Midtown Lunch

Last April, Cooperage opened inside the Curtis Center. I had never been inside the impressive Curtis Center before, but choosing the wrong entrance allowed me to look around. The Cooperage has a disjointed, cowboy decor that at the very least, gives your eyes different things to focus on, whether it be the disco mirror wall panels or the wood chandeliers. For lunch, sandwiches, soups, and salads are on the agenda with a pick 2 option for $10.  Whenever given the choice of sticking to one thing, or picking the combo- I am going to go for the combo. All of the lunch menu was available for the pick two except the burger and the crabcake, since  a half version of those would look pretty weird. I had to look no further than the first sandwich listed on my clipboard menu- short ribs!

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Photo Courtesy of David Kover

• Plenty is open and serving charcuterie sandwiches, fancy fancy [Meal Ticket]
• The pizza at Ikea doesn’t compare to the famous meatballs [Slice]
• Big juice burgers at Sketch [A Hamburger Today]
• A list of healthy lunches…. do we approve? [PhillyMag]

Over the last few weeks, I’ve realized that the King Kabob truck has returned to 38th & Spruce.  The cart has apparently been open for a few years, but was on hiatus last semester because of a change in ownership.  Now that King Kabob is back, I decided to give it a try with a few friends.

I usually stick to Washington Ave for my Vietnamese fix, but while on my way to Harmony Bakery for another dose of yogurt pop (yes, I am completely addicted), I noticed Pho Xe Lua- a Viet and Thai restaurant with an enticing neon image of a train in the window. I filed it in my mental roladex that is reserved strictly for restaurants and unfortunately does not retain any information that would aid me during finals week. When I made my way back, I stuck to the Vietnamese part of the menu, specifically the more snack type options. There was one appetizer and one lunch bowl in particular that will be permanently stored in that roladex so I access whenever I need to recommend  some non-pho related Viet food in Chinatown.

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Today Morgan is reporting on the :gasp: vegan pizza at Blackbird.

Blackbird pizza occupies the space that used to be Gianna’s grill. But, unlike Gianna’s, everything on the Blackbird menu is 100% vegan. Gianna’s used to be that perfect middle ground: a place where vegans, vegetarians, and their meat-eating friends could come together and fill up on pizza and sandwiches. However, that era has ended so I grabbed a couple of friends and headed out to see what Blackbird has to offer.

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Photo courtesy of Drawing for Food

• Thrillist spreads the word about this guy who does deliveries of home made soups [Thrillist]
• And more local homemade info: you can get fresh tofu at Viet Tofu [Mac&Cheese]
• Hummus alert: Falafel Bar has opened at 1513 Chestnut and Zaffron Hummus Bar is coming to Liberty Place at the end of the month [Foobooz]
• The New York Times admits that Philly has some great restaurants, including Supper and Barbuzzo [NY Times]
• The soondubu looks hot and spicy at Koreana [Drawing for Food]