East, pork, Puerto Rican, Reading Terminal, sandwiches, sit-down, South Philly, tacos.
I-Green opened in the summer of 2012 and has managed to stay open despite its confusing identity. While it used to only serve vegetarian food, that is no longer the case. Is it a froyo joint? A generic Chinese food restaurant? Where to get bubble tea? A sushi spot? A place to get a cheesesteak? A place for vegetarian mock meat? It is all of those things, yes, but those things are irrelevant. Because in the kitchen (located in the back, behind the whole froyo set up), you can score some fresh dim sum all day. At $6, I-Green’s lunch combo is almost tempting, but the basic choices are not thrilling. Instead, bring a friend, and share some plates from the dim sum section.
Wok Works opened its doors officially yesterday to a hungry crowd. The space is small, so seating is limited, but the team does a decent job at moving the line. Of note, in terms of decor, were the “living walls” of plants. I guess I could be more observant because I only noticed them once they started dripping on me. But enough of the plant life, on to the food.
Posted at 7:54 am, November 6th, 2013 under Center City, Chinese, noodles.
Wokano on Washington Ave serves dim sum every day. The exterior is not too inviting, but inside it has the standard dim sum joint look; you know, gaudy chandeliers and big round tables. Like most dim sum places, the stream of goodies dies down after lunch time, but at Wokano you can order from a one page menu of dim sum option, ensuring a fresh and hot product. Just know that they do run out of things.
I have certain standard for dim sum, so I had to find out: Woka-no or Woka-yes? I’m sorry, that’s likely the worst pun I have ever done.
