Journey Thru Lancaster – Part 2

I woke up at 6am the next morning to make sure I got to the Achenbach bakery before 8am. The bakery itself opened at 5:30am but I figured it must be for the early morning trucker crowd and then the rest of locales would get there before 9:30: making 8am the perfect time for Vicky. I had wanted to try Achenbachs famous “long john” donut  due to their fanatical devout fan base. What was the difference between a “long john” and a regular donut? Was it like a cruller with frosting on top of it? I was hoping it wasn’t, but didn’t expect too much.

I left the hotel around 7am, got there at 730 and grabbed one of the LAST peanut butter long johns left (they also had it in chocolate, vanilla, and vanilla coconut long johns but I just love peanut butter). That’s right, the bakery looked like it had already gone through their big rush by 7:30am. Apparently, in Lancaster, PA opening up at 5:30am is like opening up at 8:30am anywhere else in the country. This took some getting use to during our entire trip and I’m not entirely sure we did it successfully. I also grabbed a glazed pretzel since I was all too curious as to what that would taste like.  Before I go  into the cute little eatery next to Achenbachs bakery, let me tell you my thoughts on their “long john”. It didn’t taste anything like I thought it would – the dough was very yeasty and chewy and the frosting was more creamy and smooth than anything else. It was beyond delicious. I could have eat 12 of them in one sitting had I the desire to gain 15 lbs. The glazed pretzel however was a letdown. It just tasted like a regular glazed donut – nothing special or “pretzely”. If you go down to Lancaster, please indulge in a peanut butter long john. You wont regret it.

Now to the cute little eatery next door – the Home Place Family Restaurant. This is solely a breakfast/lunch spot (closes at 3pm) with great small town feel that I stumbled upon due to my constant need to pee. I sat and watched the servers as I waited for my breakfast and they knew EVERY customers name! The breakfast  – egg white omelet with broccoli and home fries – was of course delicious. I’m almost positive its the only place in the area where you can get a healthy breakfast too, so after you get your long john walk a few more steps and make a stop here too.

After breakfast, we made our way to the Nissley Vineyards and Winery in Bainbridge (about 30 minutes from our hotel). We went early to do their self-guided vineyard tour, the grounds were just lovely – although it was still a bit too early to see the vines in bloom. The tour was brief but fun – I enjoy being able to walk around the grounds without anyone bothering me. After the tour, we made our way to the tasting room to sample some of the wines and I have to say – if you love dessert wines, they make lovely ones. The Spicy Red is like a cold Glühwein, rich with spices(cloves, cinnamon & orange) and fragrance. Their Grapeful White (which won Silver at the 2010 PA Wine Awards) is a delightfully sweet, light bodied wine and intensely grapey. Although I found this wine delightful, my husband claimed it was “cloying” so make sure to steer clear if you aren’t a sweet wine person. I did not try their 2008 Chambourcin (which was suppose to be their best red) but bought a bottle of it for the husband. When we crack it open, I’ll let you know how it is.

We left the vineyards early due to a pending thunderstorm and drove over to Porkys Place (after a stop at the Biggest Shoe House in the world – not my choice). Typical hole-in-the-wall BBQ eatery that served only pulled pork and smoked chicken wings. I was really excited about trying the pulled pork sandwich but since we left in a hurry, I forgot to use any of the sauces they had on the countertop. But I brushed it off thinking I wouldn’t need it – WRONG. It was only after we got back to the hotel we realized the sauces left on the counter were the ONLY sauces for the pulled pork. So basically I was left with a dry, unseasoned pork sandwich. Terrific. Why wouldn’t you at least season the pork?? It was greatly disappointing to say the least. The smoked wings weren’t bad though, a little too smokey for my taste and a tad dry but still – much better than the pork.

My BBQ disappointment left me craving fresh produce, so we made our way to the Bird-In-Hand Farmers Market. I was hoping to grab a few pieces of fruit and maybe some cheese – a lighter dinner than the night before. Walking in was a bit of an overload, fresh produce stands, pretzel booths, bakery stands, meats, cheeses, jams and jellies everywhere, etc. We stopped at the Hummers Smoked Meat and Cheese booth and lo and behold: TURKEY JERKY! Jenny immediately ordered 1/4 lb. of  jerky and while we were walking around the market – ate the entire thing. It wasn’t more than 20 minutes until we were back ordering the jerky again – this time 1/2 lb. Upon leaving we looked at our bags and noticed we had purchased nearly a pound of turkey jerky, a pint of strawberries, several apples, some horseradish cheddar, a whoopie pie, and some small jars of Aunt Ruthies Amish mustard. Sadly, the 4 different varieties of mustard all tasted the same to me: like honey mustard. Why would all of them be so sweet? Disappointing.

Check back here tomorrow to read Journey Thru Lancaster – Part 3, where we’ll visit Downtown Lancaster, the 200 year old Central Market, and organic restaurant Carr’s.

Journey Thru Lancaster – Part 1

On a whim, Associate Editor Jenny Ruvolo and I decided to take a trip down to Lancaster, PA for a 3 day weekend. She needed to zone out and remove herself from the city while I needed a palate cleanser.  I had heard some great things about a few new Lancaster restaurants and was excited to hang out with cows and sheep for a few days. Things were very different here than I remembered; but most of the changes have been for the good. So forget the Lancaster you think you know and take the journey with me through this wonderful area just a few hours away from NY.

We took the 2 hr Amtrak ride down and rented a car close to the Lancaster train station. This is a very comfortable way to travel if you can’t take your own car and relatively inexpensive too (about $60 for business class). However, I just have to mention that they are renovating the Lancaster Amtrak station and it’s currently in shambles. Plus, the Avis that usually sits in the station is no longer there so you need to call them and then they pick you up in the car you rented. I was kinda creeped out by this – not really ok with getting into cars with strangers. Sorry Avis.

After getting the car (and filling out the car rental paperwork on a laptop in a public garage), we checked in at the Courtyard Marriott and drove over to Kettle Kitchen Village down Old Philadelphia Pike to kill some time before dinner. The place is exactly what it sounds like: a little village of shops that sell you goodies and Pennsylvania Dutch trinkets. If you are driving past this place, make a stop and look around. If not, you really don’t need to make the trip. The one thing we did love at Kettle Kitchen was the turkey jerky and the birch beer at their Smokehouse Shop. We didn’t know it then, but turkey jerky would soon become the main theme of our trip. It was so delicious we ate the 1/4 lb before walking off the village grounds and vowed to return to the Smokehouse the next day to pick up more of the deliciously salted, dried meat sticks. Next stop: dinner time.

Something to keep in mind when traveling to Lancaster. Your schedule will odds are be very different from what you’re use to. A lot of the restaurants in the area outside of the city close around 8pm and the shops close even earlier so you may be eating dinner a lot earlier than usual. After some serious debate, we decided to visit the tried and true Good ‘N Plenty in honor of our late Aunt Dee Dee (lord knows just how many times Dee Dee went to Good ‘N Plenty but it was enough that even the smell of the restaurant made us think of her). Since we were both suffering from serious headaches and even a little nauseous from the jerky overload mere minutes before, we ate in the ‘Harvest Room’. Quick rundown: if you eat in the Harvest Room, you eat the harvest platters, which means you eat normally with your party. If you eat “family style”, you’re stuck at a huge table with strangers who want to talk to you all night and are subjected to large quantities of comfort food. Not like harvest platter portions are tiny, for $10 you get 2 pieces of chicken, 2 side dishes (corn, carrots, mashed, soup, salad, etc), and 2 DESSERTS. Yes, each person receives 2 separates desserts – this STILL blows my mind. The fried chicken was very good but not amazing and the side dishes were also very tasty; buttery carrots and fluffy mashed.  The only part that wasn’t good was the gravy, it didn’t taste like anything. How do you mess up gravy?? Its so easy to make?!! The desserts were just as homey: cracker pudding, blueberry cobbler, and the Lancaster favorite: shoofly pie. If you go, don’t get the shoofly pie like everyone else – its good but you’ll find it EVERYWHERE there  – get the cracker pudding. It was like someone mixed together homemade vanilla pudding, coconut fakes, and salty cracker crumbs for a delightful combination not to be missed. There are plenty of family style dutch restaurants in Lancaster to go to, but go to Good ‘N Plenty because its an institution down there. Everyone has to go at least once in their life.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s  Journery Thru Lancaster – Part 2, where we’ll visit the local favorite Achenbach bakery, the Nissleys Vineyard and Winery, Porkys Place, and the Bird-In-Hand Farmers Market.