Pine Street Deli

One of my most frequent place for a quick lunch is the Pine Street Deli (1613 Pine Street). When I first ordered from the deli, I was actually surprised how decent the food was. Shortly after, I became a regular at Pine Street Deli. My usuals are egg salad sandwich, egg and cheese sandwich, everything bagel with cream cheese, and veggie sandwich. My favorite is the veggie sandwich. I would order it with mayo, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, sweet pepper, and hot peppers on toasted white bread. You are probably thinking how hard it could be to screw up something simple like a veggie sandwich but you never. If the sandwich is too soggy, if the veggies were not fresh, etc, it can totally produce a subpar sandwich. Everything I ordered the veggie sandwich or anything from the deli, thety were always consistent. The veggie sandwich alway contained fresh veggie and the sandwich was never soggy. See below for a picture of the awesome veggie sandwich. If you are ever in the area, I would recommend checking out Pine Street Deli for something convenient and good.

Veggie Sandwich

A Beautiful Sunday Brunch at Cafe Lift

On one lovely Sunday, I enjoyed a brunch with my friends at Cafe Lift (428 N. 13th Street) . We arrived at cafe around 10AM and was seat within 20 minutes for a party of 3. The interior of the place was interesting in that there were pipes along the ceiling and some on the side wall. The restaurant was smaller than I thought it would be. For some reason, I thought it would be more spacious with many seatings and possibly a second floor. These were just assumptions I made from the yelp pictures I saw. I guess since there were stairs leading up the establishment, it looked like that there might be a second floor to the restaurant. Also, the fairly high ceiling and pipes gave the illusion of being very spacious. Cafe Lift was a reasonable size restaurant with about 20 tables.

Breakfast Burrito 

Since I loved all the ingredients in the Breakfast Burrito (scrambled eggs, roasted peppers, mushrooms, sweet onions and chihuahua cheese, rolled in a flour tortilla, topped with ancho chilli sauce and served with homemade hot sauce and sour cream), I decided to get it. I do not regret my choice one bit. It was delicious. The burrito was huge and filled with fluffy well cooked scrambled eggs as well as tasty tender pepper, mushroom, and onion. There was also some cheese inside the burrito. I actually never had chihuahua cheese before. I thought it was okay. It was white cheese that tasted mildly like cheddar. On top of the burrito, there were hot sauce and a whole grilled jalapeno. Although the description said it was ancho chilli sauce, it tasted awfully similar to sriracha. On the side were homemade hot sauce, sour cream, and potatoes. I did not really eat the sour cream with the burrito. The homemade hot sauce was the bomb dot com aka phenomenal. It tasted hot and tangy. I loved it. I thought the hot sauce on the burrito and the homemade hot sauce really completed the dish for me. The side potatoes were well seasoned and good. I wished they gave me more potatoes than just a couple of pieces:( Overall I will give this  whole plate 5 out of 5 stars.

Lemon Ricotta Pancake

In addition to the burrito, I shared a Lemon Ricotta Pancake with my friends. Another decision I do not regret. The pancakes were dusted with powder sugar and came with honey, home made whip cream, and some kind of home made preserve (possibly strawberry, raspberry, or mixed berries) on the side. The pancakes were soft and somewhat fluffy with a hint of lemon ricotta flavor. I liked the pancake best with the homemade whipped cream topping. I would rate these pancakes 5 out of 5 stars, too.

My experience at the cafe was splendid . The wait for the table was not too long. After putting in our order, the food came out pretty quick considering that the restaurant was packed. The food was spectacular. Lastly, our server was very friendly and attentive.

Party at Sushi Kingdom

At Sushi Kingdom (148 NJ-73, Marlton, NJ 08053), you can either go a la carte or go buffet style. Of course, my party and I went hardcore buffet style. Below are the sushi and appetizers I/we ate. To order, you are given a paper with all the items listed with lines to the right. If you want a certain food, just write the number of order you want on the line to the right of the item (eg. write 1 next the tuna rolls, if you want one order of it). Overall, I enjoyed my experience and would recommend this place for people craving sushi. I would rate this place a 3.5 out of 5 stars. 

Mixed Garden Salad
The garden salad was refreshing. It tasted like any other garden salad and ginger dressing at any Japanese restuarant. It was good. but not unique.

Cold Noodles
The noodles were cold spaghetti like noodles with savory peanut sauce. The peanut sauce tasted like it was made by combining soy sauce and peanut butter. On top of the noodles were what I believe were thinly sliced/chopped seaweed used for garnish. The appetizer was good, but a little on the saltier side.

Shrimp and Veggie Tempura
The tempura was done well. The seasoning was good and it was very crispy. I find that not all places can make their tempura crispy.

Teriyaki Salmon
I thought the teriyaki salmon was overall okay. It was well cooked so it was not as smooth/ soft in texture. The sauce tasted prepackaged.

Seaweed Salad
The seaweed salad was tasty. Similar to the mixed garden salad it tasted comparable to other Japanese restaurant. 

Meat and Veggie Gyoza
The tan wrappings were the pork gyoza aka dumplings while the green ones were the veggie dumplings. It was a great way to distinguish between the two types of dumplings. The skin was crispy. Inside the veggie dumpling, everything was kind of mash up together. I didn't really taste anything except the cabbage. Nonetheless,  I found it to be good.

Rocky Shrimp
Rocky shrimp is shrimp deep fried in batter. The shrimp was tasty and crunchy. Most of the time anything that is deep fried tends to suit my palate. 

Sushi Platter #1
For our first round of sushi, we order a number of different rolls, salmon sashimi, and roasted eel. Unlike Aki sushi buffet in Philadelphia, Sushi Kingdom does not limit the number of sashimi you can order. I thought the service was quite quick and the quality of the sushi was good. It was quite fresh in my opinion. The salmon melts in your mouth and the eel was soft and tasty.

Sushi Platter #2
Technically, this was an extension of sushi platter #1 order. As mentioned above, the sushi was fresh.    

 

Sushi Platter #3
So since there were no limits on the sashimi, my friends went wild and ordered a ridiculous amount of salmon which they devour. I actually skipped out on this round because I was getting full.

Red Bean and Green Tea Ice Cream
Although I was full from the appetizer, sushi, and sashimi, there is always room for dessert. For dessert, it was somewhat limited, there were only ice cream and fruits. I got the red bean ice and green tea ice cream. Both were creamy and good. Not sure if they made their own, but it tasted like they might have. My favorite of the two was the green tea.

The Abbaye

The Abbaye (637 N 3rd St) is a bar restaurant located in Northern Liberties. The restaurant kind of had two rooms. The first room when you enter is the bar area and some table seating and the second room is more table seating. We sat in the second room. We went for dinner and my only complaint was that it was too dark. I wish there were more lighting. There were candles but it wasn't cutting for me. I guess it could be a romantic place for couples to have dinner.

Seitan Cheesesteak

It was a lucky day for me because there were a good amount of vegetarian options on the menu. I got the seitan cheesesteak. It was mouth watery delicious. The seitan were thinly chopped. Although seitan's texture is softer than actual meat, I thought the restaurant did a good job trying to mimic beef. It looked like a real cheesesteak, too. The cheesesteak was well seasoned and it came with French Fries. The French Fries were somewhat crispy and addictive. I don't always finish my meal, but I basically devour this dish. I think the restaurant did well with the seitan and I would definitely come back for more.

The Quick Fixx

After going to this restaurant once, I declare The Quick Fixx (1511 South Street) a gem. The establishment was cute and small with about 3-4 tables inside and about 4 tables set up outside.  While I was there, I experienced excellent customer service and excellent food. Since it was my first time there, I was not familiar with how things work at the restaurant. It was actually more a self serve place. One of the employees kindly came up to me and asked if I needed help when I sat down to wait for my friend. While I was telling her I was waiting for a friend, she explained to me how to order and she also bought me a pitcher of water and 2 plastic cups. Once my friend came, I explained to her we had to order and pay up front and then they bring us the food. This place was kind of unique in that you can customize your own pasta or flatbread but of course, you can order from a set menu too.

Fun Guy Flatbread

When my friend's pasta came out, the server apologized to me and told me that she accidentally dropped my flatbread on the floor. They were going to make me a new one. I was grateful for her honesty and also thankfully they are making me a new flatbread instead of giving me the one that dropped on the floor. I got the Fun Guy Flatbread (truffled Kennett Square mushrooms, rosemary dough, fontina, and baby arugula). It came out on a fancy wooden board. The flatbread was delicious and tasted better than I thought it was going to be. Everything on the flatbread went so well together. The bitterness of the arugula complemented the cheese and tender mushrooms. The flatbread itself was thin and somewhat crispy. My friend also enjoyed her pasta alot. We both completely devour our plates. After we ate, the server took our plates and told us that we can stay as long as we want which I very kind gesture.

Tiramisu Frozen

Tiramisu Melted

Since we still engaged in our conversation, we decided to stay longer and get dessert. To the right of the register, on the counter is a small freezer with a glass door. Inside the freezer were assorted homemade dessert cakes (red velvet, tiramisu, etc.) wrapped in saran wrap. We went for the tiramisu. After paying the cashier got us a plate and two plastic spoons. I find it interesting that they froze their dessert. Maybe it is to preserve them longer. Needless to say it was hard to eat the cake when it was frozen. After some time, the cake did melt a little and became easier to eat. I thought the tiramisu was some what creamy and good. It wasn't overly sweet and tasted more like eggy vanilla cake than tiramisu. I still liked it though.

I would love to come back to this place and try everything....other veggie options on the set menu, customized flatbread and pasta, salads, appetizer, brunch, and other desserts. Besides having great customer and great food, another plus side is the food were very reasonable priced.

Nomad Roman Pizza- Margherita Pizza

Nomad Roman Pizza, located at 1305 Locust St., offers personal size pizzas for $5 to $7 during Happy Hour. Of course, my friends and I seized the opportunity to get cheap pizzas. When we arrived around 5:30PM, the restaurant started to fill up and by the time we left it was packed. 

Nomad Roman Happy Hour Menu 

Margherita Pizza

I got the Margherita Pizza. We didn't wait too long for the pizza to come out. The pizza was a good personal size portion. The crust was thin. The texture of the crust was a combination of crispy and chewy. The marina sauce tasted very fresh. The cheese was gooey. Overall, I thought the pizza was good, but I felt like I had better Margherita pizza elsewhere. Even though it was not the best Margherita pizza I ever had, I don't oppose coming here again because it was still good and I love cheap eats. 

Eating Italian at Little Nonna's

Little Nonna's is a cute little restaurant located at 1234 Locust Street. I came here for dinner. Apparently, there were outdoor and indoor seatings; we chose indoor seating so we didn't get to see the decor of outside. Inside was dim and had a romantic feel to it. I would definitely recommend this place for dates. 

Pan Seared Gnocchi

I got the Pan Seared Gnocchi with roasted squash, local wild mushroom, shaved sunchokes, tuscan kale, marsala, and parmesan. Sorry for the picture quality the restaurant was quite dark. The dish was delicious. You can visually see the gnocchi were pan seared. Pan searing the gnocchi added to texture and flavor of the the dough dumplings. The squash, mushroom, and kale were chopped into small pieces and very tender. I wish there were more of the vegetables. The entree was also very garlicky which I liked. I love garlic. Overall, I thought the plate suited my palate. The flavors were well-balanced with a slightly more garlicky seasoning. 

Apple Crostata

For dessert, we got the Apple Crostata with caramel, vanilla ice cream, and pecorino crust. It was basically an open face apple pie. The Apple Crostata was good. It wasn't too sweet and the apples were tender; however, it wasn't the best apple pie or version of apple pie I ever had. I didn't really like the crust because there were little salt crystals on it. I am not sure if the salt was there to bring out the sweetness of the dessert, but I was not fond of it. Overall, this dessert was just okay for me. 

I did have a good experience at this restaurant. I enjoyed the entree very much and would like to come back. I do wish they had more vegetarian options, though.

Lombard Cafe

One of my friends and I decided to get together to do work. After a yelp search, we decided on Lombard Cafe. Lombard Cafe was a cute and small cafe located on 542 Lombard Street. It is actually a nice place to do work. Around noon one Sunday, my friend and I were the only ones sitting at the cafe doing work. There were a number of customers running in for coffee and eventually the cafe started to fill up a bit.

Egg and Cheese Sandwich

During my time there, I got an egg and cheese sandwich. The bread it came in was toasted and airy and quite tasty. The sandwich overall was little bland. It could have used a little more salt or ketchup. Also, I would have prefer a little my more cheese. Not pictured but the coffee here was pretty good. In conclusion, if you would like a nice place to do work and a nice cup of coffee, then come to Lombard Cafe. I wouldn't recommend to come here for the food.