Midtown Lunch

There are so many restaurants on Washington Ave. I want to get to know them all. I want to know what each does best. Nam Phuong was on this list. The restaurant is large and busy. Its size and fun menu makes it accommodating for everyone- couples, friends, groups of drunks, groups of hangover cure seekers, coworkers… as long as you are a fan of soup and noodles.

Browsing the many pages of the menu, I was intrigued by the Vietnamese Crepe ($6.50) right on the first page under appetizers. I had never tried one before so I had to have it.

Read more »

My friends Jeff and Dave told me about a new place in Chinatown serving Sichuan food AND soup dumplings. Just a few months ago, the space was occupied by the short lived “Family Bistro”. Red Kings has variety going for it, serving Shanghai, Fuzhou, Sichuan, and Thai food. It also has a very long menu and cheap cheap lunch specials. They even have a Facebook page.

Read more »

What is the deal with the Bellevue Food Court? Is it worth checking out? Is it overpriced garbage or might there be some hidden gems? I had to find out. I bravely entered the Bellevue and made my way down the escalator having no idea where I would end up.  Then I saw Yunique Noodle House and I was back in my comfort zone. They have a mostly Korean menu, but they serve both Pho (Vietnamese soup) and Ramen (Japanese soup)…  this could be a bad sign or something great.

Read more »

I ordered from Pastoral, a neighborhood Korean place, because I wanted jajungmien, a Korean brown noodle dish that is one of my favorites. Once on the phone with Pastoral, I was told they do not make it anymore. Wah! Then I asked about their lunch specials. Nope, not doing them until September (does that make any sense?) Finally, I decided on veggie jap chae, which was listed as $9 on Menupages. But apparently, you can’t trust everything on the internets these days.

Read more »

I remember visiting Philly several years ago and grabbing some pad thai from the appropriately named Pad Thai Shack while in a rush and being satisfied.  Pad Thai is such a safe choice, it is kind of hard to mess up, even if not authentic, it still probably tastes good as long as you like peanuts. Recently, I wanted to try something else from the Shack. Again, I found myself in a rush, actually even more of a rush, and I didn’t have time to wait for my noodles to be prepared so a grabbed something pre-prepared from the fridge.

Read more »

Empress Garden certainly doesn’t stand out from any other Chinatown joints based on looks. Though the signage indicates Mandarin and Szechuan style food, they also serve Taiwanese dishes, making Empress Garden more unique. The crowded menu shows off countless preparations for pork, beef, seafood, chicken, and noodles. A good part of the menu is written in Mandarin and includes items that are not offered on the English menu. A Chowhound poster graciously provided some translations. My waitress was very helpful at confirming I was ordering the dishes that I had in mind.  Most entrees are 5- 8 bucks and make a nice sized and cheap lunch; lunch specials are available during the week that come with rice and soup. I tried a lunch special along with some irresistible items off the regular menu.

Read more »

Pho Ha is one of the many traditional Vietnamese noodle soup (pho) joints located in the shopping plazas of  Washington Ave. What I like about Pho Ha is that the menu is user friendly and each ingredient can be customized to your preference. Ha’s menu clearly lists the meat components in their pho from least to most scary. The “small” pho starts at a mere $5.60 and is HUGE. Since these restaurants deal with such high volume of similar pho orders, they are prepared to get it to the table incredibly fast.

Read more »