Midtown Lunch

We’ve come a long way since the days of the offensively-named-to-some “Roundeye Noodle Bar” pop ups. These days, Cheu Noodle Bar brings in a solid lunch and dinner crowd every day to their permanent location on 10th Street. The space, that once upon a time housed Maru Global, has been completely transformed with a few small tables and seating at the bar. Its definitely cramped, but nobody seems to mind.  A promise of new menu items reminded me it had been too long since I visited, and that I had never gotten around to writing about them. I needed a memory and mouth refresher.

Read more »

Pardon my smudged makeup, I have shed many tears this week caused by walking in the piercingly cold windy weather we’ve been having.  Besides going easy on the eyeliner and wrapping a scarf around my face, the other necessity right now is spicy, hot soup, preferable of the Asian variety. While at a meeting in University City, U-Town seemed like it would hook me up with this last need. U-Town’s sign says it serves Korean and Japanese cuisine, but its really a Korean spot. Similar to Koreana, the menu is more of a quick hot soup, stew, grilled meats place. You aren’t going to have an epic table-side Korean BBQ meal here. The menu hovers in the $10 range; my noodle soup ended up being $10.99.

Read more »

Recently, Yummy Lan Zhou on 10th street rebranded to Spice C, a bit hipper and also  less similar in name to the nearby famous Nan Zhou. This rebranding comes with soups that you can order at the “flirting” hot level as well as tshirts (the uniform and available for purchase)  that say “love is getting fat together, so lets eat more.”

The menu is largely similar, with some new dishes. More are on the way in the upcoming weeks along with a remodeling of the interior.

Read more »

When AmeriThai opened in South Philly, I was perplexed by the menu; cheap curry and Thai noodles, but also hot dogs, cheesesteaks, and turkey sandwiches. For my inaugural trip, I stuck to the Thai section of the menu.

Read more »

The Thai food scene in Philly is largely homogenous: decent, but not mind blowing food, with a 3 course special during lunch time. Take out spot Thai Singha House To go is a little different; its homier. The price of lunch from the steam table meal hasn’t changed since the place opened 5 years ago.

Read more »

Like Lady Gaga, I-Green in Chinatown is constantly reinventing itself. Once a frozen yogurt place, the menu expanded to include things like soup dumplings. Now, they have added hand pulled noodles to the menu. I just noticed the addition while stopping in with my Chinatown tour group.    

Read more »

Last week, Szechuan Dim Sum Restaurant opened at 9th and Arch,  taking over the Happy Restaurant space. Another newcomer attempts to make it in Chinatown. So new, that take out menus aren’t available yet. Don’t expect an Americanized menu over here, this crew is not afraid to dump a pile of peppers on you.

Read more »