Foodsday Tuesday: Old City's Hidden Gem

Take a good look at this photo. Does it look like a place you'd be able to go for a quick, affordable lunch on a weekday, just a few blocks from major streets and public transportation? No?

Yeah, I didn't believe such a place could exist either. But it does, and it is glorious.

What is this amazing place, you may ask?

Why, it's Old City Cheese on Third and Race, where for seven bucks you can get a large serving of soup, a big gourmet sandwich, and some peace of mind. To hell with all the lunch spots charging as much or more for a cup of soup and half a chicken salad!

What's more amazing than the behind-the-counter lunch deal is that if you ask, the staff at OCC will meet you out back in their hidden courtyard (you have to exit the shop and enter another door, then walk down a narrow brick hallway) with your food and an old-fashioned bottle filled with ice water. There are only a few tables available outside, but I've never seen the courtyard crowded—perhaps a sign that I wasn't the only person who didn't know that it existed.

With high walls on either side and a tall tree providing shade overhead, the setting allows you to forget how close to the city you really are—unless an emergency vehicle drives up Third Street with its sirens on, you don't even hear the city traffic.

Old City Cheese also, as its name suggests, sells large quantities of fancy cheese; and, as the name does not suggest, brunch is available there on weekends. And if brunch is anything like lunch, I think it won't disappoint!