New Lunch Options: Brodo, Le Petite Cafe, In Riva

Chef Patrice Rames at Le Petite Café

By Danya Henninger

While we await the reopening of white tablecloth Le Bec-Fin, where Nicholas Fanucci plans to serve a $55 prix fixe luncheon (as well as an area-high $150 dinner tasting), several other ways to sate your midday hunger have popped up around town.

Brodo is a soup-centric quick-serve option now open in the United Plaza Building. Catering to the financial district lunch crowd, the menu offers steaming bowls of broth in 10 changing styles and three sizes - each custom finished for each order - as well as a dozen classic sandwiches and assorted salads and snacks. Most of the menu is $10 and under, and the storefront is open 11 AM-8 PM weekdays and 11 AM-5 PM weekends (31 S. 18th St.; 215-977-7766).

Chef Patrice Rames has been running French fine-dining Bistro St. Tropez for nearly 25 years now, and this month he moves into more casual, daytime fare with the launch of Le Petite Café. Located just inside the Market Place Design Center beside the Schuylkill (where his bistro takes up the top floor), the casual shop will offer an assortment of pastries, egg sandwiches, quiches, salads and coffee drinks, with prices ranging from $2-$7. Some of the baked goods (Madeleines, for example), will be made in house; others will hail from well-loved Au Fournil (8 AM-5 PM, Monday-Friday; 2400 Market St.; no phone).

A bit further up the river, lunch will be served at East Falls’ In Riva starting May 15. Chef-owner Arthur Cavaliere will serve a good portion of his menu of Southern Italian favorites, including salumi, cheese, salads and, of course, brick-oven pizzas. A special will combine a soup or salad with a Neapolitan pie for just $16 (11:30 AM-2:30 PM; 4116 Ridge Ave.; 215-438-4848).