Midtown Lunch

Here’s where I’ll be consuming my calories this week-

Thursday:  6pm, 1301 S. Columbus Blvd, 6^th Annual Pizza Olympics. Tickets are $15 and include all you can eat pizza and a chance to vote for categories like, “favorite Sicilian.” Tickets can be purchased here or at the door.

Saturday: 1-4pm, 2nd and Pine, 3rd Annual Dog Days of Summer Cook-Off. Pay as you go for your choice of any or all of the 20 different hot dog variations.

In promotion of Spike’s FRANKENFOOD tv show,  a food truck will be handing out free bizarre food combo creations all week around Philadelphia. Philly’s own Tony Luke JR. will be judging bizarro food combos for the show, which premiers   June 22^nd @ 10pm on Spike TV. What can you expect from the promo truck? Mango Habanero Lollipops, Fruity Pebbles Chicken, Pork S’Mores, Fried Slim-Jim Mac-n-Cheese Balls, Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog Éclair, Spam Sushi, Espresso Crusted Chicken Taco, Blackened Shrimp Pretzels.

Locations:

Monday 11a – 3p: Walnut and 34th Street

Tuesday 10:30a – 3p — Navy Yard 4747 S Broad St #120, Philadelphia, PA 19112

Wednesday 11a – 2p – 30th Street Station – 30th Street and Market Street

Thursday 11a -2p Love Park 1599 John F Kennedy Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Friday 11a – 2p Walnut Street & S 34th Street

The date for the 4th Annual Philadelphia Vendy Awards has just been announced. It will be Saturday, June 14th at Penn Treaty Park and tickets are already on sale. Early Bird tickets always get sold out, so pick them up while you can! Nominate your favorite food trucks now and prepare for unlimited food and drink and the chance to crown the People’s Favorite. Proceeds support the Food Trust.

Midtown Lunch Philly will be on hiatus next week while I am traveling in… CHINA! I will be stopping in Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai. Follow me on twitter, because I will be posting lots of pictures of my meals.

Before I leave, who has China suggestions for me??

And if you want to pretend like you are eating with me, all of my Chinese lunches in Philly can be found here.

I am a big pig and have eaten hundreds of exciting lunches this past year. I am both grossed out and proud of myself when looking back at all the damage. I wrangled up my favorites of 2013 to share.

January started the year off strong, with peirogi’s from Donna’s smokey bar, Caribbean platters from Little Delicious, tom yom beef jerky from Ratchada, and the gooey mac and cheese brisket sandwich from MeltKraft.

In February, the Uzbeki meal from Samarkand was pretty legendary.

Taco truck, Taco El Rodeo was a pleasant surprise in April.

Pennsylvania 6 did the fancy business lunch right for me in May. Less fancy, but still satisfying: Poi Dog cart’s fried chicken and Campo’s monster of a meat sandwich called “The Stockyard”. Plus, this month brought the opening of Sizzling Woks (called Xi’an Famous Foods then), which meant slippery, spicy liang pi noodles in my mouth.

In June, I was obsessing over the lamb tacos at Border Springs Farm.

The meatball sandwich at Corner Foodery and the beef sandwich at Pura Vida were stand outs. Slightly more upscale, I loved the grilled pastrami and mac and cheese at Twisted Tail.

The meaty torta from American Sardine Bar and meaty burrito bowl from Animo  provided tasty protein in August.

September is beautiful in Philly. Perfect for a picnic provided by Talula’s Daily. I was also overjoyed to find pupusas at Tamalex. I also ate a large amount of pork from Freddy and Tony’s.

The sandwiches at El Soto and cheesy tacos from Quetzally satiated Mexican cravings for October. I was also in love with the bread from High Street and much of the Cambodian snacks at Kavei Express.

Rounding out the year; in the past 2 months I was impressed by the dim sum at Wokano, the Godfather sandwich from Cosmis, and the soup dumplings from I-Green.

I think its time for a salad. Please keep your fingers crossed that I fit in to my New Year’s Eve dress tonight. So- What were your favorite lunches this year?

This Sunday (10/6) from 4-6pm,the American Swedish Historic Museum will hold their 4th Annual Great Meatball Match Up. Local amateurs and professionals will compete for their respective prizes. I will be there to help judge the amateurs again. Admission is a mere $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, $4 for kids 4-12 years old. Previous winners include Dad’s Stuffing and Pastificio. Besides Italian, past years have also included Swedish, Cuban, and Asian style meatballs. With the quality and quantity of meatballs, I promise you will get your money’s worth.

Let me know if you make it!