lunch UNDER THE C + honest tom's taco love

so, in an effort to eat a bit healthier this week, i hit up under the c seafood which is located in the market at the comcast center. i must say, though pricey (it is seafood after all), the options available to you are GREAT.

i think people didn't really understand this place when it first opened. you can buy fresh seafood there, and at first glance, it just looks like a specialty seafood shop. it seems like in the past year, they have made huge efforts to change this perception of their business - and it's a good thing for us all.

:: under the c :: 
address: 1701 jfk blvd, phila (in the market at the comcast center)
what i ate: grilled grouper + stuffed mushroom + cucumber and tomato salad
looking in the display case, you can see a smorgasbord if seafood delights. here, you can choose to get deep fried, grilled, pan-fried, seared fish/shellfish and also select from an assortment of veggies.  

as i mentioned before, this place can get a bit pricey, but it's not unreasonable at all. most of the items are weighed and all have different per weight prices associated with them. some things, like crab cakes or lobster cakes (!!) are priced per piece. for example, a mini lump crab cake was $3.00 each and a jumbo lump crab cake was $6.00. 


grilled grouper with fresh herbs
this fish was very tasty and didn't have that fishy leftover taste at all. the piece they gave me was HUGE. i couldn't finish it. they also had tilapia and halibut, but i enjoyed my grouper selection quite a bit.

crab stuffed mushroom
i find that people have difficulty making a good stuffed mushroom. i think they usually forget to salt the mushroom itself because you're so concerned with the flavor in the stuffing. under the c's stuffed mushroom was no exception, but the stuffing itself was super tasty. i ended up eating just the stuffing and leaving most of the mushroom cap.

cucumber and tomato salad: cucumber + cherry tomato + cilantro + red onion + minced garlic
this was AWESOME. i don't really feel the need to get excited about salad, or really, veggies (unless they are artichokes and brussel sprouts), but this was really good. the flavors really worked well together, with the brightness of the cilantro and the bite from the red onion. the minced garlic added that extra layer of flavor too. YUM. i would definitely go back for this.

since it's a wednesday, geo had actually walked to honest tom's taco truck to get the chicken tacos today. so as an added bonus, i'll fill you in on how the chicken and sweet potato tacos taste (i made him give me a huge bit of both)!

:: honest tom's taco truck ::

address: 33rd and arch usually, 18th and vine on wednesdays/fridays (get updates through twitter: @HonestToms)

what he ate: chicken taco, sweet potato taco
both tacos had the same toppings: guacamole, red onion, cilantro, shredded cheese, fresh tomato salsa. the chicken taco, is seasoned really well and tastes delicious. you can tell they take the time and effort to season the chicken properly even though it's going inside a taco with a lot of other flavors. geo claims the chicken is better than the fish, but i disagree.

the sweet potato taco was a surprise for both of us. it obviously had sounded very interesting, but i guess we didn't have very high expectations... well... it was a standout, for sure. they must bake the chunks of sweet potato, then grill it - it's the only way to explain the softness of the sweet potato plus the chargrilled marks. the sweet potato flavor and the guac go extremely well together- who knew?

i would rank the tacos in this order of preference: fish, sweet potato, chicken. but really, you can't go wrong with any of them.

as you can see, it was so good we finished most of it before actually thinking to take a picture. heh.