Latin Farmer - Love Park (Closed)

The food truck phenomenon rolls on as Center City is introduced to Latin Farmer, the latest in a growing number of "gourmet" food trucks in the area.  This is a trend that I accept with open arms.
We all know that the street food scene is a little weak here, especially when you compare it to the other side of the Schuylkill River in University City.  I've always kind of wondered why this was.  I guess maybe the preexisting stigma of getting food from a truck has a part in it and also the availability of street space is probably a hindrance.  But thanks to the ever increasing acceptance of restaurant quality food coming from a truck and open spaces like Love Park we're seeing the renaissance of food trucks finally coming to age in Philly.

From their website: "Latin Farmer is a sustainable, local and responsible approach to Latin food...We try our hardest to use fresh ingredients, biodegradable and compostable supplies, and use local products and resources as often as possible in efforts to minimize our footprint while also giving back to our community."
Being the hippie that I am, this mission statement gets a definite plus in my book.

El Menu.  Notice the Friday special, I assume this will change from week to week.

1) Bocadillo - $8

First up the Friday special. Malta braised pulled beef, chipolte peach aioli, chayote apple slaw, queso de papa.  The pulled beef was tender but a bit on the under seasoned side.  The queso de papa and aoili saved this sandwich from being too boring.   [7/10]

2) Skirt Steak Collard Wrap - $8

Tomato chimichurri, chayote apple slaw, queso fresco.  The same braised beef from the sandwich before but unfortunately there was nothing to give it that kick it needed as the queso de papa and aoili did in the Bocadillo.  The leaf wrap itself though is pretty awesome so even though I was a little disappointed in the flavoring the concept was nice.  [7/10]

3) Choripan - $7

Chorizo, sugarcane stewed onions, queso de papa, banana ketchup/pineapple culantro grain mustard.  Now this is a real gourmet hotdog.  I thought it worked well as I'm a huge fan of chorizo and equally a huge fan of hotdogs.  I would've liked it more had the sausage had more bite and snap to it.  Nevertheless I would definitely order this again.  [7.5/10]

4) Roasted Sofrito Hummus w/ Seasoned Plantain Chips - $4
The hummus was very good.  Plantain chips were an interesting choice for dipping instrument, unfortunately one I didn't really care for.  I would've preferred something more neutral to enjoy my hummus with. [7/10]

5) Cucumber Mojito Agua Fresca - $3
Wish I got more juice here because with the size of the cup combined with the amount of ice included I drank this non alcoholic mojito in 4-5 sips.  The flavor was distinctively cucumber with just enough sweetness to make it interesting.  It was good but next time I'm bringing a flask of rum. [6/10]

Overall LTE score [7/10]  Love Park is quickly becoming the flash mob meetup spot for food trucks.  I think this is a very good thing for the food scene in Philly and hope this can spread throughout the rest of Center City.  Latin Farmer is a welcome addition and it delivers in a lot of ways.  I think the price could use a reduction, $8 for half a sandwich with no sides is a bit steep but maybe when they get a better idea of their business those prices will adjust.
At the time of this review they will be serving in Love Park on Wednesdays and Fridays only.

http://www.latinfarmer.com/

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/