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 Kara, who loves her Philly cheesesteaks but has no problems chomping down on… what is that? Scorpion on a stick? Damn girl, I am impressed.

Name: Kara

Age: 25

Occupation: Grad Student

Where in Philly do you Work?: Drexel University

Favorite Kind of Food: Buffalo chicken cheesesteaks and sushi (not necessarily together, but in that case, anything unagi makes a good dessert).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: German/Eastern European food tastes like shnitz.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: I get my cheesesteaks from Gusto (240 S. 22nd St.) and my sushi from Vic’s (2035 Sansom), although the tuna bruschetta at Umai Umai (533 N. 22nd St.) will make you say “Umai umai umai!”. My favorite place in Chinatown is Vietnam (221 N. 11th St.), and not just because of the flaming volcano lover’s drink for two. I also love Bridgid’s (726 N. 24th St.) for their filet roquefort, duck, and beer. The curry at Chew Man Chu (400 S. Broad St) is delicious (but beware of the overly enthusiastic wait staff). I am also in constant search of fried calamari that is better than that of Rx (4443 Spruce), but it remains the gold standard (and has held this title for over 7 years).

Drexel’s lunch carts have always been there for me when I just need a good-old fashioned turkey-egg-and-cheese (extra cheese). My favorite cart is Sue’s (Ludlow st.), but Mai’s has good Chinese food (grilled pork chop).

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Sakura is one of my favorite places to eat in Philadelphia. Though best known for their xiao long bao (dumplings filled with soup) they offer so many other knock-out dishes. The restaurant is newer and cleaner than many other Chinatown counterparts, so it can appeal to a broader audience and serve as a safe introduction for those nervous about Ctown dining. Sakura serves Japanese food as well as Chinese; I am normally suspicious of combo joints, but Sakura pulls off both rather flawlessly.

Sakura’s lunch specials run during the week starting at $5.50 and come with white or brown rice and a choice of eggdrop, wonton, or hot and sour soup.  I highly recommend the “Eight treasures in spicy sauce”, which I mostly ordered because I like the name and with no description of which treasures were involved, I was excited to be surprised. Read more »

Photo Courtesy of Collin Flatt at Phoodie

• Xochitl reopened with a more wallet friendly menu, including pork rind tacos for $9 and chorizo cazuela for $8 [GrubstreetPhilly]
• Lost falafel cart, can anyone help? [Chowhound]
• Some locals respond to the question: where can I find North Carolina style pulled pork?[City Paper]
• The Italian Market Paesano’s is super busy [Philly.com]
• Chef Ansil’s Bone marrow burger; terrifying or awesome? [Phoodie]

Hailing from Lancaster County, the good Amish folk at Dutch Eating Place bring country cooking to Reading Terminal. Half of the staff looks too young to be allowed to work, the other half looks too old to be allowed to work, but the place is constantly busy and the apron-ed workers, both young and old, keep up with the pace.

Looking around the counter, I ordered based on what looked popular, survey says: the hot oven roasted turkey sandwich.

While waiting, I noticed that the gentleman next to be had some delightful looking fried, golden balls in front of him. When I inquired, he informed me that they were corn nuggets and was nice enough to offer me one. I happily accepted, and fell so in love that I ordered my own.

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Photo Courtesy of Felicia D’Ambrosio at Meal Ticket

I have been meaning to check out the small plates at Chef Michael Schulson’s Sampan since its opening in December, so imagine how so so so pumped I was to read on Citypaper that they’ll be introducing a new lunch menu on March 5th. And even better than that… everything is under $10.  And even better than that… they’re giving away free banh mi during the first lunch service! I might be holding my breath from now until next Friday.

I took a quick look at the menu and I have to say I am left particularly breathless by the bbq pork ramen and steak banh mi with sunny side egg; those two will most assuredly be the first things I dig into. We are lacking ramen options in Center City (Phoodie recently started a Philly ramen hunt with Morimoto’s $14 version), so this will be a much welcomed addition to our lunch repertoire. At dinnertime the ramen is $12, but Sampan shrewdly lowered the price of their lunch ramen to $8. (And by shrewdly I mean thankfully!) Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), the lobster roll shown above didn’t not make its way onto the under $10 lunch menu, but if the sandwiches that did taste half as good as that lobster roll looks, I will be a very happy luncher. And kaffir lime aid to wash it all down? There is no way I could pass that up.

As for the lunch menu debut, everyone will be treated to a FREE pork banh mi, with chips and a drink on March 5th from 11:30am to 5pm. (Although I would advise getting there at 11:30 to avoid the unbearable sadness of sandwiches running out!)

The full lunch menu, in all its glory, is after the jump…

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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 Matt, a consultant with a passion for burgers.

Name: Matt

Age: 24

Occupation: Consultant

Where in Philly do you Work?: Center City, 18th & Arch

Favorite Kind of Food: This is like asking a father to choose which of his children he loves the most. Sure, he’s got a favorite, but he can’t bring himself to admit it publically. Besides, it’s close enough that on any given day Chicken Tikka Masala could overtake Spicy Tuna Roll with an A+ on a math test.

My stomach is perpetually jealous of Noah’s Ark, as I’ve never met an animal that wasn’t delicious. I love culture-specific cuisine, especially Asian and European, and the more authentic the better. I’m blissful at Tony Luke’s and Le Bec Fin alike. But my true passion has to be burgers, which I love to irrational extremes. I’m on a mission to eat, rank and review every burger in the city. I lay awake at night, wondering if there’s a better burger out there and defying the notion that I should be content with a personal favorite without testing every candidate (I’m tracking my results at www.awesomeopolis.com/burgermap).

Least Favorite Kind of Food: In general, I can’t stand food that tries too hard and restaurants that over-reach. I don’t care what I’m eating, as long as it’s done well. I’d rather eat a Shank’s chicken cutlet sandwich or a Hershel’s pastrami on pumpernickel than the filet mignon at a kitschy tourist trap or foie gras from a Denny’s. I’ll take the best of any category over mediocre execution in an allegedly “better” category any day of the week.

Specifically, my least favorite food in town is the last burger I had at the Applebee’s on 15th Street—its mere existence is an open declaration of war against food itself.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly:
Chung King Garden (915 Arch St): Water Boiled Fish; Green Pepper Chicken. This place has the best and most authentic Szechuan cuisine I’ve ever had.
Varga Bar (10th and Spruce): Kobe Beef Burger; Truffle Mac and Cheese. Best new gastropub in Philly, and they do a good brunch too (which is half-lunch, right?).
Shank’s Original (120 S. 15th St): Any of the chicken cutlet sandwiches, which are rightfully considered among the best in the country.
4th Street Deli (38 S. 19th St): Pastrami Cheesesteak; Challah French Toast; any sandwich. Forget the possibility of leaving hungry; come close to finishing a zaftig-sized sandwich here and you’ll be lucky to retain the ability to walk erect.
Reading Terminal Market (12th and Filbert): Follow your nose. This place is inspirational, and no, I’m not using that word too liberally.
Mama’s Vegetarian (18 S. 20th St): Falafel. Best lunch for a kosher/vegan; freshest fries in town.
DiBruno Brothers (Various locations): They make my favorite sandwiches to eat while working, but try not to go at around 11:50AM (that’s when I like to sneak in early to beat the line).

I could go on for quite a while, but I would consider any of these places at the top of their particular categories.

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