Franklin's Table - A Farewell to Taco Bell
Back in my first year at Penn I visited the Moravian food court at 3401 to sample the Nom Nom Ramen and was not impressed. Though conveniently located, I’d much rather make the walk up to Ramen Bar up on 40th and Locust for an infinitely superior product. After that, I don’t think I ever ate at the food court again, though I know the Taco Bell located there was popular with some of my friends.
The food court quietly shut down this past summer in a Penn led initiative to offer fresher, questionably healthier, and definitely pricier options to the student body. It recently opened back up rebranded as Franklin’s Table and I took the chance to check it out for lunch when my family rolled through Philadelphia one weekday.
The food court I remember is almost unrecognizable, what’s replaced the sad Quizno’s, taco bell, the greek spot I never saw anyone order at, is a super trendy, very upscale food “hall” which includes falafel sandwiches by Goldie’s, made to order pizzas at Pitruco’s, and even a sushi bar by Double Knot, among other options. I don’t remember the vendors, but there is also a juice bar, a sandwich shop, and an ice cream spot.
When we got there for a later lunch at 2 pm, the place was still bustling with students trying to order and snag seats. We were about to give up when fortunately a table vacated right by where we were standing. Between my mom, my sister, and I, we ended up getting a few things to share instead of 3 separate entrees. This time around we honed into the made to order pizza place, Pitruco's, and Goldie's, the falafel joint started by Solomonov of Zahav fame.
From Pitruco’s, we got a Margherita pizza, and from Goldie’s we ordered a falafel sandwich, fries, and a coffee tahini shake.
The most controversial item was the shake. Goldie’s tahini shakes have become pretty famous in the relatively short time they’ve been open, and I thought the shake was pretty great. It was super thick with the slightest hint of coffee, with heavy overtones of sesame and peanut butter. The coffee flavor came with cookie crumbles on top which were fun to eat once the shake itself was gone. My sister and mom were not as enthused about the shake. Neither of them are huge peanut butter fans, so makes sense they wouldn’t like the shake. Oh well, more for me.
The other items from Goldie’s were a hit. My mom especially loved the fries. Though the serving seemed a bit on the smaller side, the fries were the perfect mix of crunchy exterior with soft potato interior. They come with some sort of modified ketchup, which went really well with the spice mix they dusted on the fries, but something to note for the Heinz purists out there. The falafel sandwich was bigger than I expected - packed to the brim with falafel balls and pickled veggies. The pita was fluffy and delicious. I normally am not a huge falafel fan, but I would eat this sandwich for lunch any day of the week. At $7.50 it's a solid lunch time deal and very filling. The pita started disintegrating towards the end because of the sauce at the bottom and it got very messy to eat, so don't dawdle too much when trying to consume this thing.
The margherita pizza was also really good. The serving size is pretty generous, though at $12 it makes sense that it would be bigger than a standard personal pie. I'm not sure it would be quite enough food for two people to share, but if you got it for yourself you could probably save a bit as a snack for later. The crust was very thin and had a great chew and just the right amount of char. My sister and I wished they had put a little more fresh basil on it, but that was our only complaint. Overall, between sandwich, fries, and pizza, it was the perfect amount of food for the three of us and we really enjoyed everything.
I read this Phillymag piece that waxed nostalgic about how the closing of Moravian food court was the last piece of West Philadelphia in University City being lost to the tide of gentrification, but I honestly think that you’re delusional if you think 1) that anyone at that food court was making any money, 2) that Penn undergrads actually socialized with that weird homeless guy that sat in the corner muttering to himself, 3) that any place in University City stood a chance against the tide of gentrification. There are still cheap eats on campus like the plethora of food trucks so there’s no need to turn Franklin’s Table into a metaphor on how the capitalist machine ruins everything and "bratty Penn kids" don’t know enough about the real world. I wonder how many times the author of the article actually ate at the old food court — if it wasn’t at least once a week, he can go shove his “nostalgia" somewhere else because those of us who actually work and live in the neighborhood appreciate the addition of great lunch options.
TL;DR - Pricier than Tacobell, however also exponentially more delicious and won’t give you the runs for a week afterward. Falafel sandwich and pizza are both winners.
