Midtown Lunch

Le Bus is a small take-out place right by Rittenhouse Square with high quality pre-made soup, salads, and sandwiches to quickly grab for a lovely picnic in the Square, if you are lucky, or to hurry back to the office/classroom, if you are not so lucky. Le Bus is known for their baked goods; they sell a variety of loaves, rolls, and desserts to take home. The rotating sandwich selections run about $6, while the soup of the day is $4.

Daily specials are announced on a board outside;  the combination of nicer weather and a promise of gazpacho lured me in.

I am a sucker for curry chicken salad. I enjoy mine with the addition of something sweet, like raisins. Le Bus brilliantly places the curried chicken salad in their “Delhi” sandwich on their hearty raisin nut bread, it really added to the enjoyment of the sandwich. The chicken salad itself consisted of hunks of white meat, no what-did-I-just-bite-into situations over here. For under $6, this filling and relatively good for you sandwich was well worth it.

Other sandwich selections include the Arcadia, with turkey, bacon, and pesto-may and vegetarian options like the Lebanon, with hummus, swiss, and apple. The staff offers to toast up any sandwich on the panini press.

The nice sized portion of gazpacho hit the spot, but it would not be sufficient for a meal on its own. It is pretty hard to screw up gazpacho.  Le Bus’s contained fresh ingredients and had the appropriate consistency, not too tomato soupy. I would have liked slightly bigger sized bits of tomato, though.

Soups come with a choice of roll, and let me tell you- these rolls are not an afterthought. Both the sun-dried tomato and olive roll were gorgeous expressions of what rolls should be, crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle, and generously filled with pieces of sun-dried tomato, olive, or whatever else you chose.

If you are going to do the soup/sandwich thing for lunch, Le Bus gives you what you want- only upgraded.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• From marble rye loaves to olive rolls, Le Bus is stocked with delicious fresh bread of all varieties
• With a rotating menu, you won’t be bored
• Most options are on the healthy side, but are balanced by strong flavors

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• No real seating area
• They can run out of sandwiches

Le Bus, 135 S 18th St (@ Walnut St), 215-569-8299