Midtown Lunch

I love that Philly has several excellent options for Turkish food (See S&H Kebab Houseand Hamifgash). I have another to add to my list now.  Cafe Fulya is small and very casual with groovy furniture, large open windows, and a few tables and a couch inside and a table out in front. Being a cafe, a lot of the menu items are baked goods and cold appetizers. They also serve breakfast all day, including a traditional Turkish breakfast with too many components to list. I am not really an eating breakfast for lunch kind of girl, so I filled up on the other stuff.

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Photo Courtesy of ABC News

• Is that crazy Frog Burger too much? [Philadining]
• Huitlacoche quesadillas and stacked enchiladas at Los Gallos [Philadelphia Weekly via Foobooz]
• Ah! I can’t even decide if this is brilliant or totally gross: a billboard that pumps out a grilled steak smell  [Slashfood]
• Albap from H-mart is a great summer lunch [Foodzings]

I am really intrigued by Grocery, the gourmet deli/market on 13th St, so it was unfortunate that I had just eaten when I finally decided to walk in. I tried to avert my eyes as I passed the sandwiches and by- the- pound buffets because I knew I didn’t have it in me. But I did stop at the refrigerated shelves of desserts and paused at the container of Cardamom and Mixed Berry Shortcake Parfait. I just liked the sound of that too much to resist.

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Shiroi Hana is a Japanese restaurant conveniently located at 15th and Walnut and with a well rounded menu of teriyaki, sushi, udon, tempura, and katsu.  Also on the lunch menu are a few bento box options. Bento boxes are awesome because you get several different snacks at once and they are designed to be easily taken back to the office or school.  And I don’t know why, but having different compartments makes me feel like a kid again. You definitely get that “lunch box envy” from everyone around you.

Hey, hey you, I see you over my shoulder peeking at what I got going on in here! It looks better than your pb &j, doesn’t it?

It’s been a while since I had any pork katsu (breaded and fried sliced pork), so I chose that for my bento. ($10)

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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 Mary, a commenter who shares my love for finding great eats in Chinatown.

Name: Mary

Age: Let’s just say I’m old enough to be the mother of most of the ML’ers who have been profiled so far… ;-)

Occupation: Accountant

Where in Philly do you Work?: 15th and JFK

Favorite Kind of Food:Edible. No, really. I was taught from an early age that I wouldn’t know if I liked something or not unless I tried it, and I’ve kept that attitude all my life. Sometimes it was helpful; my husband and I lived with my mom for many years, and she would cook most of the time. I learned to go to ethnic restaurants so I wouldn’t have the same thing twice in one day. I will *try* just about anything – doesn’t mean I always go for seconds though.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: I never could eat sweet potatoes or carrots (at least cooked carrots), they both literally make me gag. I don’t mind raw carrots though. Also I really don’t like cilantro. I’m not one of the ones who gets physically ill from eating it, I just don’t like a huge pile of fresh stuff on top of my food and the taste drowning out everything else I am eating. I don’t mind a *little* used in cooking, but there doesn’t seem to be any such thing as “a little” cilantro. I really can’t wait until the fad is over for that one, but it’s been going on for years and years… Sorry sushi fans, but sushi to me = bait. I grew up spending a week or two every year at my grandparents’ shore house, and if I wanted raw fish I could have had all I wanted for free from the fishermen on the pier..

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: I’m a Chinatown fiend. I’ve tried just about every restaurant there and go to certain restaurants only for certain dishes: Dim Sum Garden for brisket noodle soup, David’s Mai Lai Wah for steamed dumplings, Tasty Place for beef with rice noodle and vegetable or roast pork with pan-fried noodle, you get the idea. Soup dumplings are a toss-up between Sakura and Dim Sum Garden though. The uber-cheap “house soup” at Tasty Place is well worth getting along with your entree btw. I also like Indian food and am partial to Sitar India on 38th St between Market and Chestnut, an easy trip by El and the 10% coupon in the weekly papers is a nice bonus.

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European Republic is a small wrap and frites place in Olde City with a solid lunch special. $7 gets you a wrap, a small order of frites, and a drink.  The list of wraps is long and mostly healthy, but I was most interested in getting those Belgian frites.

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