Bánh Mì with Meat? Whodathunkit?!

That's right, Philly Bites is back by popular demand of my readers--all five of you.

After living in West Philly for upward of five years, I moved downtown this summer. I'm still not sure if Society Hill is quite my speed but its proximity to the inner South Philly foodie neighborhoods that are Bella Vista and Queens Village is hard to beat.

I shop for produce at the Italian Market semi-weekly and usually get lunch beforehand. There are dozens of Mexican and Vietnamese restaurants and take-out places, many of them good and a few amazing--and all of them amazingly cheap.

Like many longtime West Philly residents and devotees of Fu Wah Market, I came to associate báhn mi with marinated tofu. Until moving downtown this summer, I had never tried a traditional báhn mi with roasted pork.

Don't ask me how it's pronounced but Café Nhuy is a well-known if a bit hard to find mecca of báhn mi. Perhaps it's only fitting that báhn mi would become the new favorite sandwich in South Philly: with Sarcone's Bakery on 9th Street, the best baguette in the city is made fresh daily right around the corner. All of the báhn mi at Café Nhuy are served on Sarcone's baguette with it's crunchy, slightly chewy crust and soft, airy center. The classic roasted pork ($4) is served slightly warm with fresh, crisp cucumber and carrot, thinly sliced, and fresh cilantro and a mayo-based spread. The vegetarian deluxe ($4) adds crispy fried leeks and pickled veggies, giving the sandwich a neat combination of textures.

5 Viet Huong Restaurant at 11th and Washington also has an impressive and well-done selection of báhn mi but the fact that there's actually seating somehow seems inauthentic. I prefer my báhn mi to-go, at my desk or on a park bench.

Café Nhuy

802 Christian Street

Philadelphia, PA 19147

Saad’s Halal Place: Bring Your Own…Burqa

I’ve lived down the block from Saad’s for almost two years and let’s just say that Saad and I are on a first-name basis by now.

The Falafel Sandwich with a choice of hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli or feta ($4.50) is my standby. If you watch them prepare the sandwich, you’ll notice that after frying up the falafel balls they smash ‘em a little. The result is that you get falafel in every bite, along with fresh tomato, lettuce, parsley, pickles and enough tahini to warrant an extra napkin—or two.

Omnivores should try the Shish Tawook Sandwich ($6). Moist, grilled chicken is served up in pita bread with the same fixings and a mild garlic sauce. The Lamb Shawarma Platter ($14) isn’t as cheap and isn’t as good. I love it when that happens.

The Greek Salad Container ($7.50) is my other standby although it isn't especially, well, Greek. Shredded romaine lettuce, tomato, onion and parsley is dressed simply in oil and vinegar, topped with feta cheese, kalamata olives, American-style pickles and bits of fried pita. You’ll have to fight over the lone dolmathes with your lunch mate but otherwise the salad is enough for two.

The French fries are twice fried to a perfect crisp. The baklava is made in-house and is sickeningly sweet. And Saad himself will mostly likely be the person taking your order. Everything is as it should be.

Here’s to another year of happy eating, folks.

Saad's Halal Place
4500 Walnut Street
M-Th 11am-9pm
F-Sa 11am-10pm

Los Taquitos de Puebla: More Pastor, Por Favor

My friend Hot Tamale Man and I have been loyal to Taqueria Veracruzana (see the February 2009 post) for many years now but, perhaps, foolishly so.

Aluminum Foiled Lad introduced me to Los Taquitos de Puebla back in September and I’m happy to report that the Tacos al Pastor ($6) don’t just taste amazing at midnight. The sweetness of the rotisserie-roasted pork is complimented by the acidity of fresh pineapple. Topped with minced white onion and fresh cilantro and wrapped in soft, fresh homemade tortillas, it’s a twenty-minute vacation in Mexico for one. There ain’t nothing “ito” ‘bout ‘em.

Except, maybe, the grilled “cebollita” or “small onion” that is served alongside the Tacos al Pastor. Aluminum Foiled Lad said he’d never understood what he was supposed to do with the onion. I picked mine up by the shoot and looked him in eye, bit off the bulb and smiled.

More amazing still was the Cemita al Pastor ($7). Served on a seeded Sarcone’s roll—South Philly represent!—the nuttiness of the toasted sesame seeds paired well with the richness of the roasted pork topped with slices of avocado. And the sandwich was, well, huge. My love for this sandwich easily rivals that for Fu Wah’s Tofu Hoagie of hipster fame (see the May 2009 post).

Hot Tamale Man and I ordered the guacamole ($5) to start. A generous portion, the combination of avocado, onion and tomato was seasoned with more lime juice than I’m used to but you know what? I liked that. Served in a pestle with two tortilla chips poking out of it, it looked a little demonic. I liked that too.

We also ordered the Tacos Bistec ($8). They were good—but only after we dressed them up with guacamole and salsa. Stick with the pig and pineapple, folks.


Los Taquitos de Puebla
1149 S 9th Street
11am-midnight everyday

Chinatown Outposts: Food Truck Edition

Food trucks have saved my life. They’re cheap and fast—especially if you eat during non-standard hours, which I often do—and the good ones dish out fresh and tasty food to boot.

There are no less than ten trucks around Penn that serve Chinese food or something like it. Mao Pao, P.I.—the abbreviation for Principle Investigator, also know as my boss—recommended Kings Wok and Yue Kee, as did my partner in lunchtime crime, Bento Box Girl.

As a general rule, the food truck you want to go to is the truck with the longest line. This rule holds true for King’s Wok, a nondescript truck parked at the northeast corner of 33th and Spruce. Located adjacent to the hospital, most of the truck-goers order in Chinese. Having now been there a dozen or more times, I’ve come to the conclusion that if you order “Hot Spicy Bean Curd” it’s not nearly as spicy as if you order “Mao Pao Tofu.” Just sayin’. Either way, it’s only $3.75. Please take note, vegetarians, that this dish does contain chicken; the chewy texture adds interest since the tofu is soft, not deep-fried. Sweet green bell pepper compliments the heat of the aromatic sauce of garlic, ginger, cooking wine and soy sauce. It’s a lesson in xian-wei—translated, literally, as “”fresh taste”—which is better know, in Japanese, as umami, the flavor referred to as savoriness. In short, it’s tasty as hell. The vegetable/chicken/beef/shrimp chow fun ($4-4.50) is some of the best I’ve had. The broad rice noodles are chewy, not too greasy, and the sauce is interesting but not overwhelming.

Yue Kee is one weathered old truck located on 38th Street between Walnut and Locust . It’s power generator sounds like a lawn mower and the woman who takes your order is the Soup Nazi of lunch trucks but gluttony is worth the punishment, right? Per the advice of Mao Pao, P.I., I tried the Crispy Spare Rib Tips. They were both sweet and spicy while, as promised, nice and crispy. The scallion chicken is next on my list.

I really wanted to like The Real Le Ahn. It’s located across the street from Le Ahn’s, giving the impression that there’s some real animosity and chutzpah going on. (In truth, the owner of The Real Le Ahn gifted her sister with Le Ahn’s, but I prefer my fictional version of the sibling politics at work and like to imagine that the name is supposed to be as snarky as it sounds.) The Real Le Ahn is good—that is, if you like the same gelatinous, soy sauce concoction dumped on everything from lo mein to kung pao.

None of these trucks give out fortune cookies but, if they ever do, I think they should all read “Your wait in line will be shorter next time.”


Kings Wok
NE corner of 33rd and Spruce Streets
M-Sa 11:30am-7pm

Yue Kee
38th Street between Walnut and Locust
11am-9pm

Sushi Land: An Oasis in the Culinary Desert

Moving into a new house with good friends is exciting, as is starting graduate school and kicking off a research project in neurodegenerative diseases. But commencing all three within the same month was, well, a little ridiculous. Okay, a lot ridiculous. I’ve eaten more food from the not-very-good Chinese take-out half a block from my house than I care to admit, which is why my updates have been lagging. Hitting up Bed, Bath and Beyond last week was a necessary evil for setting up the new house and a trip to the ‘burbs meant a chance to stop at Sushi Land in Bryn Mawr.

To be sure, Sushi Land is the only restaurant on the Mainline that I’ve missed since graduating from Haverford College. The interior of the restaurant is sparsely decorated. There are Japanese beer bottles on display above the sushi bar, which is confusing since the restaurant is a BYO. Yet the service is gracious and the sushi is, in a word, bangin’.

My friend Kosher Hotdawg ordered the lunch bento box with teriyaki chicken and tempura and reports that it was quite good. I ordered off the adult menu (...slam!) and selected the Rainbow Roll ($8.50), two pieces of Sake nigiri ($4) and the Honeymoon Roll ($8.50). All of the fish in the Rainbow Roll—a standby in which California roll is topped with a variety of raw fish—was buttery, sweet and fresh. By far, my favorite roll is the Honeymoon Roll: a spicy yellowtail roll with tempura flakes that is layered with unagi and avocado and topped with red tobiko. The saltiness of the roe compliments the sweetness of the unagi sauce and the tempura flakes lend a nice crunch to the otherwise soft-textured ingredients. The house salad ($1.50) features a creamy, nutty dressing that is tasty if a bit inauthentic.

So city dwellers, fear not the next time you’re out on the Mainline, there’s an oasis in the culinary desert.

Sushi Land
861 W. Lancaster Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

M-Th 11am-3pm, 5-10pm
F 11am-3pm, 5-11pm
Sa 11am-11pm
Sun 4pm-10pm

Abyssinia: Damn Good Food, No Utensils Required

Yegeb Tibs, cubed lamb seasoned with jalapeño peppers and rosemary, is to Ethiopian restaurants what General Tso’s is to Chinese take-out. Kitfo, rare beef in chili pepper spiced butter, is ever-present as well. It may come as somewhat of a surprise then that Ethiopian cuisine offers some damn good vegetarian food. I bartend on the side at an Ethiopian bar and restaurant in Fairmount and I live in West Philly, the city’s mecca for Ethiopian food, so I eat my fair share. By far, the best Ethiopian cuisine I’ve found in the ‘hood is at Abyssinia.

The Vegetarian Combination ($9) is a favorite of the regulars at Abyssinia. The combination offers tastes of six distinct dishes served alongside a salad of romaine lettuce and tomatoes that, simply dressed in oil and vinegar, serves as a palate cleanser. Azifa, a piquant blend of brown lentils with mustard and onion, is served cold. The Shiro Wot in contrast is Ethiopian comfort food: served hot, the smooth powdered red split peas are simple and slightly sweet. Fresh green beans, carrots and cabbage simmered in a turmeric sauce are buttery and mild while Yemesir Wot, split lentils in a sauce of berbere (a mixture, generally, of ginger, cloves, coriander, allspice), garlic, and basil, is as pungent as any Indian curry. Gomen, collard greens sautéed in olive oil, has a straightforward, earthy taste. As is customary, these dishes are served on top of Injera, the signature Ethiopian unleavened bread. Made of the grain tef, the bread has a light sourdough flavor and a distinct, spongy texture. Abyssinia’s injera is thinner and softer than it is at other restaurants and has a fresher taste.

I was told that in Amharic, the language spoken in Ethiopia, the word for friend translates as “someone with whom one shares bread.” Recently, when I suggested to an out-of-town friend, Bread Pudding Boy, that we go to Abyssinia for dinner, he responded, “Ethiopian food? I didn't know they had food in Ethiopia!” An original joke if I ever heard one… And as you’d probably guess, he ate his words once he tried the food.

Abyssinia Restaurant
229 S. 45th Street
7 days a week, 10am-midnight

Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House: Ghetto Delicious

Looking around dining room, I couldn’t help but notice that my friend Baker Boy and I were the only non-Chinese patrons in the noodle house. As a general rule, when it comes to hole-in-the-wall restaurants, this is good sign.

Baker Boy ordered the Fish Ball Noodle Soup ($4.50), his long-time favorite, and I opted for the Seafood Noodle Soup ($5.75). Both soups came with the house-made hand-drawn wheat noodles that were incredibly fresh. Beads of oil danced on the surface of the mild, aromatic broth to which mustard greens, spinach leaves and fresh cilantro were added. The fish balls themselves, which are made out of a pulverized mild white fish and flour, were soft yet chewy, a perfect texture, though they were a little fishy for my taste. In addition to the fish balls, the Seafood Noodle Soup includes sea scallops, littleneck clams in the shell and tail-on shrimp, all of which were fresh and perfectly cooked. Not bad for five bucks. Not bad at all.

The Aromatic Mixed Platter ($8.75) from the appetizer menu featured sliced beef, beef tendon and pig ears topped with a sweet garlic sauce. Baker Boy persuaded me to get it, mistaking my pursuit of cheap food for a desire to venture into the wilds of ethnic cuisine. For the record, folks, I am not Andrew Zimmern and this is not the Travel Channel. After trying a piece of each, I carefully pushed the plate to the other side of the table, smiled at my dining companion and told him to knock himself out.

The décor—laminate tabletops and florescent lighting—leaves something to be desired but that’s par for the course. As I listened to the diners at neighboring tables eagerly and audibly slurping up their noodles, Baker Boy summed it all up nicely, saying, “It’s not ghetto fabulous, it’s ghetto delicious.”

Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House
927 Race Street
Lunch & Dinner