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Southern favorites like smoked brisket are served here along with scratch-made biscuits, pickles, mac and cheese, and more.
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Chicken and waffles with apricot butter
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The Morning Smash with beef patty, bacon, lettuce, onion, house-madepickles, American cheese, and Russian dressing on a Martin’s potato roll.
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Owner Jordan Pfautz
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A “roost” is defined as a safe place, a haven, where birds can sit and rest their wings. Step inside one of downtown York’s newest restaurants, Roost Uncommon Kitchen, and you too can “rest your wings,” recharge your batteries, and feel right at home.
“We designed the space to feel comfortable, like you’re sitting in someone’s kitchen,” says owner Jordan Pfautz. Serving breakfast all day, lunch seven days a week, and dinner Thursday through Saturday, Roost has a retro feel, with bright pops of wallpaper bound to remind you of Grandma’s kitchen. Reclaimed doors from the building’s former office days are repurposed as the restaurant’s tables. Framed John Audubon bird illustrations line the walls, “feathering the nest” so to speak, at Roost.
“Breakfast is my favorite meal,” Pfautz says. “It’s comfortable, but with our tagline being ‘Uncommon Kitchen,’ we don’t want to be a regular restaurant; we want to play around and push the envelope.”
So the menu offers lots of fun twists and turns—what Pfautz calls “our take on modern breakfast.” For example, the most popular menu item is the restaurant’s namesake, The Roost: fried chicken, sausage gravy, house-made buttermilk biscuits, and hashbrowns. The “twists” are a delicious, unique apricot butter, as well as queso.
House-made buttermilk biscuits, jams and jellies are staples of the menu. The York City Special includes two eggs your way, with a biscuit, apricot butter, and hashbrowns for only $5. All dishes are served on colorful enamel plates for what Pfautz calls a “campy feel.”
Many of the menu items sound just as colorful as the restaurant’s plates and wallpaper. The Morning Smash features a smashed beef patty with bacon, lettuce, onion, house-made pickles, American cheese, and Russian dressing, topped with a fried egg, on a Martin’s potato roll. Or choose from El Chapo (chorizo tacos with crema, cheddar, onion, scrambled egg, and flour tortilla), Mr. Boh’s Biscuit (crab cake with crisp greens, “Natty Boh remoulade,” and an Old Bay biscuit) and even a menu item called Bless Your Heart Y’all (steak fries with fried cheese curds, sausage gravy and “boom boom drizzle”).
There are Southern influences throughout the menu, including chicken and waffles, featuring fluffy buttermilk waffles with deep pockets perfect for the accompanying apricot butter and maple syrup, plus crispy fried chicken.
Locally-sourced products are a priority for Pfautz. Meats hail from Elizabethtown’s Groff’s Meats, while dairy products are procured from Manheim’s Kreider Farms, where Pfautz, a Lancaster County native, worked as a teenager. Roost is the only location in York that serves up Lancaster’s Square One Coffee.
“We’re more concerned about honest food,” Pfautz says. “We want to serve food that we care about and that’s good. If we can make it better than we can buy, then we make it in-house.”
Pfautz says his favorite menu item is the Porkstrami Reuben. The star of the dish is pork cured with pastrami seasonings, accompanied by purple sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and a special sauce on rye bread.
Smoked meats—pulled pork, brisket, pulled chicken, and a smoked meatloaf wrapped in bacon—carried over onto Roost’s menu from the restaurant’s previous incarnation as Baron von Schwein. While a former business partner continues to operate Baron von Schwein’s food truck, Roost and its employees offer catering services via their Roost food truck for weddings and other special events.
Curt Lehr, Roost’s catering manager, says he’s especially proud to work in his native York County. “We have a ‘back-homey’ kind of feel here at Roost—it’s relaxed, and we get fun family crowds, especially on weekends,” Lehr says. “We want to make a light shine again in downtown York.”
Roost has found a niche in York’s rebirth, says Pfautz. “It’s been really cool to be part of York’s redevelopment. I really love feeding people—it’s very rewarding to serve someone a dish and have them enjoy it. It’s the way I tell my story.”
Roost Uncommon Kitchen
35 W. Market St., York, PA / roostuncommonkitchen.com
Check the website and/or social media for information on Roost’s upcoming special events: Valentine’s Day dinners, plus York Restaurant Week, February 24 - March 3.
