12 great Restaurant Week lunch deals | Let’s Eat

We’re in the first week of Center City District Restaurant Week, and we have lunch ideas. Craig LaBan weighs in on Zahav’s new packaged hummus as well as taste-tests Nepali momos. And read on: We have professional advice for tea drinkers and show you how to get cozy with maritozzi.

— Mike Klein

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Center City District Restaurant Week — actually two weeks, wrapping Feb. 3 — includes about three dozen restaurants with $20 lunch offerings. Among them is Bank & Bourbon, with a salmon-topped salad that almost feels like spring. Read on to see our picks in terms of quality and value.

Tacoshop, an indie restaurant at the Jersey Shore, is about to face competition from a Chipotle just a burrito’s throw away (it’s the yellow-ish building at left in the photo above). Critic Craig LaBan, a longtime fan of owners Lucas Manteca and Deanna Ebner, writes that they aren’t going down without a fight. They’ve lowered prices and launched an ambitious dinner menu. Think Chipotle would ever offer octopus sopecitos?

Zahav’s famed hummus is now available at some Whole Foods stores. Grab a pita, because Craig says it sets the gold standard for commercial hummus.

Nepali Momo Kitchen, the dumpling destination, offers more than 40 different combinations of fillings and sauces. Craig tried them all and determined his six favorites.

Maritozzi, those puffy buns stuffed with sweet cream, are having a moment. Hira Qureshi went Roman around the region to round up five outlets for these pastries.

Downtime Bakery, one maritozzi maker, recently signed a lease for a brick-and-mortar location in Mount Airy, and Jenn Ladd points out that it will add to a busy block.

Why are we talking about corn on the cob in January? Read Mike Newall’s chat with Nija Wiggins. Since her Corneey’s corn cart won a $5,000 grant, things are poppin’ with her.

Michelle Francl, a Bryn Mawr College professor, applies her scientist’s brain to her passion for tea in the new book Steeped. In a chat with Nate File, she points out a brewing no-no that you can fix.

MNYK Chowder Crawl, featuring a dozen Manayunk restaurants, will be part of Founders Philly Freeze-Out, a Manayunk street festival on Feb. 3, sponsored by Manayunk Development Corp. and Founders Brewing Co. Hours will be noon-4 p.m., and only 500 tickets ($15) will be sold. Info is here.

A great bowl of ramen is not too hard to find in Philly.

Don’t miss our rundown of the 25 best cold-weather soups.

Good Good Chocolates’ Lisa Schoenbeck is looking at a late-winter opening for her first brick-and-mortar location, a retail/production facility in the former Paradigm space at 746 S. Fourth St. in Queen Village. She now makes chocolate candy bars, dragée (products coated in chocolate), bonbons, chocolate truffles, pâte de fruits, and the “Philly Bar” (dark chocolate, Lancaster milk stout caramel, salty pretzel, and peanut butter crunch) out of MaKen North in Kensington. Eventually, Schoenbeck plans to serve chocolate drinks, and the space will also be a hub for chocolate-making classes, as well as for evening events when the shop is closed. This is a long time coming. Schoenbeck, who’s been in business since 2016, had soldiered on during treatment for ovarian cancer in most of 2022 and early 2023 before signing the lease in May 2023, a month after she went into remission. In addition to her online store, Schoenbeck sells through Riverwards Produce, the Pennsylvania General Store at the Reading Terminal Market, Herman’s Coffee, Mighty Bread Co., Salt & Vinegar, Third Wheel Cheese Co., Myrtle & Magnolia, Penns Wood Winery, and Triple C Angus’ farm store.

Medium Rare, the growing chain that specializes in steak frites, is coming to Fishtown, as it takes a space on Frankford Avenue, two doors from Suraya. Opening is expected this summer/fall.

L.A. chef Jeremy Fox will join chef Nick Elmi in the kitchen at Lark in Bala Cynwyd on Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 for eight-course collab dinners. This is the second edition of the Voi-age Dinner Series by Eli Kulp’s CHEF Radio podcast. Fox owns Birdie G’s and the Michelin-starred Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, which hew to a “seed-to-stalk” philosophy and hyper-seasonal, zero-waste approach to cooking. Early access reservations (staggered from 5-9 p.m.) are available for $185 plus tax and tip through noon Jan. 25. After that, it’s $195. Participating chefs will donate 10% of ticket sales to a charity of their choice. Tickets are up on Lark’s Resy.

Puttshack, the high-tech mini golf experience, will open at the Shops at Liberty Place (1625 Chestnut St.), has set its public opening date: Feb. 24. That project was announced in May 2022, but you do know that delays these days are — say it with me — par for the course.

Blue Sunday. Few restaurateurs have the diverse portfolio that Eddie Zheng does. He has interests in the soup-dumpling destination Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao (in New York, Cherry Hill, and soon in King of Prussia Mall), as well as the growing Top Pot Korean BBQ chain, Takumi Bistro & Bar in Wayne, and Qu Japan Bistro & Bar in Center City. He’s also headed to University City this summer to open Nan Xiang Express, a smaller offshoot of Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, at 3720 Chestnut St.

Though all of those concepts are based on specific Asian cuisines, his latest restaurant in the Philadelphia area carries a far more expansive menu.

The sleek, smart-looking Blue Sunday Bar & Grill, which replaced the shuttered Michael’s Diner in Bensalem last month, has Chinese food on one side and a sort of high-end American steakhouse-meets-sports-bar approach on the other. That is, appetizers including soups, tacos, stuffed shrimp, ceviche, fried calamari, cheesesteak egg rolls, and wings, plus steaks (such as a 12-ounce ribeye for $38), rack of lamb ($42), crab cakes ($37 for two), a $60 seafood boil, and a burger ($20).

There’s a whole section labeled “Asian fusion,” including rice and noodle dishes, such as coconut shrimp, curries, and General Tso’s. That’s chicken and broccoli in the photo above.

There’s a three-sided bar that seats 24, which affords a sense of privacy. (You and your friends can hang on one side, away from folks on another side.)

Best bet is the happy hour, where prices really come down for food as well as drinks ($5 drafts and bottles, $7 house merlot and pinot grigio, $8 house liquor, and $10 cocktails).

Blue Sunday, 3340 Street Rd., Bensalem. Hours: 3 p.m.-midnight Monday-Thursday, 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3-11 p.m. Sunday. Happy hour: 3-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 3-11 p.m. Sunday. ADA compliant.

New Jersey craft breweries now have more latitude to plan events, and to allow customers easier access to food, under a bill signed last week. One brewery owner told Alfred Lubrano: “I am completely thrilled.”

Famous 4th Street Deli has a new general manager, less than two weeks after the Queen Village institution was sold. Deli veteran Barry Steinman did not work out, said former owner Russ Cowan, who is helping new owner Al Gamble during the transition. Gamble declined to name the new general manager for now, but indicated it’s a local who knows the operation. Steinman, whose Facebook blew up with well-wishes when his hiring was announced, is reviving Max’s Catering, his longtime business. Here’s my article on Famous’ sale.

Silvia and Daniel Lucci of LUHV Foods will tell the “LUHV story” about how they — immigrants from Argentina — got into the fresh-made and prepackaged vegan food biz. It’s 2 p.m. Saturday at the American Vegan Center, 17 N. Second St. in Old City. The $20 ticket includes food samples.

Dan Tocci, who just retired at age 87 from Dan’s Meats in Fishtown, became well-known later in his career for what?

A) His hoagies

B) His soda selection

C) His assortment of Tastykakes

D) The number of lottery winners in his shop

Find out if you know the answer.

Why do you think traditional Cuban restaurants haven’t been successful in Philadelphia? I’m not talking about Cuban-inspired spots, like Cuba Libre or the old Alma de Cuba, but rather places that serve the typical foods first-generation Cuban American kids grew up eating at home. Jose Garces came close with Rosa Blanca a few years back, and earlier, there was a place in Center City [Cafe Habana]. Both Tierra Colombiana and Mixto used to have some Cuban dishes on their menus; not sure if they do anymore. — Roy

I posed this to Javier Suárez of the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who pointed out that the shortage is probably a function of population. There simply have not been many Cuban restaurants here because Philly does not have a large Cuban American community. The 2020 Census counted 4,464 people identifying as Cuban, behind such groups as Puerto Rican (127,000), Dominican (33,344), Mexican (20,026), Colombian (6,616), and Guatemalan (5,549).

Entrepreneurs don’t see a large Cuban customer base, Suárez said. Latino restaurants here simply blend Cuban dishes and variations on recipes into their menus.

I’m sure you’re used to finding a true Cuban dish here and there. That said, I’d still recommend Feltonville’s Tierra Colombiana (whose owner is Ecuadorian and is still going strong after 35 years) for such dishes as chicharrón de pollo and arroz con chorizo, as well as its Center City sibling Mixto for the ropa viejo and maduros. There are also two Cuban family-owned cafes: Avenida 7 Cafe (1424 South St.) for croquetas, congri rice, and Cuban sandwiches, and Home Cuban Cafe (17 N. Third St.), especially for the tostones, pastelitos, and croquetas.

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