Midtown Lunch

Last week I celebrated my birthday with a crew of friends. I typically do a BYOB dinner followed by dancing, but I wanted to change it up with some daytime fun. We started at Philadelphia Brewing Company for a tour and a tasting. The tour was short and sweet and the we were able to sample a whole slew of beers, many of them quite familiar and well loved. Beer for breakfast is the American thing to do. At the advice of our tour guide, we walked directly next door to the brand new distillery and tried their gin and whiskey. So far so good. Next we sauntered about a mile to the lunch destination- Lechonera Principe.

My pals have become quite spoiled and expect that I pre-order and food so it brought out immediately to us without them having to make any decisions. As a mealtime control freak, I am happy to oblige. Pre-ordering works especially well for a big group and Lechonera easily accommodated us, though a bit of Spanish was needed to convey what I wanted when I made the call.  We stumbled  in and were quickly greeted by piles of  lechon, rice, beans, and potato salad. Then, came the fried course: empanadas and alcapurrias. The pork and beans were the showstoppers. Maybe the beer and spirits were to blame, but I spent most of lunch aggressively tearing though pork skin. There may be blackmail pictures of this floating around on the internet. I love my friends.

There isn’t a menu or much at all about Lechonera Principe on the internet. There is however, this video.

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

• Piles of pork, beans and fried things
• Great for a group

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

• No menu or hours listed anywhere, call for information

Lechonera Principe, 235 Cecil B. Moore Ave, 215 235-9048

Philadelphia Brewing Company, 2440 Frankford Ave, 215 427-2739