Food in PA

The rooms at this inn are plain and outdated but spotless. There are some things they could do to make it a better inn but think that most of their business comes from people passing through and just needing a place to sleep.

However there is a restaurant connected to the lobby, it is not affliated with the inn. The food is amazing. It is not your average American prices, however. It is pricy. But it is worth it. They offer high tea on Saturdays and champagne brunch buffet on Sundays. They have several trained chefs.

On Monday we shared our appetizers. DH ordered meatballs stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese and presented in a wild mushroom broth. I selected the spinach and berries salad. It was baby spinach tossed with fresh strawberrires, blackberries, raspberries and pecans, coated with an orange infused poppy seed dressing, scattered with toasted coconut. Sooo good!

Then we both had grilled ribeye topped with steakhouse onions with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Didn't care for the onions as they were too sweet. Steak was huge, as all portions always are in the States. No room for dessert.

Last night we went back as we had a "buy 1 entree get 1 free" coupons. Entrees average about $30, so as I said not cheap.

DH again ordered the meatballs and I went for the pan seared dry boat scallops plated around pressed beet risotto and a gingered carrot coulis. It was 3 huge scallops!! I then had the spicy orange-glazed duck with sweet and sour vegetable and rice noodle stirfry. Again the porton was ginormous. DH had lamb with a minted gremolata rub grilled and draped with a seasonal berry jus presented with a frangrant curried pistachio current pearl cous-cous and vegetables.

And on another note regarding food...we got up on Tuesday and decided to go sight seeing and hit the factory outlets. Planned to stop somewhere for breakfast. Pulled out in Kutztown and there was an old fashioned diner. We decided to try it. Imagine coffee was a $1 and and egg sandwich made with 2 eggs and bacon was $2.80. 1 fried egg with delicious home fries with onions and toast was a $1.80! I decided to splurge and try a Pennsylvania staple called scrapple as a side for a $1. Let's just say I tried it and it it wasn't bad. Just say I knocked it off the food bucket list.

What is it??

It's dictionary defined as "cornmeal mush made with the meat and broth of pork, seasoned with onions, spices and herbs and shaped into loaves for slicing and frying." The word, scrapple originates from "scrap" or "scrappy" meaning made up of odds and ends for that's exactly what it is—boiled, ground leftover pig scraps with cornmeal and spices thrown in. Scrapple lovers think of it as food for the gods. Anti-scrapplers consider it a culinary abomination.
Scrapple is the unique creation of the Pennsylvania Dutch, and therefore only quasi-American as the immigrants combined their German heritage with New World ingredients. The term "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a corrupted form of Pennsylvania Deutsche, mostly transplanted Rhineland farmers who worked hard and ate heartily. They are frugal people and many of their dishes make imaginative use of every part of the butchered hog's anatomy. Scrapple is one of them.