Neuronix

I did post my opinions based on actual personal experience and I backed it up with a little bit of additional information. I agreed with the department, considering I eat those lunches as well, or I wouldn't have posted what I said.

Just what I was saying. I only went in twice since Bob left us. Also, one of the departments where I work used to get Koch's semi-frequently for different lunchtime events. They've since switched off of Koch's. I was curious why so I asked. They told me that the sandwiches just got smaller and smaller last year and they didn't think they were worth the money anymore.

I'm pretty sure Greek Lady doesn't own that truck anymore. They should call it Taiwanese lady instead I remember one day I went there only to find new people working the truck, Greek Lady logo removed from everything, but the same menu and the same food. I don't know if the food has changed much since then. I used to go out of my way to Koch's once and awhile for a hoagie, but they've really gone downhill. I hear a rumor that the family sold it off (is this true anyone?). Ever since Bob died the place got slower (that was possible?), all the fun went out of it, and the sandwiches got skimpier.

I wish I could get excited about Tiffin... Their menu includes potatoes or some type of tuber with every option, every day. It's not like I have anything against potatoes, but I thought Indian had more variety than that. I also like my Indian food spicy, the way it should be. Minar would make it good and spicy for me. Tiffin is always mild, no matter how you order it

I eat at the Penn area food trucks at least once a day. Sometimes two. My thoughts: Most of the trucks on Spruce street suck unless otherwise noted. For Chinese/Asian: King's Work (33rd and Spruce) is one of the best Chinese trucks on campus and I go there frequently. Shrimp and eggplant is excellent. Singapore noodle is also very good, and better than Yue Kee IMO. Yue Kee (on 38th) is very slow and often rude, so I stopped going there. I think King's Wok is better anyways. I don't bother with any of the other Chinese trucks except Kim's (next to Pottruck), which is pretty good and has a decent variety of other dishes like basic Vietnamese. The other trucks just poor goo on everything and is nasty. I go to Koja once and awhile. Indian: The truck next to Pottruck (next to Kim's) is ok. I think the buffets are gross and this truck probably makes the best, cheap Indian in the city right now (sad). He will make it spicy for you. I like authentic spicy food, and his is so-so. He's kind of rude. Kabobeesh, while not a truck, at 42nd and Chestnut is great. Mexican: Mexicali makes decent cheap burritos, even if they aren't particularly Mexican. The restaurant at 40th and Snasom is very good for a cheap (~$5), simple Mexican bite. I find the other trucks overpriced and not that good, though the cart that just went in next to Mexicali has been ok so far. Middle Eastern: The only that's worth going to IMO is Rami's at 40th and Locust. They have the best middle eastern I've had in this city. The carribean carts are open latest (till 10PM) if you want lots of fried fish or fried chicken to clog your arteries. They have an extensive menu of things that are usually sold out every time I go. Some of the other carts are open till 8PM (all the Chinese trucks I mentioned). Hemo's is ok if you want a hoagie. There's alot of other trucks for hoagies and/or Gyro's that I think are all pretty much the same old crap on a roll. I could never get into the crepe craze. I think they're overpriced and not all that good, though the Houston Hall creperie is always very popular. Au Bon Pain is ridiculously overpriced and not really that good. If you want to go to any cafeteria, the one in Abrahmson (CHOP's research building) is the best I've found on campus and is reasonable.

If we're talking about the same place (Cafe a la Turca I think it was called), that's gone now. It went back to being a sandwhich place for all of a month or something and last time I went by on the 42 bus I think it had a for rent sign in the window. I've been going to Rami's middle eastern cart on Penn campus, but it's pretty far out of the way at 40th and Locust. The kabob platters at the place at the start of Gray's Ferry (23rd and Bainbridge) are suprisingly good. The coupon going around in their flier makes it a pretty good deal if you live in this area. Unfortunately I really didn't like Philly Falafel, but that's just me I guess. I gotta go get a dosa now... How much are they? I imagine the prices aren't bad. I couldn't afford to go to Cafe Spice for that kind of thing very often. Thanks for pointing that out!

That chef is an idiot. Imported raspberries are a leading cause of cyclosporiasis, caused by the parasite Cyclospora. Simple rinsing with water will rinse the parasite right off and is a recommended preventative measure.

My girlfriend and I went to Amada last night. Given all the reviews, I decided to take her there as a surprise for our Valentine's Day/Dating anniversary. We probably stuck out being the youngest ones by several years, except for some of the employees Since I made the reservation on Monday the only reservation we could get was 10PM. That's fine for me, as I typically work an afternoon shift. Still, I don't think they should offer reservations that late. I wasn't necessarily expecting Spanish-style service, which would probably have put us there till 3AM and would have required yelling across the room at the server to get any service at all. But, to put it simply, we felt rushed. I expected, like any tapas restaurant, to get many small dishes over many courses. Instead, we ordered and ate three dishes, then were told we had to order everything else we wanted since the kitchen was closing. I honestly had no idea how much more to order at that point, so I probably got a little too much. As a contrast to some of the other posts, our waiter seemed a tad pretentious. He was not at all talkative. I saw him in the restaurant going to the bathroom and when we were leaving and I didn't even get so much as a smile out of him back. I think it may have all started when I asked him which was a better deal, to order off the menu or go with the chef's selection. He didn't give me a straight answer, but I think he may have sized us up as the young, can't really afford to be here crowd who will probably skimp. I also saw him chatting with some of the people at the table next to us. Maybe I'm making all this up... Who knows? In any case, we ordered off the menu. Here's what we got: Pitcher of red sangria -- $29, but the best red sangria I've ever had. I'll have to try to duplicate that recipe. Tortilla Espanola -- Very basic, good aioli Mix of 3 cheeses -- The manchego was pretty basic. How long is it aged exactly? Nothing special there. The garroxta was very good, being semi-soft goat's milk cheese that had a little flavor to it. The queso de cabra was also very good--the most complex of the bunch. Pumpkin Soup -- I'd love to tell you the real name of this dish, but the menu online is not the same as the menu in the store and this isn't on the online menu. In any case, I'm a sucker for good pumpkin dishes and this was no exception. This was one of the stars of the dinner IMO. Then since I didn't know how much more to get, Olivas -- Good quality and quantity serving. Patatas Bravas -- I was slightly disappointed with these. I've always had smaller chunks or slices of potato in the past and it's usually more potatoes and less plate. I can see why, they're very nice when they get a nice crisping all over. Pulpo Gallego -- I was expecting something of a small mound of grilled octopus or an octopus salad since this wasn't on the grill section of the menu. It turned out to be tasty grilled octopus, though a very small portion (maybe a dozen small pieces?) for $11. Chorizo a la plancha -- Pretty standard grilled Spanish chorizo. Costillas de Ternera -- This was also a real standout of the meal. YUM! Shredded beef and cheese on warm flatbread. Amazing. Cordero Relleno -- I was disappointed with this $18 lamb chop option. They ended up being 2 large fried shells stuffed with a little bit of cheese and the smallest lamb chops I've ever seen. There was much more coating than anything else. Inside was alot of air, a little bit of decent lamb meat, and a small amount of cheese. Dessert Chocolate 5 ways -- 5 different versions of chocolate. If I remember correctly there was a little mousse (nothing special), chocolate orange cake (ok), truffle (good), hazlnut-chocolate thing (fuzzy now, good), small hot chocolate (very good). The portions on this one were all very small for $8. So Amada isn't a place we can usually afford and I think it was the most expensive dinner for 2 I've ever been to. I lived in Spain for awhile, so I really lament the lack of tapas options in Philadelphia. At least we have a few options now, but still nowhere near the scene of say NYC or Chicago. I mean, the quality of the food at Amada overall was high, but the prices were much higher than anywhere else I've ever been. Our bill for 2 was $65/person before tip. I've never eaten tapas for more than $40/person in the past and the average including drinks is usually more in the range of $30/person. If money was no object, I would probably come back. Since it is, $150 just wasn't worth it to us, especially with the service issues. We'll just have to wait until we get back out to Chicago or Spain. Edit: Forgot a dish!

Apologies, and your point is well taken Capaneus. Saying what the system might be thinking is not the same as arguing for it. I had just returned from the 12th and Chestnut store, empty handed. I like the signs that say "Lowest Price in the US" and I go online and find a lower price. Or perhaps the other signs that have a description by the winemaker, I buy it, take it home, and it's a huge dud. I guess the PLCB gets its just desserts on that one considering certain bottles have been sitting at the 12th and Chestnut store for months and months now.

The law obviously makes no sense. Why should Blue Mountain Winery's awful, overpriced wine be sold by their stores in RTM and elsewhere, while others can't open wine stores? I can only hope the corporations make the big monetary push in lawyer's fees to get this all changed.

That's the biggest bunch of nonsense I've ever heard on an Internet forum. I wish I had an award for this. You need to at least give me a link with some data backup for that statement before I'd even begin to acknowledge that as possibly true. How does it control alcohol consumption to have six packs of beer available on every street corner but not available by the case or from an alcohol warehouse? Oh great, the guy who just bumed a quarter from me is now buying a flask of vodka from the wine & spirits store or a 40oz from the deli down the street... So much control of alcohol consumption. What, we outprice the alcoholics? What kind of wishful thinking is that? It makes no sense other than in the light of state government greed and antiquated laws.

I fail to see any advantages to state-owned liquor stores. All it does is line the state's pockets. Sure, it's gotten somewhat better over the past few years. That doesn't mean it's right and that doesn't mean it's anywhere as good as it should be or is in other states for consumers. Competition is a good thing. We force all the other industries to have it for a reason.

I can only hope this will be turned into a push to rid us of the state monopoly on liquor in PA.

Methinks that would the horchata agua fresca. ← It is, and it's pretty good. My girlfriend and I plowed through 4 cups of it I dunno where else you can get horchata around here. It's a rice based drink that I liken to drinking a thinner blended rice pudding. The alambres are quite tasty as well. This place very much reminded me of Mexico, except some of the things I'm used to being included with your meal in Mexico (a little bowl of soup, grilled green onions) didn't come with the meals. Tacos al pastor were of course sublime. That being said, the frijoles charros didn't really do it for me. It turned out to be a beef and bean soup that was ok, but nothing amazing. We should have spent the $5 on more al pastor

Well it's certainly not that here. We ordered from them a few nights ago. They delivered us someone else's meal as well. We called and they asked us to put the third meal out front and the delivery guy would come back and get it. They did. Certainly not precision it seems That being said, the food was good. It doesn't replace the hole in my heart that Minar Palace's departure left, but I'm sure I'll be ordering again.

If you all are still looking for it for xmas, I noticed there's still many cases over at the 12th and Chestnut store.

Yeah I did it. I give it a solid okay rating. I don't have time to write a full review, but I wasn't overly impressed or miffed. I was there on a Friday night. There was barely anyone in the restaurant though they still sat us next to the only other occupied table in an otherwise empty restaurant. They even closed early. The tasting menu is likely a last ditch effort IMO to find some customers in a city oversaturated with mid to high dollar Japanese joints. I wanted to give a try of some cuisine I can't normally afford, and my girlfriend just got some very promising standardized test scores back. The menu is 6 small courses for $25/person. It's kind of funny because many of the courses come out on huge plates (must be their regular portion sizes... I hope!). Just call and mention the deal when you make the reservation. They made a few mistakes with our orders, and they ran out of a number of things, so we tried a few more things than I would have liked. That being said, stick with the fish/seafood options. The sashimi and salmon entree options were excellent. The kurobota to me was nothing but a kind of bland stir fry. They do have a liquor license now. I normally like saki, but the house saki smelled a lot like rubbing alcohol to me. I still drank it

I've only been to restaurant week once. Despite being a student budget restaurant hunter, I go out usually around once a week and spend $40-$50 on dinner with my girlfriend (places like Dmitri's or Vientianne are too hard to resist!). One place my girlfriend and I always wanted to try was Marrakesh morrocan down near South St. We were planning on going one weekend, full price indeed, until we noticed that they would be participating in restaurant week 2 weeks later. So we called and made a restaurant week reservation. Why not try it at a reduced price, we figured? Our meal was so awful. Every course was very bad. From absolutely flavorless, to too salty to eat, to burnt. The usual cheap winelist that I hear they have was replaced by the usual mass-produced Californians at 4x markup. To add insult to injury, there was even a mistake on our bill. There was no rush to turn over the table, as they left us with the check for a reallllly long time, and took a long time to fix the problem. Meanwhile, while we were sitting there, they kicked the table next to us out while they were still drinking their wine. This all leads me to wonder, why would you participate in restaurant week if you just can't handle it? I will never go back to Marrakesh as a result, despite going to Casablanca, a similarly priced and themed restaurant in northern DE, as often as I can. I even wrote a crappy review on Citysearch about the experience. It just doesn't make any business sense. Try to make a little more cash during restaurant week, while turning so many potential customers off from your restaurant? I've heard so many restaurant week and special prix fixe horror stories by now, that I don't think I'll ever try another restaurant week again.

I just looked through the list thinking about plans for an out of town guest and I had to ask you guys... Is anything there actually a special? It just looks like the usual prix fixe meals and happy hours all those places usually offer to me. What a gimmick...

10th and federal is pretty far out from CC . There was once a Bitar's very close to Penn's campus. To agree with mrbigjas, it seems they were tossed out of the area. Any word if they're every going to open another University City location?

As a follow-up, Tokyo Lunch Box was just ok. Some of the rice was undercooked, the tuna was bland, though the salmon, spider rolls, shu mai, and seaweed salad were good. Prices were right (well, under $20/person to get full on sushi). I noticed a number of good looking options in Liberty Place. Anyone tried the cafe spice takeout counters or Sarku's sushi/japanese? What time do they close?

Thanks for the recommendations guys. Sorry for my rant, hadn't slept in about 36 hours cause I just got back from travelling, so I was cranky Vientiane is the best Thai in this city... highly recommended by this lowly student. I just wish it wasn't so far out of the way. I think 48xx Baltimore counts as not University City! You almost have to factor $2.60 or $5.20 for two on the #34 trolley. Kabobeesh is also great. Hard to get out of there much under $10/person and it's not quite as much food as Minar's was, but at least it's mostly grilled meat. Dahlak is okay, though I haven't been in awhile. Never really thought of it as takeout. If I'm going all the way out there I just pass them by and show up it Vientiane I'll check out Mama's Vegetarian. The best falafel I've had pretty much anywhere is at Rami's food truck on 38th street. While we're on food trucks, there's many good options. Most of them aren't open for dinner, but a few good chinese trucks like King's Wok and Yue Kee stay open late (Le Ahn real or not = gross!). As for Andrew Fenton, you must like Southern Indian . I've given up on trying to get good dosa in Philly (other than a post-doc's wife!). To be fair, Phoebe's is still nearby on South St. I haven't been there in awhile either. The sandwiches (oh no, more stuff on a roll!) are okay, though the ribs are pretty blah. I guess Philly will just never be Texas Today's adventure... Tokyo Lunch Box on Chestnut St (only open during lunch-ish hours). I still can't find good, cheap sushi in this city, but I'll die trying I guess. I still find Wasabi House really overpriced for what it is. $30 on sushi later (not even particularly good varieties) and I'm not even full. I don't know if I'm too picky or what? I should have never gone to places like Seattle and Vancouver (especially Vancouver!) because it spoiled me on sushi

The Indian places by Penn's campus are not very good. I work with mostly Indian engineers, and the only place they will go out for Indian is Minar Palace as well. In general, the food at most Indian restaurants, and this applies to many of the other types of restaurants I'm about to mention, is catered to American tastes and is just plain bland even if you try to convince them you want authentic food. Quite honestly, Minar Palace IMO is the best Indian restaurant in all of Philadelphia (that I've had anyway, and I've had alot) and is half to a third of the price of the other places. That being said, I have a fondness for lots of different kinds of cuisine. I'm very much open to suggestions for take-out! What I'm looking for are authentic (i.e. well spiced, traditional ingredients) ethnic cuisines for well under $10/person. The issue I'm having is that there are very few good, cheap options in the Rittenhouse Sq. and University City districts for takeout (Jamaican Jerk Hut, Lazarro's for pizza, that's it unless you want more pizza or stuff on a roll). I do cook alot myself, but I would love to have more options for takeout. The food trucks in University City and Trader Joe's are my usual standbys. I do still think NYC beats the crap out of Philadelphia when it comes to affordable, authentic ethnic cuisine that a student can acutally get to. Why oh why can't Mahmoun's open a stand down here?! We've had a couple middle eastern places open up (Philly Falafal, Cafe a la Turca), but they just don't cut it for QPR. Specifically since you mentioned Mexican, can you think of anything in the Rittenhouse Sq. area or UC that is good and cheap? I honestly can only think of Mexicali's restaurant over on 40th north of Walnut, which has been in constant flux and is currently shut down. For that matter, I can't think of good, cheap Mexican in all of Center City. El Fuego over in Washington Sq is decent I guess, but nothing that makes me want to run all the way over there, and I used to go to El Rey Del Sol on South St fairly regularly but they seem to have joined the Philly trend of making things more "fru-fru" after their renovation... More words on the menu, less food per order, and higher prices (and a corkage fee!). It's unfortunate, but it seems like all the good Mexican being referred to on these boards is down on Washington Ave or further away, and I just can't afford a car. I do keep a stash of chorizo at all times from Martin's (in the RTM) in my freezer, and that makes alot of good meals. Maybe I'm too picky, but I'm from Delaware and we had a number of fantastic options in New Castle County (Mexico Lindo, Taquiera Morleon, more). In Newark we had Ali Baba's which makes great takeout for middle eastern for example. A couple excellent Indian restaurants to boot. We had Cafe Napoli which makes the best red gravy Italian standards I've ever had. But, strangely we seem to have nothing or very little right here in the heart of Center City, a haven for diverse cultures and a student population. I guess my point is that the QPR (or even just the quality) of our restaurants doesn't seem to compare to even dinky (as my mom calls it) Delaware unless you're looking for the high end. The only thing I see opening up here are the usual overpriced standbys that I can't afford (see my post in Roberto Cafe thread for example). It all makes little sense to me... Oh well, rant over. PS: As for STH, they're great if they'll deliver to you. The attitude of the proprietor has begun to wear on me (everytime I go in there she's in a bad mood it seems), so I will only get takeout/delivery there. Chinatown here in general is excellent, and all of what I said about ethnic cuisine, QPR, etc does not apply to our Chinatown. In fact, I don't understand why some people like to say our Chinatown doesn't compare to NYC or some of the west coast cities, because quite frankly, if you know where to go it's every bit as good. Unfortunately, I had to move further away from Chinatown and the gf just doesn't like to get asian food all that often Still, someone pointed out once in another thread something I find interesting. Many of these asian restaurants in Chinatown do a great job of making affordable, excellent, and relatively authentic ethnic cuisine. Yet, so few other restaurants outside of that realm open with the same goals.

Why are their two phone lines disconnected?! Trying to take deep breaths here... If they are closed, my takeout world has just been destroyed. I've been eating there once or twice a week ever since I moved to this city. What happened?!?! Please someone tell me they'll be back. /cry /cry /cry

The combination of hearing how good Raddichio's is, hearing that they just opened a new place down on South St, AND having a Barolo sitting around that needed drinking, compelled me to Roberto Cafe tonight with my date. Now, I am from an Italian family on one side, so I have very high standards when it comes to Italian food. I know better than to go out to eat Italian, but once and awhile I do it anyways. I get more and more stuck with it since I moved to west Center City, where it seems like the only things around are overpriced and mediocre Italian and Sushi restaurants (?!). In any case, when we arrived, I noticed that even on this hot/humid night there's no air conditioning inside. There were fans, but I really didn't think it was any cooler than outside. So, I got them to move us to the little outdoor area out back Antipasti Arugala salad with pine nuts and goat cheese - Simple but tasty. The wamed goat cheese added an excellent touch to the dish. Primi Seafood salad - A mix of excellently cooked and fresh calamari, shrimp, scallop, and crab meat. The sauce it was in was a bit fishy after all of that, but the tender pieces of seafood made another simple and tasty dish. Secondi For me: Breaded veal chop, fried with arugala and diced tomatoes. Again, basic. Forgive me for saying this, but it reminded me of a slight improvement on shake and bake pork chops as a child. For her: Risotto with smoked mozzarella and sausage. It lacked the creaminess I come to expect from risotto at some of the other restaurants in town. My date thought the sauce was even a bit watery, and could have used something a bit more. That being said, when you did get a bite of the mozzarella or the spicy Italian sausage, it brought a little smile to your mouth. Dolci We got the sampler platter, which included two scoops of gelato, two pieces of tiramisu, and a cannoli cut in half for $20. I was tempted into this by the table next to us, who had it for 4. The cannoli was a bit too sweet (vanilla with lots of baking sugar on it), the tiramisu decent, and also the gelato decent. I wished it was good as capogiro gelato, but really just wasn't as rich or dense. One thing irked me at the end. I was looking forward to a nice glass of limoncello after some of the reviewers here and on PhillyBlog mentioned their treats at the end of their dishes. This desire was bolstered by the fact that the next table over also had their bright yellow glasses with dessert. Alas, I don't know if it's that I don't speak Italian like the girl at the next table over did or that we had a little wine left when dessert came or that I just wasn't sweet enough to the servers, but no limoncello. That's ok, I keep some in my freezer for just such an occasion! In the end the damage was $76 after tax. I have to think it just wasn't worth it. For $40 or even $50, maybe, but it reminded me of why I don't go out for Italian. Nothing on the menu was that intricate or difficult that an amateur chef like me couldn't make it themselves for a quarter of the price.