Photography by Donovan Roberts Witmer
For almost 10 years, Carr’s has been serving the downtown community of Lancaster as a Sunday brunch favorite, a First Friday crowd pleaser, and a stop for many before the theater. (Season subscribers to The Fulton or Lancaster Symphony receive a 10 percent discount.) “We try to maintain a good relationship with our downtown neighbors,” says chef and owner Tim Carr.
Central Market shoppers enjoy the one-on-one relationship with both Carr and Kathy Walls, Carr’s Central Market manager. One or both of them are usually on hand to help customers with techniques and recipes for the restaurant-quality products available there. “When you’rebuying the Elysian Farms rack of lamb at $30 for two people, you want to know there’s someone you can trust to tell you how to cook it, maybe even share a few recipes,“ says Carr. The other difference between the meats there and the grocery store, Carr explains, is that they’re cut like they’re cut for the restaurant. He has found during his years in the restaurant industry that “Many times,
people say, ‘where can I get that to make at home?’” That’s what the Central Market stand is there for. During the holiday season, for instance, they sell gallons of their crab artichoke dip each week.
In the restaurant, you can sit casually around the bar for happy hour and bar fare amid the rotating display of local art or in the regular seating area for lunch or dinner. The room with a view, the wine room, overlooks the vast wine collection, and if you ask nicely with your reservation, you may be able to snag the table tucked away in the back left hand corner.
Sunday brunch favorites include everything from the house omelette with creamed spinach, lump crab, fried tomatoes and smoked ham with hollandaise to Carr’s Cobb salad, a bed of spring greens topped with bleu cheese, grilled vegetables, tomatoes, onions, egg, bacon and balsamic pesto vinaigrette. The Cobb salad is also a popular seller at market.
The open-faced meatloaf sandwhich made from ground tenderloin is "not-you-mama's meatloaf".
According to bar manager Kate Ross, one of Carr’s customer favorites on the lunch and bar menus is the open-faced meatloaf sandwich made from ground tenderloin. This “not-your-mama’s meatloaf” is served with an upscale version of the classic hunter’s sauce comprised of heirloom tomatoes, onions and a variety of mushrooms.
Entrees always on the dinner menu include the Jail Island salmon filet served over jumbo lump crab bisque with browned butter asparagus, the ahi tuna, and the calamari appetizer. A new addition that has quickly become a frequenter’s favorite is the Ultimate London Broil: beef ribcap, sliced thin, char-grilled and served with mushroom cabernet sauce, a mini stuffed potato, baby carrots and French beans.
50 W. Grant St: Lancaster 17603 | 717-299-7090 www.carrsrestaurant.com
