Wok Street

1518 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 693-3010
Website

I was invited to visit Wok Street recently to see what they have to offer. It is the same folks as Hai Street (which makes the sushi burritos I love), so I figured it would be a good meal and well worth my time. Tucked behind the tree here on Chestnut, next to the venerable Popeye's, you find Wok Street.

They specialize in Southeast Asian-style street food.

The interior had the industrial loft thing going on – nice and roomy with that city living feel.

It looked like a hip Chipotle (I can't help but use my old fave as the bar for comparison with all fancy-ish fast-ish food joints). But there was tons of counter space and for being so deep, the dining area was well lit.

As fast/fresh casual restaurant frequenters will recognize, you pick your option, soup, bowl, or sandwich, and work your way down the line customizing your order. If you prefer, you can go with the established favorites as an alternative.

I went with the staff favorites, chicken banh mi and the pickled peanut pork bowl. On the side, I was told to try the tofu cheesecake and the ginger lemonade, so I didn't deny those extras.

The pork bowl had white rice, brussel sprouts, braised pork, peanut sauce, pickled red onion, scallion, cilantro, and roasted peanuts.

The tart and tender pork was perfectly braised, and melted when picked up with chop sticks, or pushed around to scoop up some of its compatriots. It was a filling and quite delicious bowl, with a variety of flavors and textures to keep you interested. I would eat a lot of lunches here.

The chicken banh was small but well done, with teriyaki chicken (a total guilty pleasure of mine), hoisin mayo, cucumber, jalapeño, pickled red onion, and cilantro. Ask for extra mayo on the side, and add some chili sauce if you want to spice things up. At less than $7, this was a great quick meal, and the portion size will keep you honest. Enough to be full, but they certainly won't be rolling you out of there.

All of the veggies were fresh and crunchy, and I loved the pickled red onions.

A surprise was the tofu cheesecake. Thankfully it was served in a small container, not because it wasn't delicious, but because I was so full. I was pretty shocked with this tofu-based dessert being so delicious, it had a sour and sweet play going on that was addicting. I would definitely recommend checking out this local "Chiptole of Asian" for a quick and cheap lunch or dinner, especially if you are craving something fresh and healthy-ish.

Hai Street Kitchen

32 South 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 964.9465
Website

After many recommendations from a handful of my Center City cube-monkey friends, it was about time I gave this place a try. Known for their enormous sushi-style burritos, it was the perfect healthy meal to grab before getting on a flight to Chicago where I saw far too many hot dogs in my near future.

Simple fresh flavors: items definitely not available in terminal C at PHL.

Everything is prepared to order and there's a selection of house recommendations, but you can also build your own from the expansive selection of Japanese-inspired burrito fillings. I felt like I was at a fancier Chipotle fusion eatery.

The oversize rolls carried pretty well, considering they went from 18th & Market via Septa to the airport, through security, etc. Let's say it was just shy of an hour in transit before the unveiling...

I was short on time and full of hunger, so I couldn't waste any time selecting my own combination of ingredients, so I went with two of the house specialties. First up was the Hai Satay with grilled chicken, spicy peanut sauce, romaine, cucumber, carrot and pickled jicama. It was supposed to come with grilled zucchini, but I totally squashed that. Get it?

AND asked for extra peanut sauce. It was exceedingly fresh, full of flavor and easy to eat without making a mess, which is a recurring problem for me. Especially when I request extra sauce for nearly everything on the planet.

Second up was the Chili Citrus Pork with salsa verde, romaine, carrot, red cabbage and pickled red onion. I was thrown by the salsa verde, so I asked them to skip it and add the gochujang and spicy mayo instead. They were much obliged and catered to my every substitution. They even threw in the extra sides of ginger miso dressing and the spicy mayo at no extra cost. I'm pretty sure the salsa verde would be unwelcome in this combo, so if you do try it that way, let me know how it goes.

The pork was perfectly tender with not one chewy bit. The ingredients melded together so well and maybe it was the time they had to set, but no matter, when I'm craving a big fat burrito I won't mind subbing in the healthier version of a mega seaweed roll every once in a while. Maybe every 4th.

Cho Cho San

2018 Hamilton St,
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215) 557-1919
Website

In a moment of weakness, while I was hitting Rite Aid for some Claritin, I decided to get some Japanese food because I didn't feel like doing the Whole Foods thing and I had just had a Wawa the night before...

Enter Cho Cho San. I'm going to keep this one short and sweet, even though nothing about the experience was sweet, save for the salad. And that's saying A LOT.

The lunch specials are severely overpriced and I should have walked away when I noticed page after page of the menu changing cuisines. From American-Chinese, to sushi, to Korean, to Japanese and then some, this place just needs to pick an identity.

The salad was by far the highlight of this sad, depressing meal. Your standard ginger-sesame dressing on iceberg with shredded carrots is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. If anyone has a recipe for this stuff, please do share. I try to replicate it at home, but it's never as good as the real thing. I'm pretty sure it's miso paste that gives it the umami, but I've yet to try it - this stuff is like crack.

And then there was beef teriyaki. Listed at $9.95 with tax $10.75. I received 7 bite-sized pieces of mediocre beef, not even thinly sliced. 2 pieces were so chewy I had to spit them out. See those udon noodles under there? I thought it was a pleasant surprise too! Oh, I'm sorry, did I say noodles? I meant one-thousand raw onions.

No thank you. Terrible on so many levels. Forget I ever went here.

Ramen Boy

204 N. Ninth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
267-687-1355

Ramen Boy has been one of the most anticipated openings in recent Philadelphia history. While New York is known for its incredible ramen joints, we have been all but void of this soul satisfying broth and noodle mix (besides a few pop-up places here and there). Keep in mind that real ramen is not the $.25 noodle and spice pack that college students notoriously survive off of, but a rich and complex bowl of broth, noodles, a bit of meat and often a few other adjuncts.

The interior is almost entirely wood, with everything from the seats to the floors to the walls looking rather sleek. Unfortunately the romance is lost when sitting on the backless benches that attempt to be cool, but instead are literally more of a pain in the ass.

There is an open kitchen with all kinds of awesome equipment, and it does make for an interesting atmosphere.

Each table is stocked with the essential Japanese "doctoring up" condiments, my favorite being the chili oil.

The menu offers much of the same on each side, with four featured styles of ramen.

I went with the beef and cheddar "cheesesteak" gyoza. These dumplings are cooked on a special grill that steams them while crisping the bottom. At $6 an order, these were the best part of the meal. They are served with a variety of dipping sauces, two spicy, two sweet. The wasabi is quite tasty, as well as the other spicy one (orange) on the end.

I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever had/seen cheddar cheese sauce on my chopstick. I liked it.

After the dumplings came the ramen. I went with the miso and spicy beef varieties.

The spicy bowl is ten-spice oxtail broth with bean sprouts, ribeye, and jalapeno, in addition to the noodles. This is a delicious and satisfying broth. I added a bit more spice in the form of chili oil, but overall I was a big fan of the beefy, spicy liquid. However, the meat that was served with it might as well have been shoe leather. I was hoping for a meltingly tender bite of steak, but was left tearing at the tough pieces of meat before I gave up and ate around it. The noodles and soup were good together, but I couldn't help but feel cheated. It was a $13 bowl of soup, after all.

The miso ramen is made with miso paste and sake, and served with hard boiled egg, noodles, sprouts, and corn. This ramen base was flat out bland. As much doctoring as I could muster was necessary to make it taste more than faintly like miso soup. I understand the intricacies of Japanese cooking, and simple, subtle flavors are often key, but in this case, it wasn't cutting it. I also couldn't get a read on exactly what pieces of chicken were in the soup. There were thighs, but also some strange parts that were chewy and less than appealing.

The corn also threw me for a loop. I couldn't help but feel it was out of place, and it certainly didn't add anything to the dish.

By the time the bill came, I was pretty unhappy. For starters, my ass hurt from the ergonomically incorrect divots in the bench I was sitting on, and, to follow, the fact that I was paying over $40 with tip for six dumplings and two bowls of miso (for lunch!) was outrageous. That's well above what I consider acceptable for Chinatown eats. With so many delicious soup places around Ramen Boy, I can't see myself paying that kind of money for noodles in broth with questionable meats. I understand they just opened and they need time to get their act together, but even taking that into consideration, this just didn't live up to the hype. You can see what Midtown Lunch thought of it here.

Minado

2917 Swede Road
Norristown, PA 19401-1335
(610) 277-7375
Website

Apparently, Minado stands for "heaven" in Japanese, because that's about how it felt when I arrived there. Now I have been to MANY all you can eat sushi places, but this one topped them all, in both variety of sushi, and the cornucopia of other food available. Like an Asian Fogo de Chao, with specialty sushi rolls thrown in for good measure.



It's in a shopping mall, and next to a liquor store (they serve alcohol but apparently you can bring your own if you want, but they also serve alcohol?) and looks like a supermarket from the outside. Once you walk inside, you will realize it is much more of a casino feel, than a supermarket.


Its seriously crazy how many items are on the menu. Everything from specialty sushi rolls, to a long bar of different cold sides, sweet snow crab, raw oysters, and on to the hot bar. After that you can make your way over to the made to order hibachi and crepe area. To finish it off, a large bar of desserts, cut into small squares because they know that you have eaten well over your threshold of calories for the week (at least if you are me). You will then begin to gorge on these delicacies, and eat so, so, so much food. When I was finished, I ate another round of sushi before waddling over to the dessert bar for some green tea cheesecake. Below you will get an idea of a small portion of the Japanese delights available. Sashimi, steamed pork buns, fried oysters, teriayki beef, calamri skewers, raw oysters, shumai dumplings and coconut shrimp. Seriously. This was one of about eight plates I ate (literally).


I caught the crepe guy by surprise.


Get in line and have your every culinary desire (as long as it's Asian) granted.

The specialty rolls are made as fast as the sushi guys can crank them out, but they still took great care to make them well. The turnover is so fast due to the shear size of this place that everything was fresh. I recommend going on a weekend night, as it's easy to get a table as the place is huge, and they will be keeping all of the offerings fresh with the volume turnover. It runs $30 for dinner per person, but they were having a special where it was $25 for each of us. It's also quite fun to go with a group, as it's easy to split the checks up and you can compete for the strongest person (aka biggest pig) at the table. I handily strolled over the finish line before I even got my final plate of sushi.



The place is seriously so big inside that you burn some of the calories you take in by walking back to the buffet, or so I like to think.


As another dessert, I asked them for a handroll, after seeing the sign above the sushi area. They make them to order, and really hooked up the fish.



The hibachi and crepes like the hand rolls are made to order, with a variety of options. This place is so awesome, too bad it's in Norristown. We were all expecting them to come and say that it was a joke and we actually all owed $100 a piece. No such thing happened. Bottom line, I am not saying it's the best sushi I have ever had, but it's just as good as most of the sushi in the city, and you have SO MANY other options that it's just about perfect. I can't wait to go back.