The Lancaster Food Scene, ‘Totally Happening’

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

LANCASTER, PA – Amish buggies and all-you-can-eat buffets. Those are the images that have long defined Lancaster County for most outsiders – with the added bonus of outlet shopping.

And there is ample truth to feed the cliches along the tourist honky-tonk of Lincoln Highway, where faux windmills spin over signs touting shoofly pies, and seniors come by the busload to gorge on bargain smorgasbords of brown-buttered noodles, gloppy gravy platters, and dry roast chicken.

But there’s another, far more sophisticated food culture finally sprouting through Lancaster’s famously fertile earth. From the Italian red corn and fraises des bois strawberries blossoming on Tom Culton’s farm of rare heirloom wonders in Silver Spring, to the whole-animal cookery at John J. Jeffries restaurant, a thriving beer culture, a bustling historic Central Market, and a growing downtown scene of food artisans, there is a palpable new excitement here when it comes to the pleasures of the table, and the drinks beyond.

“Lancaster is totally happening now,” says Andrew Martin, who in December opened a rye distillery called Thistle Finch in a rehabbed old tobacco warehouse. Set back on an obscure downtown side street, and marked only by a black-painted bird on the building’s exterior, a speakeasy-style bar open three nights a week pours cocktails with the spicy but smooth white liquor made just feet away in Martin’s handmade copper still.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/food/20140424_LANCASTER___TOTALLY_HAPPENING_.html#U7t2kvepWf8Xyclv.99

Coatesville Applies For Velodrome Grant

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Chester County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

COATESVILLE, PA — City Council will once again file for county grant of up to $1 million for infrastructure including parking for the proposed Velodrome project.

Last year, the city filed for a similar grant, but did not receive it, because of the uncertainty surrounding the project at the time, City Manager Gary Rawlings said. He said now the project is closer to the beginning of construction and the feels more confident that the project will come to fruition.

In December of 2010, the Redevelopment Authority and the project developers at that time were reportedly closing in on a deal to sell the land at the corner of Lincoln Highway and Route 82 known as the Flats. Since then, the window for an agreement of sale has been extended numerous times and there have been no signs of an agreement.

However, in late 2011, new developers signed onto the project and the former developers left the group.

Read more: http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20120401/NEWS01/120409959/coatesville-applies-for-velodrome-grant&pager=full_story