Starving students should not review restaurants. Case in point: me. Having lived on an austere diet of Bui's "pasta," and Kim's Chinese food throughout the semester, for me to objectively review Pod's new take-out lunch menu seemed like an exercise in the absurd. Of course I am going to like it. Steven Starr, the owner of Pod, knew this, which is why his PR people sent over a tote-bag overflowing with sushi for me to sample and then write about.
The presence of Pod on campus is odd. A drink costs upwards of $10. It is too expensive for any student other than the "Gentlemen of 4000 Pine," or the my-new-Beemer's-out-front set. Perhaps that is why more than one student -- waging their own version of class warfare -- has dropped trou, pressed their butt-cheeks against Pod's windows, giggled at the look of horror on the Philayuppies' faces and then run like hell when one of Starr's henchmen came to chase them away. Always one to identify with the struggle of the proletariat, I must admit I was ready to pepper my review with phrases like "bourgeois crap," "trendy filth" and "a slap in the face of laborers everywhere."
Ya Basta! What about the food?
The items on Pod's delivery lunch menu undoubtedly composed the best meal that I have eaten all semester. Splitting two of the menu options -- the "assorted set" (#17, which included two each, nigiri with tuna, yellowtail, salmon, shrimp and eel, as well as a four-piece California roll and six-piece tuna roll; $24.00) and the "assorted rolls" (#18, which included a six-piece tuna and yellowtail scallion roll, and four-piece California, salmon avocado and eel avocado rolls; $21.00) -- with my sushi-savvy date, I was immediately blown away by the quality, taste and freshness. The tuna rolls melted in my mouth, the California rolls even tasted like California, and the eel (in both the avocado roll and in nigiri form) was fist-poundingly delectable. Having pretty much sampled the gamut of sushi places around Penn, I am confident that Pod's delivery sushi is the freshest and best prepared in the immediate vicinity. Honestly.
As a whole, the menu is surprisingly straightforward, and the food is prepared and served like any other sushi place (no odd combinations of fruit and fish, no excess decorations). The average individual meal runs from $13-16.50, the splitable sushi sets are $21-23, and the assorted platter (family-size) is $65. Separated from the ultra-hip restaurant and the annoyingly chic menu, Pod's delivery lunch is the perfect way to treat yourself or someone else to lunch without any bourgeois guilt. It's high-quality luxury food for the masses that doesn't feel or taste mass-produced.
