Little Cub Eats: Penn Kebab

Penn Kebab 418 E College Ave

Ease Of Access: 10/10

Penn Kebab is right across the street from South Halls!

Bank Account Happiness: 75%

Yeah, it was good, but it wasn't that good. It was just beef and rice. It's also not a bad price overall, I'm just cheap.

Big Group or Study Spot?


Neither. Penn Kebab is perfect for grabbing a quick bite to eat. There are a few tables outside, but we walked our boxes back to the hub for a drink and some chairs.

The Food

There's a bit of a back story required for this time around. All three people (mom, dad, and me) from my family have been to Germany, although not the same place and not at the same time. My dad and I are suckers for a good gyro, and have both have separate experiences with the wondrous Döner Kebab that has grown in popularity since the immigration of Turks to Germany in the 60's. So, when I suggested we get kebab for dinner, we were expecting something resembling this:

Now, as with anything you form expectations for, there is always a chance for disappointment, and this is why it is important for you to be in our brains leading up to our arrival at Penn Kebab, to hopefully bring understanding to the slight saltiness I feel towards this meal.

Penn Kebab, as we have discovered, does not serve anything of this sort, the closest being their

Kebab Box with beef and white rice

Kebab wraps (which, admittedly, look pretty good). We scrapped our original ideas of what to order and chose seemingly the next best thing: the Kebab Box. This box comes with your choice between beef or chicken kebab (another disappointment as we hoped for lamb meat) and either fries or white or yellow rice. Nothing else (aside from yogurt sauce).

Putting aside our preconceptions of Döner Kebab, the Kebab Box is actually quite delicious. The beef is thin enough for someone as anti-meat as I am to enjoy and the rice tasted as if butter and lemon had been added. Along with the cucumber sauce, the box was significantly more flavorful than meets the eye.

Unfortunately, we all got the same thing, so I can't offer a review of any other items from the menu, but my mom got chicken and yellow rice and was equally satisfied as the rest of us. The drinks all seemed (since I wouldn't know) to be Turkish favorites, as we did not recognize any of the labels.

The man behind the counter was friendly, and the service was fast and right in front of our eyes. I would definitely recommend Penn Kebab as a quick meal, easy to grab between classes or on a lazy day-- the restaurant itself is nearby and the box makes it ideal to carry to wherever you are headed next.

Please do not be deterred by our initial disappointment, the food was rather delicious, and, in fact, as I'm writing this almost a week after I ate at Penn Kebab, I'm starting to crave another box.


Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mahmood/4603407465

Little Cub Eats: Bill Pickle's Taproom

Bill Pickle's Taproom 106 S Allen St.

Ease of Access: 10/10

Just a simple walk down college, a quick turn and you're there!

Lioncash+: Not Accepted

Bank Account Happiness: 95%

My grilled cheese was only $5.99 and most sandwiches range between 7-9 dollars. The burgers are averaged priced. Also, my dad paid, so I technically got free lunch (thanks dad).

Big Group Friendly or Study Spot?

Pickles is a Taproom and gets pretty crowded on nights and weekends as I've seen, so it will be difficult to effectively focus on homework.

The Food

Ok, so this restaurant isn't particularly exotic or different from typical pub food, but in my defense my parents were visiting. And the food was still good!

Top- Reuben, Left- Three Cheese Panini, Right- Grilled Cheese

I know what you're thinking: Kylie, you go to a restaurant with already familiar foods and you order a grilled cheese sandwich? With nothing on it? Yes, I'm sorry, but we all need a good grilled cheese every once in awhile. 

My favorite thing about grilled cheese sandwiches: they're cheap. My favorite thing about this grilled cheese sandwich: the chef used salted butter to grill the bread, adding an addictive flavor to the already stand-out flavor of the sourdough bread. The sandwich comes with American cheese, but don't be afraid to make this sandwich your own and ask for one of the other cheeses listed throughout the menu; I got cheddar instead. And, if you're among the type to think grilled cheese is too bland on its own, ham or bacon can be added for a small up-charge. 

So that was my super exciting sandwich. What must be noted, to give you a reason to choose Pickle's over another for grilled cheese, is the chips. When the waitress asks if you'd like chips or french fries, please, for the love of flavor and your health (Kylie, chips aren't healthy either), get the chips. Pickle's homemade chips are crispy, potato-y, and dusted with Old Bay seasoning. As someone who grew up getting homemade chips from the athletic club my mom used to work at, these were met with perhaps too much fervor. Paired with my salted grilled cheese, they were a little salty when eaten after an already salty sandwich, but the spicy crunch was worth the inevitable numb tongue afterwards.

Now you say, Kylie, there's grilled cheese in the hub for four dollars. Yes, I see you, I acknowledge Grate Chee. As a self- proclaimed grilled cheese connoisseur, I encourage you to take the extra steps and dollar to Pickle's. I've eaten a Grate Chee simple grilled cheese sandwich, and found it was far too large with far too much cheese. I don't know about you, but when there is more than about a centimeter of melted cheese on anything, I get to impatient waiting for the cheese to be sufficiently chewed, and instead end up with a thick lump of cheese lodged in my throat. So. Just go to Pickle's.

On the other side of the table was my mom's Three Cheese Panini. Or as my dad affectionately named it, "Gourmet Grilled Cheese". It's basically what it sounds like, three cheeses on flatbread with a pesto sauce for dressing. There were no complaints from that end of the table. 

Lastly, and least surprising based on the past 18 years of my life, my dad ordered the Reuben. Pickle's Reuben is special, however, in that it is a triple decker sandwich. Per my dad's explanation, "while the corned beef is not particularly piled high, I appreciate the thinly sliced marble rye as opposed to the typical inch-and-a-half bricks of toasted bread." I've never had a Reuben sandwich in my life, which, in hindsight, this could have been my opportunity, but once again there were no complaints from that end of the table.

Little Cub Eats: Green Bowl

Green Bowl 131 W Beaver Ave.

Ease of Access: 9.5/10

Green Bowl is a little farther of a walk, as it is a block behind College Avenue and is adjacent to Hammond Building, but on a nice night (like it wasn't), the walk isn't bad.

Lioncash+: Accepted

Bank Account Happiness: 85%

A lunch buffet (get the buffet!) is $8.99 while a dinner buffet is $12.99, so prices are fairly average for the quality and quantity of food.

Big Group Friendly or Study Spot?

Green Bowl is a happening place, feeling fairly crowded when the restaurant is full. The grill is crackling and everyone is enjoying the food and partaking in conversation, so definitely not a great place to get your peace and quiet while you write that english essay. This restaurant is perfect, on the other hand, to bring a group of friends! The food is great, they can split the check at the register, and there were a couple larger tables to accommodate several people.

The Food

In case you're wondering, the sticks indicate that
we have no food allergies, so the chefs know how
to prepare our food.

Let me start off with how much I love this concept: grab a bowl, select which veggies and noodles you crave, scoop the sauce of your choice into a small bowl, indicate which type of meat you want, and let them sauté it together on the grill. It's perfect for someone like me who loves Asian-style foods but hates token ingredients like cabbage and green peppers. 

My only complaint is that the sauces are unlabelled. They have a nice board showcasing their extensive selection of sauces and even describe the flavors to inform you which sauce would suit your tastes, but there is nothing on or around the actual sauces that indicates which is which. The board is super helpful-- includes flavor descriptions and even has a few sauces that are gluten free-- but it is rendered useless when you can't differentiate between a Sichuan sauce and Thai Sauce.

Other than the sauce dilemma, the food is great. Finally, I have found a restaurant that indulges my need to put mandarin oranges in everything I eat. My bowl also included mushrooms, baby corn, cucumbers, and shrimp. I wish I could tell you which sauce I had so I could warn you that it is extremely spicy. Thankfully I like spicy food, but for anybody who doesn't, this sauce was far too spicy to be tolerable. My belly can still feel the fire. Shu's bowl was of similar composition, but with cabbage and (possibly) peanut sauce.

I must mention that the service was a little slow. Perhaps it was because it was slightly busy when we first arrived, but there was only a few other people towards the end of our meal and we waited several minutes for our check. It wasn't too big of a bother, aside from the fact that I had sipped through my water in a blaze due to the fire-level of my noodles and I was sans water for a few minutes.

Despite the service, Green Bowl is a restaurant I will definitely return to. The concept is unique and the flavor is exceptional, even with perhaps two levels too much spice. The walk wasn't bad, and the atmosphere made for an exciting night out with my friend.

Little Cub Eats: Seoul Garden

Hello and welcome to the first post of Little Cub Eats!

In hindsight, I realized perhaps an explanation of the title was in order. So, here it is. During my first official visit to Penn State as a confirmed student at the university, my dad looked at me standing adjacent the Nittany Lion Shrine and stated, "My little cub."

So here I am in State College eating way more food than I should be. Thus: Little Cub Eats. Sorry for the severely underwhelming back story. If it's any consolation, my dad is very pleased with the title of this blog.

And now for the reason we're all here:

Seoul Garden  129 Locust Lane

Ease of Access: 10/10

Walking from Pollock to Seoul Garden took maybe ten minutes. The restaurant was easy to find, but strays just far enough from East College that I felt as if I was discovering a new part of town. There is also two mini marts within steps of the restaurant, convenient for grabbing some snacks or a few necessities on your way back.

Lioncash+: Accepted

I paid in cash, though, so use at your own risk.

Bank Account Happiness:  75%

Classic Kylie, my meal was the most expensive out of the three of us that ventured out to eat, raking up to about $15 plus tax and tip. The other meals averaged around $12, so a little less than my naturally expensive tastes, around what I would consider average for dinner at a restaurant. My bank account is 75% happy; my meal, all things considered, was average priced for a good dinner, but is far from a deal, or a price I would treat myself to more than once a month if I can help it.

Big Group Friendly or Study Spot?

Most, if not all, of the tables only sat around 4 people, so any particularly large groups are going to have trouble sitting together here. On the other hand, the restaurant was relatively quiet and the tables were quite roomy, so if you wanted to pull out a book and start studying, I would imagine you could get some good work done. It's most definitely quieter than the hub.

The Food

You say, "So it was easy to get to, I can pay with my I.D. card, your meal was fairly pricey, but was it worth it?" Certainly.

As the name suggests, Seoul Garden offers a wide selection of authentic, delicious flavors of South Korea and its neighbors. The menu featured soups, side dishes, noodles, stews, rice-- more food than I could have possibly tried on my first visit. I have been informed by a reliable source (read: Shu) of the authenticity of the foods, and take a look at any of the faces in the room to confirm the delightful tastes.

I had the pleasure to finally try the Galbitang I've yearned for since I learned about it:

The Galbitang, or beef short-rib stew with rice noodles and radishes, was quite possibly the best soup I've been blessed enough to devour (and I love soup). Admittedly, the beef was a little difficult to eat, as it came still attached to the bone, but once you get passed the initial embarrassment of picking up a stick of meat and bite into it unabashedly, the soup becomes the highlight of the dish. The broth is light, yet full of flavor from the beef and seasonings, complimenting the rice noodles and radishes well. Come with an empty belly, however, as the dish comes with two bones of meat along with the accompanying noodles and veggies. 

The Bibimbap, rice with vegetables and an attempted heart of ketchup (you tried, Shu), is definitely a dish I will have the next time I stop by Seoul Garden. Soft Tummies beware: this Bibimbap is spicy. If you're into a nice spicy meal, however, this is the one for you. The spices do not overwhelm the other flavors of the dish, as I find many token spicy foods tend to do, and the variety of vegetables add pops of color and flavor to the otherwise tasteless white rice. Such a hearty helping, too, is a good value, as I can barely finish one cup of rice, so this makes a good meal to share, or bring home to split into two.

The last dish, Seaweed soup, I, regrettably, did not get to try personally, but received good reviews from the friend that ordered it. This dish, from what I have observed, is a classic Korean soup, traditionally eaten on birthdays. The aroma was delightful upon being set on the table, and the stone bowl kept the soup so hot it was still bubbling when it got to us.

It must be mentioned in this review that the tables were preset with a spoon and chopsticks (the slippery metal kind!). I'm fairly acquainted with the daunting beasts also known as chopsticks, and I still struggled effectively transporting squiggly rice noodles from my bowl to my mouth. Forks are available upon request, though, if you want to be That Guy. Just as an FYI.

So, in brief summation, the restaurant was convenient, the food was delicious, and all-in-all, as a Supremely Not Korean Person, I was not intimidated in the slightest by the traditional aspects of the restaurant (is it wrong to be nervous about trying new restaurants knowing they don't sell food I already know I like?) This is definitely not an in-between-class lunch stop, however, as it is off campus and the service was on the slower side. The food was delicious, but the prices make this restaurant less appealing to my weeping wallet.