First, they’re missing Café Olé, on South Warren Street. This veritable coffee house serves breakfast, lunch and some of the best coffee around. Go in for breakfast and you’ll find artists, politicians, state workers, police officers, lawyers, lobbyists, merchants and other business people chatting away as they wait for their coffees, teas and breakfasts. My favorite: The breakfast wrap, scrambled eggs, potatoes, cheese and sausage wrapped in a hot tortilla. For lunch, try the vegetarian chili or any one of the freshly made sandwiches. Starbucks wants you to think it’s like Café Olé.

If you’re in a beef-eating mood for lunch, go the next block up from Café Olé, still on Warren Street, to Checkers. There, owner Tom Fowler cooks up thick burgers, cheese burgers, cheese steaks and grilled chicken sandwiches, among other things, from a desk-sized grill. (He’s got salads and a rotating family of specials, too.) Tom knows how to cook burgers: Order rare, you get rare. Ask for medium-well, that’s what he’ll cook. But, I think ordering the meat too well done here is a mistake. They form the patties fresh each morning, and it’d be a shame to cook away all their flavor. There’s a full bar with a modest but solid selection of beers, which is tough to resist with these bacon cheeseburgers, whether it’s lunch time or not.

If you’re looking for a more sedate lunch or dinner, try Setimo Cielo, around the corner on Front Street. Setimo Cielo (“Seventh Heaven”) serves classic Italian food in a quiet, comfortable and friendly atmosphere. Whether you prefer chicken marsala or ravioli, the food is consistent, fresh and expertly made. The bar features a wide range of wines from Italy as well as California. Be sure to pay attention to the appetizers and salads, which often put a creative spin on old favorites like hearts of palm or carppacio.

Finally, there’s the Archives at the Marriott Hotel, at the corner of South Warren and Lafayette Streets. Yes, Marriott’s a chain and, yes, I know we usually don’t write about chains. But the Marriott has become such an integral part of Trenton’s downtown community, it wouldn’t be fair to exclude it. The Archives bar hits all of our criteria for bars we like, with a friendly crowd, good bartenders and good food. The Archives restaurant offers buffets and full menus for breakfast and lunch, and an intriguing menu based on local recipes for dinner.

These are just some of the places to eat downtown. It’s not the long a drive, you know – and it’s a good place to eat.

What we found is the kind of store you want when wandering around Bucks County’s back roads: a friendly establishment with an inexpensive, varied menu of sandwiches and salads, made to order from fresh ingredients, and with space to linger.

Lynne ordered the reuben sandwich, a healthy stack of pastrami (some may quibble at using “healthy” and “pastrami” in the same sentence, but I’m talking about the soul here), sauerkraut, and Russian dressing on two thick slices of pumpernickel. I had an Italian hoagie, a long sandwich of fresh cold cuts, crisp vegetables, oil and vinegar and a soft, fresh torpedo roll.

I said there was space to linger: You know how you go into a lot of places nowadays and their shelves are jammed so close together you have to squeeze by any other normal-sized adult in the aisle? Not here. Tables are in place throughout the store, and on the wide front porch, too, though we stayed in the air conditioning because of the heat.

While we ate, I admired the menu. It’s not that it was beautifully done (a neatly lettered whiteboard is what you get here), but it was imaginative. In addition to the hoagies and cold cut sandwiches you’d expect, the Village Store offers sandwiches like the Cubana, with pork and pickles, panini pressed. It also serves full breakfasts, from platters to sandwiches.

If you’re biking along the river, this is a good place to stop for a break – it’s got a case full of iced teas, sodas and other drinks to choose from. Me, I’m going back soon for a Cubana.

Point Pleasant Village Store
Route 32/River Road
Point Pleasant, PA 18950
215.297.8121

I’ve never been one to get excited over hot dogs and hamburgers, but there’s one place I’ll travel the distance to when I need to get my fix: Dilly’s Corner, on River Road in New Hope, is the place for burgers, hot dogs, ice cream and an overall good time.

Celebrating 25 years, Dilly’s Corner is always buzzing. Porsches, Harleys and SUVs all cram into the tight parking lot to experience this delightful blink-and-you-miss-it restaurant. There’s a covered patio with tables so you can sit out of the sun or avoid bad weather. For nice days, there are wooden tables placed around the parking lot.

For my spread, I got the Dilly Cheeseburger, Dilly Dog, a vanilla milkshake, and curly fries. The cheeseburger is a 1/3 of a pound patty, yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayonnaise. The awesomeness of this burger lies in its simplicity. It doesn’t sound too different from anything you might make at home, but the cheese is perfectly melted, the lettuce is crisp, the tomato ripe, and the onions flavorful but not overpowering. The burger is cooked just slightly pink in the center and is superbly juicy.

Then there’s the Dilly Dog. Topped with peppers, onions and French fries, this quarter pound hot dog is served on a toasted torpedo roll. I topped it off with a healthy serving of relish – because if I’m going to have a hot dog, it’s got to be the messiest hot dog for miles. (I admit I had to surrender to my plastic fork for the first leg of this adventure.) The fact that Dilly’s toasts the Dilly Dog’s bun is what really made it for me. Like I’ve said, I like my hot dogs messy. This usually leads to soggy buns that won’t support my hot dog toppings. The toasted torpedo roll manages to hold all those peppers, onions, fries and any additional toppings without fail.

Dilly’s is popular for its ice cream, as well. While I would have liked to have gone all out and gotten a sundae to top off my meal, I couldn’t justify it after the burger and hot dog. BUT since a milk shake is made with milk, and milk is good for you, well, a milkshake would be a good thing.

I’ve had my fair share of milkshakes, but there’s just something about one from Dilly’s that raises the bar. It’s more like really thick, creamy milk than watered down ice cream. It’s not so thick that you can’t drink it through a straw and for some reason it’s not so cold that it gives you a brain freeze.

If I could come up with a theme for Dilly’s it would be “keep it simple, but do it well.” I have yet to try their salads or veggie burgers, but I’ll bet they’re just as good as the burgers and dogs.

If you crave a good burger and milkshake and don’t want to deal with diners or sit-down restaurants, Dilly’s Corner is ideal. Or, if the entire family wants ice cream, pack them up and take the scenic drive. The grill is open most nights until 9, and ice cream is served until 9:30.

Related posts:

1. Dilly's 25th Anniversary Marathon

We needn’t have worried. Kimberly Kaufmann, of Slow Food Bucks County, and Kristen Perry, of the Kitchen Potager at Linden Hill Gardens, had set the dinner up in the lovely stone barn of the Gardens’ owner, Jerry Fritz. As we ran from car to barn, Jerry himself pulled open the door to welcome us inside.

About forty people attended the dinner, and since we all had a common interest – good food – introducing ourselves and chatting wasn’t much of a chore. But we were a bit distracted, not by the rain, but by Pit Master Hugh Mangum’s pulled pork, marinated chicken and dipping sauce cooking in the wood smoker outside. Let’s let chef Ron Spada speak for himself:

With the main course came home-made Buckwampum Egg Noodles, Swallow Hill Farm Kale Casserole and Milk House Farm Market Beet Salad, by Linda Jacobs of Soup to Nuts Caterers in Washington Crossing, Rise Bakery Artisanal Baked Bread, and ice cream from oWowCow Creamery in Ottsville and fruit pies by Tabora Farm & Orchard in Chalfont.

Kimberly and Kristen are hoping to stage another farm to table dinner later this summer. We’ll pass on the details as soon as we get them. We’ll see you there.

The Goddards were nice enough to let us cram into their kitchen one recent night so we could watch them at work. Rather than describe it at length, see it all for yourself. Here’s Jay on making a taco burger. (The video runs 3:41 minutes.)

Vendors you’ll see on the video and what they offer…

The Happy Farm: raised-on-pasture  poultry, lamb and eggs

Tall Pines Farm: naturally-raised vegetables, fruits and plants

Flint Hill Farm: naturally-raised chevre cheese (goat and cow), butter

The Coffee Scoop: organic, fair-trade locally-roasted coffee beans

Milk House Farm Market: vegetables, eggs, honey

Naturally @ Holben Valley Farm: pasture-raised, grass-fed beef

Amberland Farm: chemical-free vegetables, flowers and perennials

Great Harvest Bread Company: bread and baked goods

Purely Farm: organically pastured pork, lamb and chicken

Related posts:

1. Wrightstown Farmer's Market This Saturday, April 11th

For an appetizer, I had hickory-smoked bacon, a hefty slab of bacon cut into width-wise into three thick chunks and lightly accented with a subtle barbecue sauce. Not quite sure what to expect, tasting it was one of those moments when you realize a dish has potential far beyond its ordinary roots. This bacon was tender moist, and flavorful, a mix of saltiness, smokiness and meatiness. Dinner was a grilled pork chop, 14-ounces with the bone in, cooked just the way I ordered it – medium rare. This meant tender, juicy and with a hint – just a hint – of pink at the center.

Built in an old church, the dining room is high-ceilinged and doesn’t handle a few score voices particularly well. Still, I could follow the three or four conversations we had going at any one time.

For some reason, Marsha Brown gets some diners in a lather. “Expensive,” they say, or “pretentious,” or “for the New Yorkers who come to visit.” I have to say, I don’t understand those reactions. No, Marsha Brown isn’t cheap. But it shouldn’t be. Its menu is creative and, more importantly, good. Its staff is friendly, interested in your evening, happy to discuss your likes and dislikes, and honest in their opinions about entrees and wine. The service is nicely paced, with dishes coming without too long a lag, and a waiter’s never far away. And they don’t mind if you linger. We’ll go back so we can write more, but for now I’m certainly comfortable saying if you go to Marsha Brown for dinner, you’ll have a good meal and a nice night.