Continental Midtown - 18th and Chestnut St

that giant freaking martini olive.

When you walk inside the first thing you'll notice will probably be the swanky chandelier and the diverse array of seating. You have these sunken sofas, bench/booth type seating, regular tables and upstairs, swing seating.

Kind of a fun idea but I think I prefer the stability of eating on chairs attached to the ground.

1) Buffalo Chicken Sandwich - $10

The special of the day, a buffalo chicken sandwich.  I cannot resist the call of the buffalo so I went with this and I'm glad I did.  No skimping on the chicken here, this sandwich was hefty.  Great sandwich and the fries were awesome as well.  [8/10]

2) Big Daddy Mack - $10
Veggie patty, special sauce, lettuce, cheddar cheese, pickles and onions on a seasame seed bun.  Bland and uninteresting.  The veggie patty reminded me of what I used to get in my elementary school cafeteria.  Had kind of that beefy taste but under seasoned with the consistency of processed meat parts.  This is probably healthier but any similarity to a Big Mac, as the name might suggest, is no where to be found. [5/10]

Overall LTE score [6.5/10] Continental Midtown is a nice place to eat lunch. Whether you appreciate the styling or not I guess that depends on how seriously you take things.  I think it's interesting and something to look at while you're waiting for your food(which took almost 20 minutes today). Food is consistenly decent. I'd recommend the fried calamari salad which was not reviewed here.

Panda Express @ Market and Shops at Comcast Center - 17th and JFK Blvd

Back from the recesses of the fiery pits of hell that was this past triple digit, record breaking heatwave, I managed to step outside of the office to get lunch today.  85degrees with 70% humidity never felt more spring like.  So in honor of this day, where going outside doesn't feel like you're entering Satan's asshole, I thought I'd get fast food Chinese. I've been meaning to review a place at the "Market and Shops at Comcast Center" and I noticed that this one gets pretty busy.  A sign of good things right?

1) 3 Entree Meal - $7.50
Standing in front of the dozen or so options I was asked, rather impatiently, by the lady at the counter, to make my selection. My brain seized. She was staring me down like I was paying with pennies so I had to be quick about it.  I hastily picked the Chow Mein, Orange Chicken, Beijing Beef.  The chow mein tasted like it had been sitting in the warming tray for a little while. I would probably get it again only because I love chow mein but it was average at best.  The orange chicken was better. It wasn't chewy or over cooked and was comparable to what I'd get at my corner Chinese restaurant.  The beijing beef was another story.  I could not discern anything that resembled beef in this entree. If you told me that this was deep fried cardboard I'd probably say, "damn this cardboards not bad" but as beef, I did not enjoy it.  Also the double sweetness from the Orange chicken and beijing beef sauces started making me a little nauseous. These 2 were not a good combo.

Overall LTE score [5/10] Meh is the feeling I get about the Comcast food court in general and Panda Express goes right along with this feeling.  It is one of the nicest looking food courts you'll see but the aesthetics is what I leave here most impressed with.  If it's your first time in search of a food court I would try the one at Liberty Place, if it's your first time at Comcast Center, I would not suggest Panda Express unless you're dying for some chinese.  Lascalas is nice, albeit expensive, and there's a Chipolte'ish place called the Mexican Post which I like much better than Panda.

Rotisseur - 21st Between Chestnut and Sansom St

Thanks to a heads up from foobooz I learned that Rotisseur on 21st started serving lunch.  I actually had no idea this place was open for business because the last time I walked by there was just a menu taped to the window with no signs of life.  But even then, the idea of a rotisserie chicken place peaked my curiosity so when I read that they were open for lunch I got pretty excited.

Inside, everything looks very clean and modern.  When you enter you'll see a few window seats immediately to your right, then a thin island with some reading material and then the kitchen/food counter pictured above.  On the left there's bench seating that extends the length of the wall and maybe 6 or 7 individual tables spaced equally apart. This is about the same size space as the other restaurants here, like Tampopo, so a large party would have a hard time being seated here.  Overall, I really liked the look of the place.

1) 1/4 breast & wing meal(includes 2 sides) - $8

Their website states that their "chickens are cage-free, hormone-free, antibiotic-free and halal. our food is made fresh daily from locally-sourced ingredients, so our menu changes with the seasons."  Now I won't get into the semantics of cage-free vs free-range vs organic, you can research that for yourself but there's no denying that we should support the use of locally sourced ingredients(in the case of the chicken, Lancaster County)  So how did these locally sourced ingredient translate on the plate? 

The chicken was moist and flavorful. Comparing it to another rotisserie style chicken market we're all probably familiar with, it was smaller but higher in quality(a trade off I'll gladly take).
My sides were pickled veggies and mac and cheese.  The pickled veggies included radish, green bean pods, tomatoes, okra, and a clove of garlic.  Besides okra, which I'm not a fan of anyways, they were all excellent. Even the clove of garlic, which becomes much milder during the pickling process.   

The mac and cheese, that I was told had just come out of the oven, was the real deal.  Creamy and delicious with a few bread crumbs sprinkled about. [8/10]

 2) Chicken bánh mì  - $6 + small side(mac and cheese) - $2.50
I think calling this a bánh mì is a bit of a stretch.  It is a sandwich with pickled veggies and meat but the flavors are not what you would get from a Vietnamese restaurant.  Of course, this isn't a Vietnamese restaruant, so I don't fault them too much for it but for those who are more anal about it might question why it's being called a banh mi.  Overall, I thought it was a decent sandwich. The ingredients were there, especially the pickled veggies but the bread was crustier than I prefer and it could have used more chicken. [6/10]

Overall LTE score [8/10]  I left impressed by what was served at Rotisseur.  A place like this, nearby, that's made by 2 guys who want to do it right will get my business any day and when that quality can come through in the food, sign me up for the frequent eaters card(they don't really have one of those that I'm aware of).  Now, the one thing that would keep me from eating here more often would be the narrow menu choices.  I can only eat so much chicken.  But they say their menu changes with whats in season so I expect to see a wider range of local foods to come soon.

http://rotisseur.net/

Zama - 19th and Walnut St

Chef Hiroyuki “Zama” Tanaka started his 20 year sushi career by washing knives at a restaurant in the Kanagawa prefecture just outside of Tokyo.  After working his way up the ranks and becoming a sushi chef he immigrated to the states where he served in the kitchens of Morimoto, Pod and Genji.  This is a background you would be hard pressed to find in a city filled with Korean and Chinese run sushi restaurants.  And honestly, when it comes down to it, just like we like our suits to be Italian and electronics to be Apple, we like the idea of an actual chef from Japan being behind a sushi restaurant. There's a certain level of authenticity and inherit quality that we associate with who's making our stuff, whether warented or not.
So here we are at Zama, will the chefs background make a difference?

The dichromatic decor is modern, clean and impressive.  Wood slates cover the walls and line the booths. On the back ceiling there is this beautifully stylized Koi pond made out of dotted lights.  Quite a contrast to what this space looked like when it used to be Loie.

 1) Kurabuta Pork Dumplings - $8.00
Decided on doing something a little different from the usual edamame starter and went with the gyoza.  The topping of ginger and chives gave these a nice bite but there wasn't anything particularly amazing about these dumplings otherwise .  They were fried pretty hard, which I wasn't a fan of, but the pork stuffing was decent [6/10]

 2) Maki Combination - $16.00
Seriously, whats with this freaking plate?  It looks like a hub cap and an ugly one at that.  Plastic and turquoise and giant, it seemed out of place against the wood and black colors that fill the restaurant.
Luckily for this dish, this is not Iron Chef, and I don't give 15 points for plating so how were the rolls?  I would say both in size and quality they were excellent.   I really enjoyed the bite and crunch the jalapenos added in the yellowtail jalapeno mango maki.  [8/10]

 3) Sushi and Sashimi Combination - $24.00
And the underwhelming moment of the day goes to this dish.  The dull, lifeless appearance of the nigiri is not the fault of my iPhone's camera struggling with low light conditions. This really looked like this...They say we eat with our eyes first and what my eyes were eating at this moment was sushi sadness. Luckily, once in my mouth, they weren't as lifeless as I expected but still, this didn't make me feel good about paying $24 for this either. [6/10]

4) Asahi Select - $6.00 / Sapporo Light - $6.00
I really do enjoy the light, crisp, clean tastes of Japanese beer.  Always goes great with sushi.

Overall LTE score [7/10]  I have a hard time scoring these higher end restaurants.  On one hand, the food is good and probably deserving of at least some of the premium you pay but on the other hand you're spending a fortune and you expect to be blown away for it.  Did I enjoy my meal?  Yes.  Would I ever eat here regularly?  Not unless I were able to find a way to have an illegitimate child with Arnold Schwarzenegger. But at the end of the day, I feel like I generally take cost into account less and judge on how much I enjoyed my meal.  In the case of Zama, I left feeling like I had a good meal and the space I ate it in was beautiful.  Was the pedigree of having an accomplished Japanese chef running the kitchen worth the cost?  I didn't find that to be the case with this lunch.

http://www.zamarestaurant.com/

Flamers @ Liberty Food Court - 16th and Market St

Another day, another indecisive lunchtime moment brings me back to the Liberty food court where my mental indecision can be physically manifested into me walking circles around this place.  The problem with this is when surrounded by options, my gut, like a divining rod to water, points me to the burgers and hotdogs.  So this brings me to my lunch destination for today.. Flamers Grill.

1) Bacon Cheddar Burger Combo - $8.00
Flamers is basically a Burger King, flame broiled burgers that you can have your way(mayo, lettuce, onions, pickles for my burger).  The fries even taste similar.  But, like burger king, you get that very pedestrian fast food patty so if you're looking for a burger experience this is not the place to go.  Nevertheless, I did enjoy my burger for what it was.  The bacon was decently crisp, the bun wasn't bad, and the burger had that flame broiled taste.

Overall LTE score [6/10] As far as the food court goes this is not a bad option for burgers.  Actually, along with Rick's Steaks, I think these are the only options.  I usually get cheesesteaks at Rick's so when I'm in a burger mood I'll head over to Flamers.

http://www.flamersgrill.com/

Rachael's Nosheri - 19th and Sansom St

Oddly enough a good NY/Jewish style deli is not easy to come by here in Center City.  God forbid you want something kosher, I don't think you'd be able to find many reliable sources without going out to the Main Line or South Jersey.  Fortunately for me I'm not limited to a kosher diet so just finding a deli that serves up massive sandwiches would make me happy.  I have found this happiness at Rachael's Nosheri right off of Rittenhouse Square.

The space is interesting to say the least.  When you enter you're immediately funneled into a cafeteria style line, trays included, and you wait for one of the guys behind the counter to ask what you'd like.  At the end of the line is the register and containers of complementary pickles and pickled tomatoes which you can take to your hearts desire.  Also there's a napkin dispenser which you'll want to make full use of as you don't want to be caught without a square of spare considering how messy these sandwiches can be.
As a whole it's actually kind of an ugly place. The tables are covered in a heavy duty plastic which I hope was a utilitarian decision and not an aesthetic one.  The walls are covered with random pictures and news clippings and there was a globe, like one you would find in an elementary school classroom, at the corner I was sitting at...lets move onto the food.

1) The Perfect Match - $8.50

Now this is why you go to a deli like Rachael's.  Piled high with corned beef, Rumanian pastrami, swiss cheese, cole slaw and Russian dressing their sandwiches are delicious and gigantic.  Their meats are almost melt in your mouth lean which is so vitally important when you're trying to tackle a sandwich the size of your face.  A note about their sandwiches though, they are heavy with Russian dressing so if you're sensitive to this you might want to ask them to go light on it.  There's a lot to eat here but the goodness overrides my stomachs fullness and I'm left with only half an uneaten pickle at the end of this lunch.  

Overall LTE score [8/10] I haven't had a chance to order outside of their sandwich menu mainly because every time I go here I want to stuff my face with delicious deli meat.  At some point I hope to get to the rest of the menu but in the mean time just the sandwiches alone make Rachael's one of the best places to get a deli sandwich in Center City.

http://www.rachaelsnosheri.com/

Christos' Falafel - 20th and Market St

Officially it's know as Christos' falafel, unofficially you can hear it being referred to as the falafel nazi or the smoke cart or the best falafel in the city.  Why it's refereed to as the smoke cart should be somewhat obvious from my picture.  He uses a real charcoal grill as opposed to the standard griddle you see in most carts and when that grill is running at full capacity the stack of smoke can be more akin to the dust storms that rolled over Phoenix the other day.  If you don't enjoy the smell of heavy charcoal grilling then you probably want to avoid this side of the street during the lunch rush because it will be in your face, up your nose, down your pants.
The most infamous of his titles, the falafel nazi, should be familiar to anyone who watches Seinfeld.  "He's not a Nazi.  He just happens to be a little eccentric.  Most geniuses are"  This man suffers for his craft and demands that we understand and appreciate it.

When you're standing in line you'll notice the very orderly progression of patrons who, like some inhabitant of an Orwellian thought controlled state, step up in turn, wait for however long it takes and without a word receive their platter and pay.  On occasion you will hear "Gus"(real name Kostadinos Hristis) saying something with a heavy accent.  Usually it's about the quality of his ingredients, the cucumber that he had imported from a far away country, his fresh made salsa or how his food is restaurant quality.  You'd be best served to nod in agreement and say a few words of affirmation.  The man works hard for his food and you best recognize.
You might be wondering how you know what you're getting and how much it is when the only exchange is from Gus to you.  You won't find help around the cart because you will see no signage.  Well the simple answer to that is you don't.  You get what he serves you and you pay what he considers fair.  I've paid everything from up to $12 to what seems to be the stable price as of late $7, all with a smile and a thank you.  You don't question the nazi, you bend over and take what he gives you.

1) "........." - $7

So what did the Nazi decide to serve me today?  Well, you'll always find falafel balls and char grilled chicken on a bed of lettuce, those are constants in the platter.  The starch component today is perfectly cooked and seasoned rice.  Veggies come in the form of the aforementioned cucumbers that were grilled along side the chicken.  On the side came soft pita bread and a first for me, a small peach!  I won't go into the usual boring descriptions of how tender the chicken is or the crispness of the outer crust of the falafel, suffice to say it's all there and those ever changing supporting components are always a pleasant surprise.  Topping the entire dish is some sort of garlic sauce that I can't quite identify but it's garlicy goodness.   

Overall LTE score [9.5/10]  I'll bring up the last of the aka's that I mentioned at the start of my review for my conclusion. Best falafel in the city.  Not only is it amazingly good but you get almost enough food for 2 meals and all for just $7.(this price has been stable for some time but if he says its more...pay it!  Safe bet would be to just hand him a $20)  The Nazi moniker really refers less to his personality(which honestly, he's more friendly then he's made out to be) and more towards the perfection he seeks in his food, the food that you'll receive consistently good every time you eat from here.  Some helpful tips though, to stay on his good side, don't ask for anything special, what he gives you is enough and definitely don't ask for a platter to take back to your friend at the office.  If he/she wants one he/she will wait like the rest of us and Gus will make sure you understand this.

The only negative I'll say about Christo's is that you should expect to wait.  He does not rush his food and if there are 10 people in line a 30 minute wait is not out of the question.  But you wouldn't want him to rush your food so I think, if you can spare the time, the wait is worth it.  (Advice would be to come early, say around 11:40) Also he's been know to disappear for days or weeks at a time.  In the winter he's more likely to be missing, probably climbing to the top of some mountain in search of fresh ingredients. 

Serafina - 18th and Sansom St

I'm not at all familiar with the restaurants that the Serafina Restaurant Group has apparently made successful in NYC so when Serafina at 10 Rittenhouse was being built I had no idea what to expect.  I'd seen the construction going on for quite some time behind the yellow sign covered windows surrounding the space but that only had the name and an indication of a cuisine that included seafood on it.
As uninformed as I was, what was obvious was that whatever opened up here was going to be damn expensive being right at the center of Rittenhouse Square.  With that in mind, having just opened the other week, we decided to investigate the new guy on the block and broke open our piggy banks to give Serafina a try.

 The interior is in a L shape with the bar occupying the inner part and the tables arranged throughout the outer.   As you can see the exterior wall is made up almost entirely of large windows and it really makes it feel a lot roomier than it is.  I'm sure when it not too hot outside for them to open up the windows this effect is made even more so.  All in all it's a very pleasant space, well lit, cleanly decorated and decently spacious.

First we're offered complementary bread and olive oil to which we obviously agree to.  It was a nice crusty bread but not warm which was disappointing.  Didn't find anything that particularly stood out about the olive oil but I liked the bread with olive oil nevertheless and wish more places would offer this, I need my monosaturated fats!

 1) Di Sofia - $9.50
The menu says this is an Italian version of the classic ceasar.  What makes this Italian I have no idea but it wasn't enough to make me want to pay $10 for this salad ever again.  I mean seriously, lettuce, croutons, a slice of parmesan cheese and I hope at the very least, a homemade ceasar dressing.  They must be paying the rent with this salad.  [4/10]

 2) Penne ala Vodka - $10.75
Next up, penne in a vodka sauce or as the menu describes, Italian peeled tomato sauce with a touch of cream and Stoli Vodka.  The pasta was nicely al dente, as it should be and the sauce was good albeit sparse but again, like with the salad, what am I getting here for $11?  Are they using Stoli elit and creme from the milk of some endangered species?  I understand there's a premium to pay for where we're eating but these first two courses aren't even trying to make us feel better about it. [5/10]

3) Le Pizze al Salmone - $18.00
Finally we have our main course of Scottish smoked salmon and dill over mozzarella pizza.  Honestly, we were expecting to see a pizza the size of our previous plates but almost in spite of the bitterness that we had built up to this point it came in larger then what we expected.  Now for $18 you're still getting the equivalent of a small pizza at a normal pizza place but you won't find smoked salmon at any of those places.  We both felt that the size was satisfactory so onto the taste.  The smoked salmon was awesomely smokey... like I was chewing on a piece of apple wood smokey.  They really did a good job of infusing that flavor into the salmon and I think the fact that it was so very lightly cooked made it stand out even more.  The mozzarella was also great and it made even the bites where I wasn't getting salmon in enjoyable.  This is a well conceived pizza and the quality made the price seem secondary which was a nice change.  [8/10]

Overall LTE score [6.5/10]  The salmon pizza redeemed the score here.  I'm all for having a nice ambiance to eat lunch in but if you're spending $50 for 2 people to eat a lunch that you can make at home then there isn't enough ambiance in the world that would justify that expense to me.  Now as pricey as our lunch turned out to be we actually ordered the cheaper items of their respective menus.  Given that, I would say there is a possibility that if we really went all out we could have gotten something that would've really blown us away but I can only review what we ordered and le pizze al salmone was the only dish we felt that was worth the expense.

http://www.serafinarestaurant.com/serafina/philadelphia.html