Midtown Lunch

Photo Courtesy of Hawk Krall

• Newly opened Birra is making a Thanksgiving pizza topped with things like turkey and blue cheese bechamel [Phoodie]
• Drew does a an intoxicated taste test of Wawa’s Gobbler vs. Primo’s Pilgrim [Meal Ticket]
• Hawk enjoys the meatballs at George’s [Serious Eats]
• Porky’s point “does not sell lean pork” according to a sign on a recent trip by Philly Phoodie. All the more reason to go [Philly Phoodie]

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 Lou, who will eat anything that won’t kill him. Respect.

Name: Lou

Age: 27

Occupation: Social Media Coordinator (starting Dec. 5)

Where in Philly do you Work?: University of the Arts, Broad & Pine

Favorite Kind of Food: A medium rare hamburger with bleu cheese  and caramelized onion

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Peanuts and almonds. They make me feel all die-y because of allergies. I’ll eat anything else.

Favorite Place(s) to Eat Lunch in Philly: Vic Sushi (2035 Sansom St.) for the unbeatable 3-roll combo. Pure Fare (119 S 21st St.), with their pre-made sandwiches and Blue Bottle pour over coffee; I always end up with a dessert as well. The Classic meatball sandwich at Jake’s Sandwich Board (122 S 12th St.) is pretty killer, but anything’s good for their $5 build your own sandwich days. And of course, you can’t go wrong rolling the dice and hitting up Love Park for the lunch trucks!
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Chicken Chargha, aka Pakistani Fried Chicken, is the reason that LeBan and other’s come to Wah-Gi-Wah. I had to get in on this unique chicken preparation. Unlike other fried chicken places in the city who run out early, only serve one day a week, or periodically take it off the menu- you will be able to get your chicken fix here from 11am until 11pm. I find that comforting.

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Photo Courtesy of Two Eat Philly

• In Philly, food trucks have been around since the late 1800s [Penn Current]
• The Mexican cheesesteak at San Lucas comes with mozzerella and jalepenos [Serious Eats]
• If you find yourself in Roxborough, you must try the PK Stacker at Pierogie Kitchen, a sandwich with a pierogie, keilbasa, and kraut [Two Eat Philly]
• The broth and pickled vegetables are still great at Lan Zhou [Munchi Monster]
• Chicken salad at Royal Tavern comes with prosciutto, blue cheese, thinly sliced pear, arugula, and lavender-honey mustard [Two Eat Philly]

An email from Groupon is saying that several locations will be offering $1 lunches tomorrow as part of their Groupon Now! program. No planning ahead though, the deals won’t be made public until tomorrow. Check this website to figure out where you can feed yourself for a few coins.

A month ago I stumbled into the Holy Grail of lunches, St. George’s Orthodox Greek Church Friday meals. The lamb shank won me over, but I have since been back for several other Fridays to try out the other menu items. This is a pretty big deal, since I usually handle lunches like I handle my men: try it out and move on to the next one. We even have had both a scheduled and unscheduled Midtown Lunch meet up there. In other words, I am really addicted. So if for some reason, you were not tempted by my first post, let me try again.

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It has taken me far too long to get to Plenty, the sandwich and prepared foods shop on Passyunk. The glare of the sun almost made me miss the awning. Inside, it is a lovely space to dine in; the cheery, jar lined shelves are the antithesis to those found in the basement in American Horror Story. Plenty is about local, sustainable, organic and all that jazz. Most importantly, they are about taste.

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