Philly and its food karts

This particular trip into Philly was inspired by this article from Gourmet. I first got to know the food karts the summer of my sophomore year when I stayed at Swarthmore to do research and Chris was living near the UPenn campus. There was this Halal kart right outside his apartment with excellent fallafels and schwarmas and such. I also visited the Crepe shop in Houston Hall in UPenn which used to be a kart but has since moved on. Since then, I've wanted go back and try more karts. This fall break at Swat provided the perfect opportunity.

From Fall Break 2009

From Fall Break 2009

From Fall Break 2009

A couple friends and I ventured into Philly in the morning for a quick tour of the Franklin Institute. It felt more run down than other museums of a similar nature such as the Boston Museum. Many of its exhibits were out of service. But overall, it was still super fun to do silly things like walk through a ginormous human heart and watch an eye dissection.

From Fall Break 2009

Exercising to improve our heart, health, and mood!

From Fall Break 2009

Jimmy, the chief investigator:

From Fall Break 2009

We walked to 33rd and Market, where there were about 5 karts parked pretty close to each other. As we explored our options, we settled on the strategy of divide and conquer. We got something from three karts: Mikey D's Grill (a hoagie stand), Ton-Ton (Japanese), and La Dominique Crepes.

The pork bento box from Ton-Ton:

From Fall Break 2009

It was a pretty standard Japanese thing, with pork kebabs over rice. The skewer had pork and onion on it and was deep fried. And frankly, I find it hard to dislike fried pork as a genre, so I thought it was pretty good. Their other items on the menu also looked interesting, including rice omelets (Crazy! I guess fritattas are also rice and eggs, but for some reason a rice omelet just seems so odd. Must try it next time), onigiri (rice balls), and pork dumplings.

I got a veal stew crepe from La Dominique, and it was SO DELICIOUS. First of all, the stew itself was just amazing. It was flavorful, rich, and dotted with vegetables. The guy must have made it at home and brought it over because it definitely tasted homemade. And I hate to say this in case it makes it sound any less good than it actually was, but the stew almost tasted like it was not made that day, like leftovers. But you know how soups and stews always taste better after a day or two after the flavors had melded. Well, it was like that, in the best possible way.

And once the stew's wrapped in the crepe, he topped it with a light salsa of cilantro, which made the entire thing. The taste of cilantro lightened the whole dish and gave it a citrus kick. It was fantastic. Who knew that stews can go in crepes and be so fantastic?

From Fall Break 2009

From Fall Break 2009

From Fall Break 2009

From Mikey's we got a chicken and prosciutto hoagie, heavily flavored with balsamic vinegar. Sounds odd, for sure, but it was actually pretty fantastic. The chicken was tender and the prosciutto added a lot of flavor. The only complaint here was that there was not enough cheese.

From Fall Break 2009

We also got a lemon crepe from La Dominique, which had lemon juice, powdered sugar, and lemon zest on it. Simple and delicious. We passed it around the table but I was lucky enough to get the last bite, which was pretty much drenched in lemony, sugary goodness.

From Fall Break 2009

In which Helen eats and eats and eats... and forgets her camera

Last weekend Chris (!) came (!) to visit (!). And we ate so much good food that I hesitate to post about them without picture evidence. But nonetheless, the food and company was too good to not blog about.

Our first stop was Mixto, a Cuban/Latin restaurant near Market East station. There was a lot of meat on the menu, and unfortunately, after a bad experience with burger bar earlier in the week, I had to go for the only meatless option, a vegetarian platter. Chris, on the other hand, ordered Churrasco Argentino Con "chimichurri," a grilled skirt steak with a zesty herb sauce. The veggie platter was surprisingly good and hearty, with lots of roasted vegetables and plantains and little cheesy polenta blocs, and rice and delicious black beans. Chris' steak was flavorful and done to perfection. And the sauce that came along with it brightened the meat up considerably. Awesome.

The service at Mixto, however, was quite shoddy. As soon as we didn't order an alcoholic beverage, our waiter turned on us and did everything in his power to rush us out, ending with the act of bringing us the bill before I even had a chance to wonder about dessert. But, that turned out to be a good thing soon after, since the bitter, bitter cold brought us into the Naked Chocolate Cafe. We were much smarter this visit than our last and ordered only their delicious drinking chocolate. I got the Aztec, which was very robust and full of spices. But my order paled (both literally and figuratively) in comparison to the rich, dark, almost-pudding like European Bittersweet sipping chocolate Chris got. It was served in a little espresso cup and you had to use a tiny little spoon to "drink" it.

The next day we gathered up a large crew for dim sum at Joy Tsin Lau in Chinatown. Despite the fact that our options were not as varied as other larger establishments, the food was quite good. Lots of meat and shrimp, but light on dessert stuff -- there were no egg tarts! And like all dim sum experiences, you had to look very carefully for anything green to fend off that scurvy you've been worrying about ever since entering Swarthmore. Regardless, it was pretty cheap for so much food -- about 12-13 dollars for a bunch of ravenous college kids. Not bad.

After dim sum we went walking around in Reading Terminal Market, bought a half gallon of apple cider from the Amish and wondered around a bit. We pondered buying an ugly fruit for the next meeting of the society of exotic fruits, but decided against it. After that, we went to the Northern Liberties to possibly check out galleries and such. But the only gallery we found was one that featured an exhibition called the "Obamarama" and another called "Guilty Pleasures." The rest of our time was spent walking around this slightly run-down but charming little neighborhood filled with interesting little cafes and shops. We walked by a Paraguayan restaurant with featured a prominent sign that said "NO MICROWAVES." As we were looking, a man beckoned us in for a lesson on microwaves. Inside, we found a lady who told us about a study where they watered two plants (great sample size, eh?), one with cooled microwaved water and one with regular water (at least they have a control...). And lo and behold, the plant watered with microwaved water died within a week. Moral of the story -- don't go near microwaves! Duh. She also told us that a hot "baked" potato cooked using a microwave will ruin the molecular composition of your stomach, or something scientific sounding like that. She used the word "molecular," and I was immediately sold. But despite their silly "science," the menu to cafe looked really good. Maybe next time.

Anyway, a light dinner happened at Soy Cafe (2nd st), where we ordered two delicious and filling salads (I got the grapefruit avocado, Chris got the crab and seaweed). Their signature ginger miso dressing was some of the best I've had. Plus, the serving size of a very large mound of fresh veggies was the perfect thing after a meat-heavy dim sum meal.

We got back to Swat fairly early since I had to study for macro. And Chris left the morning after. Despite how short it was, the weekend was probably one of the best I've had this school year. Definitely need to get into Philly more often.