CONTACT:

Cara Schneider

GPTMC

(215) 599-0789

cara@gptmc.com

Cara O’Donnell PA Dutch CVB (717) 735-0311 codonnell@padutchcountry.com

 

FROM CHEESESTEAKS TO CHOW CHOW: EATING IN PHILLY AND LANCASTER
Dining Options Range From Plain To Fancy, And Local Delicacies Are Key

Philadelphia, May 17, 2004 — Pennsylvania’s culinary map is dotted with restaurants in historic inns and city storefronts, and with chefs who mix their magic with local recipes and world cuisine. In Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, what constitutes a great meal depends on the mood of the diner. On the streets of Philadelphia, a satisfying dining experience may consist of a hearty cheesesteak, the city’s most famous delicacy, or a sophisticated meal in the super swanky Fountain Restaurant, located in the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia. Visitors to nearby Pennsylvania Dutch Country will also find a smorgasbord of dining options from local favorites such as chicken potpie and shoofly pie at one of the region’s many family-style restaurants to seafood and steaks at an intimate historic inn.

Philadelphia and Its Countryside

Though it’s best known for cheesesteaks, hoagies and soft pretzels, Philadelphia is one of the best dining-out towns in America, according to Esquire magazine restaurant critic John Mariani. In South Philadelphia, family-owned Italian trattorias dot the landscape of row home-lined streets, and in Chinatown, wall-to-wall Asian restaurants keep the sidewalks bustling with visitors. On Walnut Street’s Restaurant Row, upscale eateries and outdoor cafes line the pavement, while in Northern Liberties and University City, casual upstarts have made these developing neighborhoods epicenters of eating.

Some of the most satisfying meals are dished out in the city’s affordable Bring-Your-Own-Bottle establishments (that’s BYOB for short), where passionate chefs who honed their skills in other great kitchens set out to make a name for themselves. Django, Chlöe and Matyson, in particular, have generated lots of buzz with their creative food and cozy settings. But Philadelphians can be equally satisfied with a juicy cheesesteak from Pat’s, Geno’s or Jim’s, or with a hoagie – the local version of the Italian hero or submarine sandwich.

Among Philadelphia’s culinary stars are chefs Marc Vetri, Susanna Foo, Joseph Poon and Jean-Marie Lacroix, all of whom preside over their own eponymously named restaurants. Celebrity chef Georges Perrier, who wins national kudos for his world-class French cuisine at Le Bec-Fin, now owns three restaurants, while businessman Stephen Starr presides over an empire of nearly 10 (and counting) high-concept restaurants known for ultra-chic design and culinary exploration. Starr has attracted national chefs to Philadelphia, including Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. At Starr’s Asian-inspired Pod and Buddakan and Mediterranean-style Tangerine, exotic food is served family style, as it is at many Lancaster County restaurants.

For years, Philadelphians have been venturing to Bucks County and the Main Line to broaden their dining horizons. Recently, Philadelphia chefs like Peter Gilmore and Alison Barshak have found greener pastures in West Chester and Blue Bell, respectively, and they’ve put these suburbs on the food map.

There are surprising instances of culinary cross-pollination between Philadelphia and Lancaster. At Coleman Restaurant at Normandy Farm in Blue Bell, celebrity chef Jim Coleman, host of National Public Radio’s A Chef’s Table, offers country comfort food like Amish cheddar mashed potatoes and a Lancaster dumpling sampler, while at Doneckers in the heart of Lancaster County, Greg Gable, former chef de cuisine at Le Bec-Fin, serves nouveau French-American cuisine.

Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Although Lancaster County has its share of gourmet restaurants, the hearty Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, made with ingredients from the bounty of local farms, draws the biggest crowds. At all-you-can-eat restaurants like Plain & Fancy Farm and Good ’N Plenty Restaurant, diners sit at long tables with new friends and pass heaping platters of chicken pot pie, roast beef, baked ham, dried corn, mashed potatoes and buttered noodles – and that’s just a short list. Entrees are accompanied by chow chow, a mixture of vegetables preserved in a vinegar and sugar dressing, and followed by bakery-fresh apple dumplings and shoofly pie. At Miller’s Smorgasbord, buffet tables are laden with regional favorites. On Sunday, the bountiful breakfast buffet here includes local favorites like cream chipped beef and scrapple. Those who still can’t get enough can fill their grocery bags with regional goodies from Lancaster’s Central Market and roadside produce stands along country roads.

Throughout the county, restaurants in historic hotels dish out equal servings of cuisine and character. The 19th-century lager-era Bube’s Brewery complex in Mount Joy offers a variety of settings: fine dining in a Victorian-era hotel, steak and seafood in the aging cellars 40-feet below ground, a tavern menu in the original bottling works and an outdoor biergarten. At the Cameron Estate Inn, the 1805 mansion of Abraham Lincoln’s first secretary of war, a French-trained chef serves elegant dinners in historic dining rooms. The Log Cabin, built in the woods as a speakeasy in the 1920s, continually wins accolades for “the best steaks” and the “most romantic” setting, and downtown, diners enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and history of The Pressroom Restaurant. The Revere Tavern, where Stephen Foster wrote Oh, Susannah, was considered the state’s best roadside tavern in its day, perhaps starting the Lancaster County tradition of satisfying diners with food that’s both good and plenty.

ADDRESS BOOK
Dining In Philadelphia And Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Philadelphia and Its Countryside

Pennsylvania Dutch Country

 


For travel package information, visitors should consult their AAA travel counselor or visit www.gophila.com/AAA or www.padutchcountry.com/AAA. 

The AAA state cooperative campaign is a multi-year program designed to encourage automobile travel in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Collaborating with the Pennsylvania Tourism Office are the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB) and the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau.

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The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), Philadelphia’s regional tourism marketing agency, is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to building the region’s economy and positive image through tourism and destination marketing. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, call the new Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676, or visit www.gophila.com.

Note to Editors: For photos of Greater Philadelphia, visit the photo gallery of www.gophila.com/pressroom

 May 2004

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