Midtown Lunch

500°, Center City’s newest burger spot, has been open for barely over a month now. Burgers, fries, shakes, and soda is all you will find on the menu. At least this makes things easier for decision-phobes. The combo deals combine all of the menu ideas, making things even easier. For my first trip it had to be the 500° signature burger, why bother getting anything else?

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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 Sarah, an attorney who is all about the Korean food at home.

Name: Sarah

Age: 28

Occupation: Attorney

Where in Philly do you Work?: 17th btw Market and Chestnut St.

Favorite Kind of Food: I always find myself near paralyzed by this question, because how can I chose just one? I can’t even narrow it down by type of cuisine. It all depends on what particular craving I’m satisfying at that moment. That being said, my birthday dinner of choice for many years running has been my mom’s tonkatsu (thinly pounded pork cutlets coated in panko or crushed corn flakes), served with steamed broccoli, rice and kimchi.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Cilantro, and whatever poor dish has been infected by it.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: I realized this year that I’ve been working in a 4 block square around Liberty Place for about ten years, so most of my favorites are kind of grouped together! Anything from Giwa (1608 Sansom St), the Kung Pao Dried Tofu from Su Xing House (1508 Sansom St), the tuna melt at the Midtown III (28 South 18th Street), the borscht and any sandwich from Le Bus (135 S 18th St) but particularly the one that has turkey and asparagus, leftovers from Han Dynasty (108 Chestnut St.).

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I finally got around to trying a Thai spot for lunch, Erawan on 23rd St. To save you the trip to Wikipedia- Erawan is the name of a mystical elephant.

I wanted to get over there to try the  weekday lunch special, where 3 courses starts at $8.  The deal is dine-in only, but lunching by their zen waterfall wall beats scarfing down in front of a computer any day, so might as well stay a while. The first course is a small salad, followed by an appetizer, and then your main.

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Photo Courtesy of The Sneeze

• Jake’s, a new sandwich place is opening next month on 12th and Walnut, looking at the menu I can’t help but be drawn to the whole roasted pig and the fact that you can get your sandwich over fries [Phoodie]
• Check out Steve’s hilarious recaps of the terrible things he eats (ex: potted meat) [The Sneeze]
• I should probably shut my mouth about being sick of pizza; Nick attempts to eat nothing but pizza for an entire month [PizzaRules via Slice]
• A peek at Starr’s newest venture- El Rey [Grubstreet]
• Northeast Philly looks lucky to have the rotisserie Peruvian chicken at El Baloncito [Philly.com]

I had to check out Slice in Rittenhouse next; comments from both Pizza Week 1 and Week 2 mentioned Slice as a top Philly pizza destination. The original location on 10th and Federal is a bit out of the way, but the newer spot is conveniently located at 17th and Sansom. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the smell- mmmm olive oil and garlic. Very promising.

Disclosure: For some reason, there is always free pizza in law school. Free food is so hard to say no to. Consequently, I am getting sick of pizza. And for that reason, I couldn’t bring myself to order another plain slice over at Slice in Rittenhouse. Not when there was a goat cheese, bacon, caramelized onion slice staring right at me.

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The pictures on the walls of Hamifgash caught my eye as I walked by recently, with promises of both Israeli and Turkish food and some intense giant pictures of shwarma. Unfortunately for me, it was Shabbot and the kosher restaurant was closed. I vowed to return on a less holy day.  On my return trip, the waitress, who must have also been an owner, told me she was Israeli, while her husband is Turkish- explaining how the combo restaurant came about a few years ago.  The menu leans more towards the Israeli influence, though  the main courses of grilled meats are typical to Middle Eastern cuisine in general. A few Turkish appetizers are squeezed in there, but I wish there were more. I was hugely disappointed when I found out they no longer sell lahmacun (Turkish meat pizza). The waitress explained there was just no real customer interest. That is a real shame- so I urge all Philly lunchers to get down to Hamifgash and request for lahmacun- dough, meat, spices, what is not to like about that? Great lunching potential that we are missing out on.

But on to the food they do serve…

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