Archive for 'Puerto Rican'

El Sabor Restaurant

Just when I think I have tried all the North Philly corner Puerto Rican joints with under 10 Yelp reviews, I stumbled across El Sabor Restaurant, which has been in business for almost 30 years. Forgoing the dining room off to the side, we picked up some decedent items from behind the counter.

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Top Lunches of 2014

A pre New Year round up of my favorites bites is a fun excuse to look back on each year of dining. It is also incentive to get down and hold the plank position until the ball drops.  Here are my 2014 eating highlights:

During my first overseas trip of the  year, I ate my way through Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai!

Soon after, I started giving Chinatown Food Tours! (if you still owe someone a belated Holiday gift, its not a bad idea!)

I wrote a few fun articles for Zagat, including one on shopping at “ethnic” markets.

On an outing to Graffiti Pier in Port Richmond, I put together a Polish picnic that you can replicate.

For my birthday, we celebrated with beer and a Puerto Rican Pork feast.

I coordinated a food truck festival for 15,000 people in Mt. Airy.

On a solo vacation in Mexico City, I ate a ton of street meat.

I was really proud of my Federal Donuts costume this Halloween.

Way more, after the jump…

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The Flavor of Pork? Latin Flavor brings Casual Caribbean to South Street

At the end of November, a Latin American/Caribbean casual dining restaurant opened on South Street. Latin Flavor serves Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican food. This news peaked my taste bud’s interests because most Caribbean restaurants we have to work with in Philly are either fancy or super far from Center City.  I wondered if this spot could stand up to the amazing Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican food I have tried up in North Philly: Isla Nena, El Principe, El Lechonera Principe, Cibao, El Rey de Fritura, Shining Star, Porky’s Point, and Freddy and Tony’s. Looking back at those reviews, I can only grimace with pride about how much fatty pork I have already consumed in my lifetime. Time for more. Because we all know that the “Latin Flavor” is often fatty, delicious pork.

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How Midtown Lunch Philly Does a Birthday Lunch

Last week I celebrated my birthday with a crew of friends. I typically do a BYOB dinner followed by dancing, but I wanted to change it up with some daytime fun. We started at Philadelphia Brewing Company for a tour and a tasting. The tour was short and sweet and the we were able to sample a whole slew of beers, many of them quite familiar and well loved. Beer for breakfast is the American thing to do. At the advice of our tour guide, we walked directly next door to the brand new distillery and tried their gin and whiskey. So far so good. Next we sauntered about a mile to the lunch destination- Lechonera Principe.

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Take Advantage of Better Weather at Porky’s Point

Now that the horrible weather is finally breaking, snacking at a stand is sounding like a better idea. Porky’s Point in North Philly is a Puerto Rican take out restaurant with a lot of pork and cheap, fried snacks.

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Top Lunches of 2013

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?

Puerto Rican Food from The Shining Star

The Shining Star restaurant serves Puerto Rican food in North Philly. I couldn’t help comparing this visit to when I ate at Freddy and Tony’s, who serve amazing Puerto Rican food one mile north, especially since we ordered similarly (fried things +pork). Note that there are two menus, one in English and one in Spanish. If your food Spanish is halfway decent, stick with that menu, since the English translations were confusing.

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