Midtown Lunch

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 Becca, a “pastry bitch”, who is looking for a partner in dim sum crime.

Name: Becca

Age: 24

Occupation: Pastry Cook

Where in Philly do you Work?: I’m the assistant pastry chef at a place in Old City, and the PM pastry cook at a restaurant in Center City East. I am a work machine.

Favorite Kind of Food: Burgers, big sandwiches, runny cheeses, Chinese, Spanish, Middle Eastern, anything you can eat with a beer in the other hand, soups and stews, pizza when it’s decent, root beer floats. I’m a snob about good bread. I’ll do just about anything for a good bowl of noodle soup or an open-faced turkey sandwich. If I’m free, I’ll never turn down a brunch offer, because I love fried eggs and cheap champagne based cocktails.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Squishy gelatinous stuff, cilantro, eggplant, anything too custard-y like creme brulee. I hate cupcakes too but I think it’s just because they’re trendy in a bad way.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: Sang Kee Peking Duck House on 9th and Vine for the noodle soups and “blank” over rice platters; either Mama’s or Maoz for falafel; Tin Wong for noodles and soup; Joy Tsin Lau for dim sum–the dumplings and fried shrimp are amazing when you’re hungover; La Lupe in South Philly for green chili chicken tamales and tacos carnitas, or Taqueria Veracruzana (8th and Washington, I think) also for pork tacos; Moriarty’s for wings, beer, and burgers; Jake’s Sandwich Board for the roast pork sandwich; I like that kosher style deli on 19th and Sansom–Rachael’s Nosherei? I was a regular at Darling’s Diner in NoLibs at the Piazza for about a year, and almost always had the BLT or roast turkey plate. I just found out about Han Dynasty in Old City and their banquets and I’m about to go for the second time.
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How is it October already? While I am not excited about having to put pants on, fall food is something to warm my chilled bones. McGillin’s Old Ale House is serving up some Oktoberfest meal specials and I went to check it out.

Good Old McGillin’s. Oldest operating tavern in Philadelphia, Philly bar staple, brew their own beers, blahblahblah, you know all this- but let’s cut to the chase. How is the food?

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• Foodzings is also a fan of the dry noodles at Dim Sum Garden [Foodzings]
• A tentative menu for Marabella Meatball Co is out. We get a choice of beef, pork, chikcen, or veggie meatball. Yes, that last one would be meatless balls [Foobooz]
• Tweed just added lunchtime hours, but almost nothing on the menu is under $10 [Uwishunu]
• Is anyone going to the Midtown Village Festival this weekend? There will be sumo wrestling and many local restaurants participating, including Jake’s Sandwich Board [Midtown Village]

Kanella is well loved for their top notch Cypriot menu. Getting a reservation there for a Friday night is as easy as nailing jello to a tree. But what about lunch? While the dinner entrees run from $18 to $25, a very affordable lunch menu is offered from Thursday through Sunday. The menu includes both lunch and breakfast options; this is great for me, I am (if it wasn’t obvious) way more of a lunch than  breakfast gal. But I know some people can pass up a fancy egg, and they can get their poached or fried egg fix. Breakfast fans and lunch fans can eat in harmony here at Kanella.

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