Warm up this fall with these yummy bites
Fall is a good hearty meal to warm your soul on a cool night. It's heading to a local market for some seasonal food and vegetables and, yes, it's even grabbing a pumpkin spiced latte from a coffee shop.
Here’s the best ways to experience the aura of autumn in your food:
Head to a pumpkin patch or an apple orchard
Grabbing the freshest food at your local market is great, but eliminate the middle man for a minute and do the work for yourself.
York County and the surrounding areas are ripe with great apple orchards and pumpkin patches. Places like Flinchbaugh’s Orchard & Farm Market in Hellam allow you to pick your own apples and pumpkins all in the same place.
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“We definitely look forward to this (every year)...It's so much fun to see the joy on (children's) faces,” said Rebecca Krape, assistant manager at Flinchbaugh’s Orchard.
Feel like being lazy? Flinchbaugh's has their own bakery where you could pick up fresh-baked pies and breads instead of making grandma's pie yourself.
A ‘soup’er time of year
Whether it’s your grandmother’s homemade chicken noodle soup or a tasty tomato bisque, fall is the perfect time to sip on some soup.
“It’s thick, there’s lots of goodies in it and it just makes you feel warm and fuzzy,” said Joy Gillette, owner of Joy’s Café on W. Philadelphia Street in York.
Gillette’s restaurant serves a variety of savory soups, but the Kenny’s Crab Bake soup at Joy’s Café provides the perfect blend of fall flavor and York County’s love of seafood.
The soup includes crab meat, spicy sausage, sweet corn and baked potatoes. It’s named after a customer who suggested that the item might be good.
Not to be outdone, Crimson American Grill in York features a cream of crab soup certain to warm your soul.
“I think it’s better for fall than any other time of the year,” Crimson General Manager Nick Karandrikas said of the hit selling item.
Get that must-have pumpkin item
Tina Margetas, co-owner of Astoria Diner in West York, said around August she starts getting the same question from customers: "When are you going to have your pumpkin pancakes?"
The pumpkin pancakes at Astoria Diner are only available from Oct. 1 until Black Friday in November. The recipe comes from Margetas’ grandmother, who used to cook the popular dish when Margetas was growing up in Greece.
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“She made them on Sundays when we would get together,” Margetas said.
The pancakes are a shade moister than Astoria’s regular pancakes, which makes them a hit with customers.
Whether it’s Astoria’s pumpkin pancakes, a pumpkin spice doughnut from Fractured Prune in Shrewsbury or a Savory’s food truck pumpkin funnel cake, there are plenty of opportunities to pop some pumpkin in your diet.
Take in the view — and the food — at Wyndridge Farm
Wyndridge Farm fits all the fall food staples. The restaurant offers a variety of fall beers, pumpkin beers and ciders. In addition, it has a seasonal menu and a restaurant with large windows to view the fall foliage. Want to stay outside? It also offers a patio with seating near an outdoor fireplace.
Later this month, Wyndridge executive chef Matt Siegmund will release the restaurant’s fall and winter menu with plates like oven roasted duck and seared venison tenderloin.
A heavily requested item — their take on a loaded baked potato — will return to the menu. It’s a twice baked potato with cajun bacon and aged gouda. It’s served as a side dish with the restaurant’s strip steak.
Creating the fall menu takes about a month, Siegmund said. In September, he’ll write down the items on paper, then continue to revise and tweak the meals until the menu is finalized in early October.
“We go with the heavier dishes for the fall and winter,” Siegmund said.
The fall and winter menu will run until about Mother’s Day, Siegmund said.
Anthony J. Machcinski is the food and drink reporter for the FlipSidePA. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter, or email him at amachcinski@ydr.com.