Celebrate the season with the pleasures of the table — now and all year, too.
‘Tis the season for family, friends, festivity—and food… glorious food.
So often the centerpiece of celebration, food and the pleasures of the table underscore special moments in our lives. Around that table, enticing aromas and new flavors, conversation and banter, satisfy hungers for more than just nutrition.
A capstone dining experience can be an adventure into another culture, an expression of farm-to-table philosophy or an exploration of creatively combined flavors that sear new tastes into culinary memory. Dinner in a well-appointed historic inn or at a table with a river view encourages slowing down, sharing good food and time with those most important in our lives.
These pleasures of the table draw us to them, wherever they may be. While the Lehigh Valley offers great dining experiences, occasionally culinary adventure entices us further afield. When the need for gustatory excitement strikes, many delicious options await within a one- to one-and-a-half-hour drive from the corner of Broad and Main streets in Bethlehem.
Keep this gastronomic guide for those times you’re searching for a special place to savor the flavor of life. It’s our holiday gift to you—a gift that will keep on giving throughout the year. Your taste buds, and your family and friends, will thank you for it.
Lederach Corner Store Piano Bar
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In the 1800s, farmers went to the corner store in the small town of Lederach to buy feed for cattle. Today, instead of sustenance for animals, the Lederach Corner Store Piano Bar offers sustenance for people—fine food, specialty drinks and live music every night—in a romantic, intimate setting.
The boutique restaurant/lounge opened in June after three years of renovation, and already reservations on most Friday and Saturday nights are sold out.
Black wallpaper, marble-topped tables, brown velvet banquettes and art and photographs in gilded frames create a smart, sexy ambience. It’s “Manhattan in Lederach,” says Sara Picard, co-owner.
The dynamic small-plate cuisine changes seasonally, but crowd favorites are menu mainstays: fig and prosciutto flatbread with whipped ricotta, arugula and wildflower honey drizzle; chicken lettuce cups with sweet and tangy pulled chicken, julienne carrots, peanuts, scallions and bib lettuce; and seared scallops with charred corn tomato zucchini salsa and poblano pepper sauce.
Picard says she and co-owner Trish Parrish are bringing back “the old-school environment,” with the restaurant’s classy vibe and old-fashioned Ritz-Carlton service. Gentlemen are wearing jackets, patrons are getting dressed up and everyone is having a good time.
Drive Time 1 Hour | $12–$28 Small plates | Why go? Great date night.
701 Cross Rd., Lederach | 215.614.5550 | lederachstorepianobar.com
Black Bass Hotel
From the standpoint of character, Bucks County’s Black Bass Hotel has it in aces. Stone walls more than two-and-a-half centuries old mix with dark wood in the dining room, creating a quiet and casually elegant ambience that sets a stage for magnificent views through the wall of tall windows overlooking the Delaware River, the old D&R Canal and its towpath. Self-proclaimed as one of the oldest inns in the country, Black Bass is included in the National Register of Historic Places.
At a table by those tall windows, watching the river’s eddies run in swirls around the current is like a massage of the mind, sweeping away the stress and strain of a day. Add seasonal cuisine the likes of almond crusted barramundi with crispy cauliflower and Thai yellow curry sauce and spice-rubbed grilled pork tenderloin with tomatillo sauce and polenta fries—and it just doesn’t get much better than this.
Time your visit with Halloween to hear tales from the staff about the resident ghosts, or seek out a glimpse of your own. What fun.
Drive Time 53 Minutes | $32–$42 Dinner entrées $16–$23 Tavern pub fare | Why go? Location. Location. Location.
3774 River Rd., Lumberville | 215.297.9260 | blackbasshotel.com
Andiario
Talk about hitting the ground running. The same year Andiario opened (2018), it was named the suburb’s best new restaurant by The Philadelphia Inquirer. By 2021, the newspaper’s Craig LaBan included it in his Top Ten best restaurants in the city, and it made Philadelphia magazine’s annual list of the city’s 50 Best Restaurants that year. Then, in 2022, The New York Times named the 24-seat Andiario to its Restaurant List of 50 places in America “we’re most excited about right now,” because “the food is amazing.”
Despite all the attention, dining here still feels like going to someone’s home for dinner because everyone’s eating the same stellar meal. There’s an Italian sensibility to the way chef and co-owner Anthony Andiario approaches ingredients, working with local farmers, foragers and artisans, such as cheese makers, to ultimately shape the four-course meal that changes weekly and always includes Anthony’s renowned handmade fresh pasta. Co-owner Maria van Schaijik says, “We want you to have a sense of time and place when you come to Andiario—the season, what’s coming out of the ground right now, or what we have preserved to use when fresh products are scarce.”
Drive Time 1 Hour, 20 Minutes | $80 PP Fixed Price | Why go? See for yourself what all the buzz is about.
106 W. Gay St., West Chester | 484.887.0919 | andiario.com
Ground Provisions
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At Ground Provisions, vegetables—and only vegetables—approach haute cuisine, like the fare at Vedge, Philadelphia’s acclaimed vegan restaurant. No wonder. Vedge chef-owners Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby are the force behind Ground Provisions, launched in 2022 in an 18th century inn.
A winner of Food Network’s Chopped and six-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Mid Atlantic award, Landau was twice named “Best Chef in Philadelphia” by Philadelphia magazine. Jacoby is a James Beard nationally nominated pastry chef as well as a certified sommelier.
This “farm restaurant,” as Landau describes it, focuses on “what is growing out of the ground at the moment,” using local, organic ingredients and cooking methods that lean heavily on time-honored French and Italian techniques. Dinner in the intimate, eight-table dining room features five courses: bread, three farm plates, pasta, main and dessert.
Don’t cross this restaurant off your list if you’re not vegetarian or vegan. Landau says about 95 percent of the restaurant’s guests are omnivores who choose Ground Provisions because of the food’s quality. “We have changed many people’s opinions about plant-based dining over the decades,” he says. “Some people still think we are hippies making sprout wraps while we are stoned; I love changing their minds!”
Drive Time 1 Hour, 20 Minutes | $75 PP Fixed Price (Reservation Only) | Why go? Experience vegetables as the star of the show!
1388 Old Wilmington Pike, West Chester | 610.355.4411 | groundprovisions.com
Moya
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Pair a visit to Jim Thorpe with a dinner stop at Moya or a peek at its newly opened second floor cocktail lounge to cap off a stroll through this picturesque village. Better yet, make the trip north expressly for enjoying the restaurant’s minimalist sensibility and maximum-flavor fare.
Named for chef-owner Heriberto Yunda’s hometown in Ecuador, Moya makes its home in one of the 1840s hand-built townhouses on “Stone Row,” near the peak of the steep street. Bright, contemporary colors on the exterior foreshadow the interior décor—its bold colors a perfect backdrop for the paintings of artist Stephanie Verme, Yunda’s wife as well as Moya co-owner and manager.
Fusion fare weaves together Spanish, Italian and French cuisines in dishes such as beef short ribs with port wine reduction; seared yellowfin tuna with giant corn, cilantro and spicy tomatillo sauce; and roasted branzino with olives, tomato and basil. Yunda doesn’t follow rules when he cooks, he says, because “all that matters [is] what tastes good.”
Obviously Yunda knows good taste. After 17 years, Moya is still going strong, and many diners have become “regulars” who relish the restaurant’s fresh, homemade fare.
Drive Time 50 Minutes | $16–$45 Entrées | Why go? Unique ambience and character; a delicious way to end a Jim Thorpe day.
24 Race St., Jim Thorpe | 570.325.8530 | jimthorpemoya.com
Autana Authentic Venezuelan Food
Many restaurants succumbed to the pandemic, but Ardmore’s Autana—named for South American ancestral mountains—was born of those days. When Levi Hernández lost his job, he and family members decided to launch a restaurant that shared the foods of their native country.
What started as a pop-up in the Ardmore Station Café in 2020 led to their sit-down, café-style BYOB in 2022. Similar to Andiario, success came quickly with mentions in both The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia magazine.
Perhaps you know empanadas and arepas, but have you tried mandocas or patacon? The former (sweet plantains, cheese and sugar cane rings) and the latter (sweet or green plantain sandwich layered with meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, chips and sauce) take a cultural food experience to a deeper level.
Finish a foray into Venezuelan cuisine with Marquesa de Chocolate: a no-bake sweet of cookies layered with rich homemade pudding made with Franceschi chocolate (pure ancestral Venezuelan cacao)—a taste adventure worth an hour’s drive, for sure.
Drive Time 1 Hour, 10 Minutes | $60 PP Fixed Price (Four-course tasting menu) $16–$30 A la carte entrées $6–$20 Lunch/brunch | Why go? Explore the food of another continent… and chocolate!
4 Station Rd., Ardmore | 484.416.5843 | autanapa.com
Creed's Seafood & Steaks
After an afternoon shopping-till-you-drop at King of Prussia Mall, nourishment is in order. No need, though, to patronize the preponderance of chain restaurants in and around that hive of consumerism. Consider, instead, Creed’s Seafood & Steaks—independently owned since 1982.
Creed’s, practically within spitting distance of the mall, grew from an 1897 home built on 150 acres of one of the area’s first dairy farms. Some 30 years later, a retail dairy opened, and the establishment’s been serving food of one kind or another since then.
These days, Creed’s contemporary American cuisine offers starters such as baked Brie tart with Grand Marnier-macerated strawberries, caramelized onions and clover honey. Entrées feature, among others: cioppino; blackened barramundi and grilled shrimp; and venison loin or Lancaster ribeye steak with a choice of house made sauces such as sun-dried tomato chimichurri, lemongrass-ginger ponzu, cioppino-tomato coulis or brandy peppercorn.
This classy yet comfortable restaurant has received several Awards of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine, so toast a day of shopping with a glass of great sauvignon blanc—bound to ease the pain of that increased balance on your credit card.
Drive Time 1 Hour | $31–$49 Entrées | Why go? Great steak, great wine. Support locally-owned.
499 N. Gulph Rd., King of Prussia | 610.265.2550 | creedskop.com
Lark
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A star of Philadelphia’s Main Line, Lark opened in 2021 with a built-in pedigree: it was launched by Bravo’s Top Chef season 11 winner Nicholas Elmi, a former chef of Philadelphia’s storied Le Bec Fin. Chef Michael Millon, who worked at the Michelin-starred A Voce in New York City, runs the kitchen today.
The restaurant’s “coastal Mediterranean” cuisine opens the door to combine all sorts of flavors, says Millon, utilizing influences from Turkey and Greece, along with France and Italy, to feature seafood and fish-related dishes.
Millon’s daily fresh pastas have become a Lark signature dish. This explains why: think mushroom ravioli in mushroom stock emulsified with foie gras and butter, topped with a drizzle of mugolio (pine cone bud syrup), finally dusted with Parmigiano-Reggiano and marjoram. Oh my.
Lauded by both The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia magazine, Lark’s views of the Schuylkill River from the seventh-floor rooftop terrace are a value add to the innovative cuisine and modern but cozy décor with its velvet banquettes and lush greenery.
Drive Time 1 Hour, 10 Minutes | $11–$49 Appetizers $34–$59 Entrées | Why go? Seasonal, regional fresh fish; handmade pasta; river views.
611 Righters Ferry Rd., Bala Cynwyd | 484.434.8766 | larkpa.com
Birchrunville Store Café
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Birchrunville Store Café chef-owner Francis Pascal is clearly doing something right. Weekends are booked several months ahead here, and there’s a month-long wait for a table on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Ninety percent of patrons make reservations for their next visit while they’re dining at the restaurant. “When this happens,” Pascal says, “I know I have done my job.”
Originally built as a creamery in 1898, the café at the corner of Hollow and Flowing Springs roads in northern Chester County has also been a general store and post office. A rusty old gas pump outside points poetically to the restaurant’s past.
The café’s sleepy setting belies the fare’s sophistication. The 45-seat French/Italian fusion BYOB, with Asian influences as well, was established in 1999. In these winter months, the seasonal menu features a lot of game, which Pascal loves to cook, along with prime cuts of rack of lamb, beef and veal. Game includes wild boar, kangaroo, pheasant and squab. Venison carpaccio is popular. A recent house-made pasta selection, agnolotti stuffed with frog mousse with lemongrass, is just a hint of the creative cuisine the café offers.
Drive Time 1 Hour, 12 Minutes | $9–$13 Appetizers $34–$36 Entrées (Cash and check only) | Why go? Where else can you sample kangaroo?
1403 Hollow Rd.,Birchrunville | 610.827.9002 | birchrunvillestorecafe.com
Gracie's 21st Century Café
Not even five minutes from Route 100 near Pottstown, Gracie’s 21st Century Café feels far removed from the speedy lanes of a busy thoroughfare. It’s just one of the incongruities that tells the story of this unique restaurant. Part of its stucco farmhouse home hails from the 1700s, yet, atop that old roof, the pink neon “Gracie’s” sign shouts 2023, shining like a beacon among Berks County’s hillsides.
Inside, neon lights energize the bar, but tables well-set with white cloths and linen napkins, along with well-placed art, create an air of slow-paced elegance.
There’s integrity in the globally influenced, modern American cuisine, says chef Andy Madden, meaning no shortcuts in the dishes served from Gracie’s from-scratch kitchen.
Well-loved specialties like Jamaican crab bisque have been on the menu “forever,” he says. (Named for executive chef-owner Gracie Skiadas, the restaurant opened in 1988.) Now, as winter sets in, more season-specific offerings such as wild boar tenderloin and elk chops served with homemade ravioli give diners reasons aplenty to slow down, linger by the fire with a martini and fine food, and forget about the road (and the world) speeding by just outside the door.
Drive Time 1 Hour | $31–$48 Entrées | Why go? Great food. Great vibe.
1534 Manatawny Dr., Pine Forge | 610.323.4004 | gracies21stcentury.com
Published as “Destination Dining” in the December 2023 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
