Midtown Lunch

As is customary at Philly Lunch, every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Philadelphia. This week, it’s Tor, our winner of the Philly Cheese Experiment tickets, who had a great time at the event this Sunday (as did I).

Name: Tor

Age: 34

Occupation: Urban Planner

Where in Philly do you Work?: Washington West

Favorite Kind of Food: any food with mango, plantain, and avocado

Least Favorite Kind of Food: cauliflower and tripe

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: My absolute favorite sandwich in Center City is Lemongrass Tofu Banh Mi at QT Sandwich (48 North 10th Street). Other lunch spots that I look forward to are: Falafel at Hamifgash (811 Sansom Street) Chili Monk Fish and Thousand Layer Bread at Rangoon (112 N. 9th Street) Shrimp Poboy and Boudin Balls at the Kyber (56 S 2nd Street) Roasted veggie pizza at Fork, etc (306 Market Street) Eggplant Parm at Shank’s (120 S 15th Street) Classic Burger at 500 Degrees (1500 block of Sansom Street) Also, I recently had a chance to have an excellent Channa & Potato Roti at Brown Sugar (219 S 52nd Street) and they also have really good patties and doubles.
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As is customary at Philly Lunch, every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Philadelphia. This week, it’s Erin, a former Hawaiian beauty queen who loves eating it all whether in Hawaii, Japan, or Philly. Isn’t she the cutest?

Name: Erin

Age: very late 20’s

Occupation: Grad student

Where in Philly do you Work?: I live in the Gayborhood

Favorite Kind of Food: Ramen, sushi, green tea kit kats, sandwiches, ume, lychee martinis, oysters, garlic, cheese, poke, kalbi, dim sum

Least Favorite Kind of Food: tamales, bell peppers, bitter melon

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: I love the cute meatballs from Marabella. I can’t get enough of the cheese at Garces Trading Company. Caribou Cafe makes me feel classy. Dim Sum Garden is also great. And I love the curry fries at Maru Global.
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As is customary at Philly Lunch, every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Philadelphia. This week it’s Allison, the winner of our Flavor of the Avenue ticket give away.

Name: Allison

Age: 31

Occupation: waitress and bartender

Where in Philly do you Work?: Rittenhouse area

Favorite Kind of Food: Korean. I love the sweet-spicy-salty-funky mix of stews like soon du boo jigae (soft tofu and seafood in a spicy broth). Also sushi, and anything considered “weird”, like durian or offal.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Lunchmeat. Chocolate cake. And pizza (I know!)

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly:
Su Xing Vegetarian(1508 Sansom St.) for hot and sour soup and spiral seaweed with dried bean curd. Vic Sushi (2035 Sansom) for their three roll special, and Whole Foods for the salad bar.

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As is customary at Philly Lunch, every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Philadelphia. This week it’s Bradd, a blogger who I met recently at Supper.

Name: Bradd

Age: 32

Occupation: PR and independent food blogger at 22nd and Philly

Where in Philly do you Work?: Philadelphia and Main Line

Favorite Kind of Food: Italian. A good sauce is just about my favorite thing in the world.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Fast food. Yes, it can be good and I am no food snob, but it goes against everything I believe in about eating. Food is a common denominator in every culture in the world and brings people together. Good food is about conversation, family, friends, sharing and good times. It is not meant to be a $1 marketed concoction and eaten on the go.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly:
Anything in Reading Terminal Market. It’s the perfect lunch spot. The cheesesteak-stuffed pretzels at one of the Amish stands are a hidden gem.

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As is customary at Philly Lunch, every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Philadelphia. This week, it’s Lauren, who has great tastes in food except I can’t relate to her disdain for olives.

Name: Lauren

Age: 30

Occupation: Government Affairs

Where in Philly do you Work?: City Hall area

Favorite Kind of Food: Mexican food, Vietnamese, sushi, Thai food. Pretty much anything spicy or which can serve as a guacamole delivery vehicle. I thoroughly enjoy a great burger. I’ve also been known to put truffle oil on anything.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: Salmon. Or olives. Salmon with olives could possibly be my worst nightmare. I don’t know if that would taste good together even if you did like both those things. Which I don’t. I also don’t get capers, beets, those baby corn things or hominy.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: I LOVE QT’s Bahn Mi sandwich (48 N. 10th) with extra jalapeno. Reading Terminal (12th and Filbert) has a lot of great dishes. I’m a huge fan of Salumeria’s chicken cutlet sandwich, the cheese steak stuffed pretzel from Miller’s Twist (think Auntie Anne’s not Philly style pretzel); the Chicken Caesar sandwich with roasted peppers or the goat cheese and carmelized onion pizza from By George. Now that the weather is nice, Honest Tom’s Tacos (truck) and Jose Garces Trading Company (1111 Locust Street) will both make it back into the rotation. If you are near Washington Ave. – big props to Nam Phoung (11th and Washington), which makes an awesome #170, as well as a surprisingly amazing spicy shrimp pad thai. Also, Taqueria Veracruzana (908 Washington) is still unparalleled for both its tastiness and budget friendliness. Their guac isn’t the greatest, but their tacos are awesome.

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As is customary at Philly Lunch, every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Philadelphia. This week, it’s Anthony, a manager at Perch Pub in Center City.

Name: Anthony

Age: 25

Occupation: Pub Manager of Perch Pub

Where in Philly do you Work?: Broad and Locust (1345 Locust St)

Favorite Kind of Food: Homemade gnocchi. Hands down. Growing up in an Italian family this was like a delicacy. My grandmom has been making them for years and I have still not found anyone who can do it better. Call it a bias opinion but no one else comes close. Maybe it’s all the love she puts into each fluffy pillow or it could be the gravy…not sauce, GRAVY, that she spends all day making.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Beets and cranberry sauce. Not only the taste but the texture as well. They just don’t do anything for me I guess. I also never understand why they call it cranberry sauce?? Doesn’t seem like much of a sauce to me and why would you want to ruin a perfectly cooked turkey with that stuff? Seems like it should be illegal to mistreat a delicious bird like that!

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: Geno’s steaks (1219 south 9th street) for a wiz wit, cheese fries and a cherry pepsi. Giorgio on Pine (1328 pine street) for a grilled chicken pannini with mozzarella and pesto. Zama (128 south 19th street) for a steak bento box and a shrimp tempura roll. Cantina Los Caballitos (1651 east passyunk avenue) for a chorizo burrito and a patron margarita on the rocks with salt.

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As is customary at Philly Lunch, every Tuesday we turn over the site to a different lunch’er for his or her recommendations for the best lunch in Philadelphia. This week, it’s Elizabeth, a pescatarian living in CC, working in Jerz.

Name: Elizabeth

Age: late 20’s

Occupation: Graphic Designer

Where in Philly do you Work?: bustling Marlton, NJ, but living in CC

Favorite Kind of Food: Vegetarian (well, pescetarian) delights of all kinds. Mussels from Monk’s (16th & Spruce), the ceviche at Twenty Manning (261 S. 20th St), Huevos Rancheros at The Royal Tavern (Passyunk & Carpenter), Matar Paneer from Lovash (South St at American St) or Tiffin (7th & Girard). I like broccoli, tomatoes, Greek yogurt, tuna sandwiches, Pistachio pizza at Stella (2nd & Lombard), mozzarella, guacamole, citrus fruits, the grilled octopus at Barbuzzo (110 S. 13th St). I love anything crunchy, crispy, nutty or topped with caramel.

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Ham Loaf is reason #1 stopped eating meat.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: When I’m at home my go-to spots are Philly Chutney Company (16th & Sansom) for the #25 Chutney Wrap, Famous 4th Street (4th & Bainbridge) for bagels and hamantashen, the vegetarian torta at Las Bugambilias (2nd & South), a slice of Yukon pizza at Blackbird (6th & Lombard), sushi at Izumi (Passyunk & Tasker), Khyber Pass Pub (2nd and Chestnut) for the vegan fried chicken po-boy, and I love being close enough to pop in for a coffee and a baked good at Bodhi Coffee (2nd just south of Pine) or Cafe Fulya (2nd & Monroe).
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