2015 – The year in review, or delicious posts you may have missed

The patio at Martine's Riverhouse Restaurant and Bar

It’s been a great year for Bucks County Taste. Thanks to all the yummy things going on in the county, and to our loyal and enthusiastic readers, we have doubled our page views and audience, and celebrated our 8th anniversary.

It always gives me a thrill when someone tells me how much they love the site, and how they look to it for events and information. It also pleases me greatly to be able to support our local business community.

In preparation for this annual post, I look back through the year at all the articles we’ve published. Which were the most popular? Which the most interesting? Which were your favorites? Which were mine?

Things You Gotta Do in Bucks County This Weekend logo

Things You Gotta Do in Bucks This Weekend. We started this weekly post at the end of April and it has been hugely popular. Make sure you “tune in” every Thursday as we tell you our picks for foodie events for the coming weekend.

Pancakes with banana_Pat's Colonial Kitchen; photo credit Lynne Goldman

Once again, our post listing all the local breakfast restaurants, Breakfast in Bucks, tops the charts. Looking for a new breakfast place? Coming to Bucks County for the weekend? Check out where to get your pancakes, local bacon, scrapple, eggs Benedict and more.

You might also be interested in Let’s meet for breakfast, which covers the best restaurants to meet for a business breakfast in Bucks County and nearby. We also updated the post, Lunch in Bucks in April. Did we miss your favorite place? Email us with the information — and why you love the place —and we’ll add it.

Blooming Glen Pork in case

Where’s the meat? We have a lot of good meat here in Bucks County. Farmers who raise animals on pasture, old-fashioned butchers, Amish markets and more. Our post, Where’s the beef? And pork, and lamb, and chicken… gets thousands of views every year and we updated it in 2015.

If you like that post, check out Fall Foodie Road Trip #2: Meat Alley. Bring a cooler and take a few hours buying some of the best meat and poultry in Bucks County. It’s winter. Be prepared. You don’t want to get snowed in without a 3 lb. roast in the freezer.

Penn Tap room veggie burger with cheese; photo courtesy of Penn Tap Room

For our vegetarian and vegan readers, don’t fret. Sue Gordon wrote a great article this year on the Best Beef-less Burgers in BucksThe piece reviews some mouth-watering, “meaty” veggie burgers that would tempt even meat eaters.

The patio at Martine's Riverhouse Restaurant and Bar

A real home run this year, 11 Great Waterside Restaurants (including 6 that Zagat missed), made many people happy — and I think surprised a few folks too. Do we really have this many wonderful places to eat and drink by our beautiful Delaware River? Yepper. One Facebook reader moaned, “Why have I not heard of these places? I have to go!” It’s a little chilly for it now, but bookmark this post for the summer.

Hot Toddy a la Sarah

Cough, cough, sniffle. Last January, Sarah Wingert gave us an inspired and practical antidote for the kind of cold that makes you hate life. Follow the recipe in The best cough medicine you’ll ever haveIt is a hot toddy to perfection and it works. With over 2,000 views, we’ve hopefully helped a lot of people feel better. Just in time for cold and flu season!

Produce from Roots to River Farm; photo credit Lynne Goldman

A day in the life. One of my favorite posts this year was A Day in the Life: Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, the first in what I hope will be a series of “day in the life” articles focusing on people in our local food scene.

I’ve known Cathy Snyder since she began collecting fresh produce from area farms and bringing it to local food pantries. That was in 2009 and this year the organization she has built, Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, passed an amazing milestone — they have “saved” over half million pounds of food.

I got to ride shotgun with Cathy one day this past summer as she crisscrossed two counties, stopped at seven farms and delivered fresh produce to five hunger relief sites. It was a fun and profound day that left me exhausted and in awe of the work she and her volunteers do all season long. Come for a ride and learn what they do.

whiskey glass_photo courtesy of the Churchville Inn

If you’ve been a Bucks County Taste reader for a while, you know that Mark and I love whiskey, mostly bourbon (Mark) and rye (me).

One of the highlights of our year was “discovering” the Churchville Inn and their 200+ whiskey list. As I say in the article, The Churchville Inn: A whiskey lover’s delight, it was like being in a candy store for us. The Churchville Inn has the best whiskey selection in Bucks County (hands down) and one of the best in the Delaware Valley. They also have a pretty impressive beer list too and some good food to go with.

 

Ma's Kitchen_Huevos a lo Campesino_before & after

One of the more popular posts this year was about Ma’s Kitchen, a Dominican-Peruvian restaurant tucked away in a Warminster shopping center.

So many restaurants throw around the term “homemade” — when by definition (you are sitting in a restaurant) it is not. To me, homemade food is comforting, warm food that makes you feel good. And you know it when you taste it, even if it’s not the cuisine you grew up with.

That’s what Julio and Mercedes Nuñez serve at Ma’s Kitchen – tasty, filling, warming food that makes you feel like you’re sitting in someone’s home kitchen. Please stop by for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and say hi to Ma for me. Ask her to make you a café con leche too.

What was your favorite Bucks County Taste article in 2015? Drop us a line at info@BucksCountyTaste.com or leave a comment below.

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