Warehouse Gourmet: Rustic decor and flavorful dishes make this Hanover eatery a great find

If you go

Warehouse Gourmet Bistro & Brew Pub

Location: 7 Pennsylvania Ave., Hanover

Cuisine: American

Jess' pick: Chicken breast and fresh tarragon cream with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and vegetable du jour, $19; organic raspberry iced tea, $3.50; pumpkin pie bar, $2.50

Parking: Lot and street

Hours: Downstairs bistro: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; upstairs pub: 11:30 a.m. to midnight Tuesday through Saturday

Price range: $1, small bag of potato chips; Chili Dusted Organic Scottish Salmon entree, $25

Alcohol: Several craft beer selections made on-site; wine available from Allegro Winery, Reid's Orchard and Adams County Winery

Accepts: Cash and credit

Takeout: Yes

Kid's menu: No

Details: Call 717-451-9898 or visit warehousegourmet.net

Have an idea for an On The Menu column? Contact Jess Krout at jskrout@gmail.com or find her on Twitter @JessKrout

Warehouse Gourmet started as carryout and delivery only. I remember heading there when it really looked like an abandoned warehouse – a narrow wooden staircase led to a cramped foyer where you could pick up food.

How times have changed in just a few years.

Owners Keith and Melinda Stambaugh added refined seating downstairs, then relaxed seating and a bar upstairs.

Keith's art decorates the place, which has been a cigar factory, ribbon factory, fine furniture manufacturer and more in its past 100-plus years

Exposed brick and spotlights give the space a rustic, yet contemporary vibe. If you're on a date night, a cubbyhole in the corner is an intimate setting.

While the menu has a few mainstays (the Dilled Tomato Soup, $4, is a savory classic), much of it has changed, adding Warehouse's own craft beer, for starters. An all-day menu features sandwiches, salads, appetizers and a few entrees; the pub menu includes personal pizzas, chicken wings, nachos; and the seasonal downstairs dinner menu spotlights entrees cooked up by newly hired chef Ty Lowe.

Lowe has about 30 years of experience in the industry, starting at age 12, washing dishes in his mom's restaurant in upstate New York.

He worked in Pittsburgh for a bit before arriving in Hanover in 1999; he's been in the area since.

Lowe said he's known the Stambaughs for some time, and they all decided he and Warehouse were a good fit. When he started, changes rolled out immediately.

"We started doing different specials, different appetizers," Lowe said.

Each week, a soup, sandwich, salad, entrees and desserts are featured.

"We're really specials-driven here," Lowe said. "People order things off the menu, but a pretty big percentage order the specials."

Lowe is planning a Chef's Table near the end of January to feature Warehouse's brews. He's also thinking about the new downstairs menu for the winter, which he'll unveil near the end of the month.

One of his favorites on the fall menu is the Chili Dusted Organic Scottish Salmon, served with pumpkin seed pesto, honey squash and sweet potato carrot risotto ($25).

When I visited on a recent Tuesday, I ordered the Chicken Breast and Fresh Tarragon Cream, served atop roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a vegetable du jour, which happened to be asparagus ($19). Before the main plate arrived, the server brought handmade bread in a woven basket with fresh, spicy-sweet butter; water in a wine bottle plus a glass of ice; and bottled organic raspberry iced tea I had ordered ($3.50).

A spring mix salad, included in the entree, arrived next with red pepper strips, croutons, halved cherry tomatoes, red onion slices and my pick of honey mustard dressing.

Though I've indulged in the chocolate chip espresso brownies before (and loved them), I couldn't resist the seasonal pumpkin pie bar ($2.50) -- half creamy pumpkin pie, half rich coffee cake -- for dessert.

The pumpkin pie bars are also on the menu for Warehouse's carryout Thanksgiving dinner -- order the entire meal or just a few sides -- that can be picked up the day before.

Or ask for delivery.

The restaurant still delivers 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday in the Hanover area.