Experience Mountainside Dining at Bear Creek

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Ski resorts are no longer one-season attractions. And that means that the restaurants that serve people who come to these places to engage in various activities—whether it’s skiing or wine and beer festivals or live music or yoga on the mountain or anything in between—have to be on the ball, all year round.

In fact, Bear Creek in Macungie is busier in the summer than you might imagine. And that means its restaurant needs to adapt to the changes of seasons and what diners want in January versus June, for example. (Hint: They still sit outside, even when it’s cold!) But the ski season is undoubtedly what they’re known for, and, of course, resorts can make snow even when Mother Nature doesn’t grace us with a blanket of white.

Partly, it’s a function of the fact that winters have become so unpredictable in Pennsylvania, and partly, it’s that families are looking for something to do all year round—and families are the crux of their business. People travel to Bear Creek from all over: Jeff Zellner, marketing and public relations manager, says as far as Baltimore and New York City, during the wintertime. “It’s like gangbusters with kids in here in the wintertime, holy cow,” he says. Fun fact: At Bear Creek, parents can sit at the restaurant and look outside and watch their kids learn to ski. At many other resorts, the kids are shuttled off somewhere out of view. “They can see what the kids are up to. It makes it less intimidating for families, especially if they’re new to skiing,” says Zellner.

The Grille Restaurant at Bear Creek offers a bit of everything in order to serve that diverse crowd all year round. Recently, the restaurant retooled its menu, the first significant effort in quite some time. Heath Houck, director of culinary, describes the fare as “American continental.” “It’s basically good, fresh ingredients prepared perfectly,” he says. It also happens to go heavy on comfort food, but that makes a whole lot of sense, especially when you think about the winter and what sorts of nourishing, warming things you’d want after a day on the slopes. The menu changes twice a year but there are specials every night of the week. This accommodates and rewards the local crowd, the repeat visitors every year and those who are just passing through, maybe for the first time.

“We have taken our offerings and have them appeal to a broad market,” he says. (And yes, that means they can easily accommodate any diet, including vegan and gluten-free diners. There was some talk of a chocolate polenta cake, too, which would be gluten-free.)

“But we always have people who are going to want crab cakes and steaks, no matter what,” says Houck. It’s understandable. These are items that are impossible to remove from a menu, crab cakes among them, which don’t have a lot of binding/filler in them. “We can go through 15 pounds of crab in four days,” says Houck. Burgers are mainstays, always, whether it’s the straightforward Bear Creek Cheeseburger, served on a house-baked bun, or the California chicken club sandwich, with bacon, lettuce, tomato, chipotle mayonnaise, avocado and Monterey jack cheese. It’s served on a toasted ciabatta with fresh-cut french fries. “If I removed that from the menu, people would come after me with pitchforks and torches and chase me down the driveway,” says Houck, laughing. It’s a long driveway. And all because of a chicken sandwich. Who knew? (The staff isn’t immune to it either; it’s something Zellner orders when he’s working.)

There are a few new items, and some tweaks to existing ones. For example, the calamari appetizer used to have a Thai chili glaze, but it’s been changed a bit. It is now known as the Avery Island Calamari, with honey, lime and Tabasco (which originates from Avery Island, Louisiana). “I just wanted to do it a little differently, and give it a name with a bit of personality,” says Houck.

Houck is a native of the Lehigh Valley and has cooked in a number of kitchens but has spent the last 10 years at the Grille. He fell in love with what he calls the “scratch nature of cooking,” but of course that’s not all. His explanation is unsurprising—and fairly common. “It’s really the whole vibe, the fast pace, the edge of uncertainty in the kitchen,” he says. (The fire, the danger, the knives—you just never know!) It’s definitely an environment for those with high energy, and Houck is animatedly among them.

Bear Creek is a local resort with a regional draw, but plenty of locals come here, too. And the idea is to not only serve the best that the restaurant can offer, but to also, when appropriate, serve local tastes, too. “My responsibility isn’t to bring you all the food from a 30-mile radius. My responsibility is to bring you the best-tasting food, and if that means I’m getting my beef from Creekstone Farm in Kansas, because it’s the best, then that’s the case,” Houck says. “I want to give you the best thing to eat. We have to lead people back to what tastes great.”

That doesn’t rule local products out at all. Resorts are always mixing it up and creating events to appeal to both guests and locals. So that means in the summer you’ll find lobster from Maine (2,500 pounds of it, says Houck, in one week in June). It also means the Grille offers an Amish-style roasted chicken dish, and a bacon-wrapped meatloaf. (“It’s still very meat and potatoes around here,” says Houck.) Pennsylvania beers, and wines, whether it’s Weyerbacher or Troeg’s or Clover Hill, feature prominently, too. In fact, Houck says the restaurant has collaborated with Funk Brewing in Emmaus for its very own, on-tap-only signature beer. At press time, it was still a work in progress. “We are not sure what it is going to be currently, but it will change seasonally,” says Houck.

Even other aspects of the dining experience at the resort, which isn’t really the focus here but bears mentioning, receive thoughtful treatment. The Mountain Eatery—which is a cafeteria, an often-overlooked destination at resorts, known more for sad soggy sandwiches and other commercially-processed food—is full of fresh sandwiches, salads and soups (including ramen). The dough for the pizza at the Trail’s End Café and Bar is made fresh daily. People ask him why he does it this way, but Houck doesn’t see a point in taking shortcuts. If the experience is good at all destinations (there’s a breakfast spot, too), it creates a continuity of experience for guests. “Often, the cafeteria is the first place people eat at when they are here, because it’s quick and they’re hungry,” says Zellner.

The philosophy of the kitchen is consistent throughout Bear Creek. “We’re not going to make it easy just because we can. We want to make it great—and great isn’t easy,” says Houck.

The Grille at Bear Creek

Bear Creek Mountain Resort | 101 Doe Mountain Ln., Macungie | 866.754.2822 | bcmountainresort.com  

Hours

Mon.–Thurs. & Sun.: 4–11 p.m.; Fri. & Sat.: 4 p.m.–12 a.m.

Parking

Large parking lot on the premises

Reservations

Locals will probably do best here during the week—not the weekends! Reservations are highly recommended during ski season on the weekends.

Payment

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover

What to Order

The chicken club sandwich, the calamari, the jumbo lump crab cake

Specials

Happy Hour Mon.–Fri.: 5–7 p.m., a special menu along with $2 off all draft beers and $2 off all house wines by the glass.