Midtown Lunch

I get around. Yesterday, I recommended Southern Inspired bourbon house The Twisted Tail, located about as east as you can go off of South Street. Today, I am on the other end of South Street,  at Ants Pants Cafe, whose inspiration is also Southern in a sense.  This spot has been bringing the Australian cafe experience to Grad Hospital since 2004. Though they recently started dinner service, Ants Pants has been more of a brunch place, serving eggs in various forms 7 days a week.

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The Twisted Tail is located close enough to South Street you would think it would have been infected by it. Luckily, this “Southern inspired Bourbon house” is a nice escape from tourists and wayward teens. I was invited to try their lunch menu, available Monday through Friday, though many of the lunch items can be found on the regular menu.

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Pumpkin restaurant on South Street is a classy “farm to table” style joint, with beautiful looking food that I can’t really afford. Next door, at Pumpkin Market, the sandwiches, soups, and salads are more accessible, but keep with the local wherever possible concept.  Order at the counter and seat yourself in the small downstairs area or outside in the mini garden abutting South Street. You may be a foot away from exhaust engines, but position yourself so you can focus on the cuteness of the flowers and herbs surrounding you.

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Today, Luncher John is eating giant portable BBQ.

I was very excited when the Guerrilla Ultima Truck appeared on the LOVE Park and City Hall Courtyard schedules this summer. Earlier this year, I spotted this truck in Pennsport, where it had been making occasional appearances. Recently, it expanded its schedule to now include weekly stops in Center City. It was worth the wait.
In its most basic description, Guerrilla is a barbecue truck, but that’s too simplistic to describe what it does. Guerrilla takes basic America barbecue, like pork or chicken, and integrates different cooking styles, such as Asian and Latin flavors.
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Border Springs Farm opened their lamb only stand a few weeks ago in the center of Reading Terminal. Their unnamed sandwich has gotten some recent attention (they can’t call it a gyro because of the limit on gyro stands in RT).

I wasn’t all revved up at the idea of  an undercover gyro, instead I picked something else off the sandwich menu and it ended up being one of the best sandwiches I have had recently.

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Breezy’s Cafe opened a few months ago in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Philly, signaling that gentrification is on its way there. The small cafe serves caffeinated beverages sandwiches and salads. Organic, local, homemade, and vegan are reoccurring menu themes. Not to leave anyone out, Breezy’s is really an inclusive place, there are several meat options too.

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Campo’s is a sandwich shop in Old City with a huge variety of sandwiches, including some allegedly decent cheesesteaks. I don’t know if its just me, but some days I like to gross myself out by ordering a meal I really shouldn’t. It just feels right to pick out something a cardiologist would be disgusted with. Usually this happens after a night of drinking or a night of having salad for dinner. Luckily, Campo’s make it easy.

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