Midtown Lunch

Right across from Los Taquitos de Puebla is  “El Pueblo,” a shop selling homemade Mexican Ice Cream (helado), juice (agua fresca), and popsicles (paletas). I had never even heard of this place before and the day’s heat gave me more of an excuse to pop in. I found out that El Pueblo is open open during the hotter months and will probably shut down for the season at the end of the September. Though the brightly colored paletas looked tempting, inside I zero-ed in on that ice cream.

Read more »

Its hot out there, really really hot. So what would possess me to go to an unaircontioned restaurant and order soup? A mean hangover, the kind that only chicken soup can cure, that’s what.

Located in the Italian Market, El Costono serves Mexican food and has a full bar, not that I needed it. On the menu you’ll find tacos, tortas, burritos, meat platters, seafood, and soup. Normally I would choose a torta, I do love me Mexican sandwich, but I was looking for something more healing.

Read more »

While I typically devour my tacos at Mexican run establishment and steer clear of the fancy “haute Mexican” genre, the $10 dollar  “comida corrida” at Starr’s El Rey is affordable enough to accept it’s tight pant staffed table service. Plus if I can do fancy banh mi at Chifa, I can handle an extra garnish on my taco. The express lunch comes with chips and salsa, an appetizer, and an entree.

Read more »

It’s hard to keep up with the fun snacks at 12th St Cantina in Reading Terminal. They are always rotating new things that tempt me as I walk by. While burritos and quesadillas are always available, I prefer just picking what snacks behind the glass look best to me. Last visit I only had room to sample the duck chili.

Read more »

I am always up for more tacos. I spotted Los Taquitos de Puebla while in the Italian Market, noting “cabeza de res” on the sign. Beef head tacos? You can’t get a more sure sign that a place is legit. Unfortunately, eyeball, lips, and tripe tacos were not in the cards for me on this trip. I actually can’t think of anything I would want to eat less than eyeballs (blame it on my hobby of dissecting them in grade school). But I did enjoy the more standard cow and pig part tacos.

Read more »

On my last visit to Grocery, I only had room for dessert and vowed to come back for a full lunch. There are so many attractive looking snacks to choose from; sandwiches, prepared foods, desserts, specialty sodas, and two by-the pound -buffets, one with above average cold salad type stuff and the other (“Little Lolita”) with hot food from Lolita, a Mexican BYOT (T for tequila) owned by the same owners of Grocery.  I was in to the idea of picking up a variety of Mexican fare from a well loved Philly restaurant without having to do the whole sit down waiter service thing.

Read more »

With Jimmy’s question yesterday about good Mexican in Philly, I turned to El Jarocho, suggested by Luncher MWinston. El Jarocho is a small Mexican restaurant on the corner of 13^th and Elsworth. The menu has breakfast items, burritos, sandwiches, and tacos, plus bigger entrees that cost over $10. How does it compare to the rest of what Philly has to offer?

Read more »