Although there are countless little Mexican places below Washington Avenue, I never get sick of them and always look forward to trying the new kid on the block. This time it was El Sabor Poblano on Federal, which could not look less special if it tried.
Posted at 10:16 am, September 11th, 2014 under BYOB, Mexican, South Philly, tacos.
What are we gonna do with the West side of Washington Ave? He’s like the fat kid in school running hurdles; you root for him, but he might not make it. With the entrance of Kermit’s Bakery, the race is looking less grim. And as of late, the folks from Jet Wine bar and Rex 1516 are taking their crack at it, opening a Mexican cafe called Cafe Ynez in the area formerly occuped by Cafe L’Aube.
Posted at 9:35 am, May 14th, 2014 under Mexican.
On this day, Americans celebrate the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla by drinking lots of margaritas and eating Mexican food. Luckily, in Philly there are so many great options for Mexican dining. You can go the Stephen Starr route, or you could get all authentic with a restaurant whose name you might not be able to pronounce.
Kids have it so good these days. Back in my day, we had 2 dining options as college freshmen, the dining hall and a pretty lame cafe. But as of last month, Penn students can dine at a fast food concept by James Beard Award winner Rick Bayless. Tortas Fronteras is a Mexican fast food chain that tries to keep things as fresh as possible given the chainyness. Once you find the place on campus (its the Arch building, make a left once inside), all you have to do is switch out your suit for some skinny jeans and a brightly colored top so you too can dine like a college student. Just kidding, its open to the public, but going undercover is fun anyway. While waiting for your food try to hit on the students and see if you “still got it”
Posted at 11:16 am, March 27th, 2014 under Mexican, University City.
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?
Posted at 12:37 pm, December 31st, 2013 under American, Cambodian, Carribean, Center City, Chinatown, Chinese, dim sum, dumplings, event, mac & cheese, Mexican, noodles, North East, pork, Puerto Rican, Reading Terminal, sandwiches, sit-down, South Philly, tacos.
El Fuego keeps the lunch line moving with its simple menu, consisting of burritos, tacos, or quesadillas with your choice of chicken, steak, spicy beef, chorizo, or vegetarian.
Posted at 11:45 am, December 19th, 2013 under Mexican.
It had been a while since I enjoyed the 2 course, $10 week day lunch special at El Rey. My recollection was that it delivers affordable, yet fancy, Mexican interpretations with smaller sized portions. Its accessible to a wide variety of Philadelphians, making it a good spot, for example, for lunch meetings of all sorts, which is what I happened to be there for.
Posted at 11:00 am, December 11th, 2013 under Center City, Mexican.
