Lunch and a holiday show at the Comcast Center

During the holiday season, visitors throng the wood-paneled lobby of the Comcast Center to watch the popular Comcast Holiday Spectacular, a 15-minute show on the lobby's enormous LED video wall. Underneath the holiday dazzle is a food court that is as diverse as Philadelphia.

The Market and Shops at the Comcast Center, located at 1701 John F. Kennedy Blvd., provides a hungry customer with a world-wide assortment of food from Japanese to Mexican as well as fare from some of Philadelphia's most well-known institutions, like Di Bruno Bros. and Termini Brothers.  There are 10 eateries in all. 

Mike Steaks offers the ultimate hometown choice—the cheesesteak. You'll spend $6.90 for a plain steak or $7.40 for "cheese wit."

"It's just as good as Geno's or Pat's steaks," said Patrick Shank, '15, who said he happened to stumble upon the food court after taking in the light show upstairs.

If you are in the mood for Asian cuisine, check out Tokyo Sushi.  Try the Philadelphia Roll which consists of cream cheese, smoked salmon and cucumber for $7.

Did the moon hit your eye like a big pizza pie? Well, LaScala's brick-oven pizza is the amore that you are looking for. You can buy traditional cheese pizza by the slice for $3, a small pie for $9 or a large pie for $15.

The Philadelphia chain, the Mexican Post, has an express station where you can buy restaurant favorites. Two soft tacos with lettuce, cheese and salsa and your choice of marinated meats and fresh vegetables is $4.95

If you are looking for a cold remedy in the middle of winter, check out Au Bon Pain or the Philadelphia favorite, Di Bruno Bros., which both offer an assortment of hot soups and sandwiches and, of course, cheese.

If you are feeling more under the sea than under the weather, try Under the C Seafood which serves fresh cooked seafood. They have mini lump crab cakes for $2 each and jumbo crab cakes for $7 each.

After seafood, head on over to Hook See's produce, where you can buy a fresh fruit salad ranging from $5 to $8.

Mango, all berries, pineapple, watermelon, kiwi, honeydew, grapes and cantaloupe are all of the options that you can include in your salad.

Termini Bros, your sweet tooth's best friend and another Philadelphia institution, has gold medal pastries including their famous hand-crafted cannoli.

The Market and Shops at the Comcast center is accessible by two different entrances. You can go into the Comcast Center and walk down the lobby stairs and the market is directly ahead.

The other option, if you just got off a train at Suburban Station, is to walk through the station to go directly to the food court.

The Market and Shops are open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The Market and Shops are closed on Sunday.

Whatever your choice for lunch or dinner, don't miss the holiday show upstairs. 

"My friends and I saw the show last year and we stood there literally for 10 minutes arguing whether it was a screen, a projection or a wall," said Alison Joyce, '12, "We all had no clue. That's how real it was."

The Comcast Center's Holiday Spectacular runs on the top of every hour from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; however, on weekdays, it does not run at 5 p.m.  The last show of the season is on New Year's Day.