Know Farms. Know Food.

Chef Andrew Little wears his personal mantra, “Know Farms. Know Food,” on his hat. It’s a play on the American Farmland Trust’s tagline, “No Farms. No Food.” His restaurant at The Sheppard Mansion in Hanover is one of our Silver Spoon Award winners again this year.

At the end of each year, we celebrate the region’s finest restaurants with an annual feature, The Silver Spoon Awards, and hopefully introduce you to, or remind you of, our favorite dining destinations peppered throughout the Susquehanna Valley.

This year’s feature focuses not only on the restaurants and the chefs creating the dishes we love to eat at their establishments. This is a tribute to food. Where it comes from, the hands that help bring it to the table—from chefs to farmers—and the relationships forged in the name of good food.

That table may be covered in white linen. Or not. Many of our Silver Spoon award-winning restaurants are known as special occasion or formal fine dining restaurants, while others we like to call “casual contemporary.” Many area restaurants that were once considered more formal, over the years, have changed with the times to allow patrons to come as they are and have created special bar areas or menus designed for more frequent relaxed dining.

And just as diners demanded more casual cuisine and attitudes by actions like fueling the trend toward comfort food and no-jacket-required attire, today, we are pushing restaurants toward greater responsibility in sustainability and inquiring, “Where is our food coming from?” Area chefs are not only supporting local farmers; their menus proudly call them out by name.

Personality Cuisine

When you talk to chef Andrew Little about his food, he talks of a sense of place. Not only where the food comes from, but where he comes from, where he’s been, and how that influences his creations. He’s wearing a hat that reads, “Know Farms. Know Food.” His blog, eatlikeyoulivehere.com, echoes this theme. He came back to his hometown in 2006 to open The Restaurant at The Sheppard Mansion, a historic Hanover bed and breakfast, after working in Philadelphia, New York, and the renowned B&B The Inn at Little Washington.

“I grew up in Hanover, so I want to present a restaurant that’s kind of a love letter to the area,” says Little. “A lot of the produce grown here goes to New York and Philly restaurants, so it’s nice to be able to present it here.”

“You can’t get this anywhere else—the products that we’re trying to source are specific to Hanover and this area,” he says. Little believes diners should have that sense of place from the moment they pick up the menu. “If all you had was the menu in front of you, you should know what season it is, and what area of the country you’re in.”

It takes a lot of logistics to get food from farm to table. Before he sources a product he goes out to visit the farm and meet the farmer. And then there’s the competing markets like DC, New York City and Philadelphia, where consumers and chefs are paying much more for Pennsylvania’s premium products.

The Sheppard Mansion has started farming its own food, including Scotch Highland beef. This year, Little, with the help of his dad, grew eight varieties of heirloom tomatoes; LaRatte potatoes, which he describes as a little creamier than fingerlings; huckleberries he’s turned into soda for dessert; and Charentais melons, which are sort of like a French cantaloupe. He compresses their flavor into tiny tartare-shaped cubes to be served as a dessert with clove cake and vanilla cream cheese, topped with sorbet made from the melons as well (above).

Walking the rows of the garden, Little bends down to pick a small purple flower. “One of the reasons for putting the garden in in the first place was these borage flowers [which he uses to garnish dishes and desserts] were costing me 25 cents each… And I bought a packet of seeds for 75 cents.” Next year, he plans to quadruple the size of the garden, and he’ll open a small market in the mansion’s carriage house where food enthusiasts can purchase the same produce used in the restaurant.

“This is just a garden—it’s just a hobby for me,” he says, but it’s taught him a new appreciation and understanding of what growers go through; plus, he’s lost 20 pounds this summer doing it. It brings a new perspective to when a farmer says a storm came through and blew his corn over, Little says; he understands, because he was the one out there standing it back up when it happened to him this year.

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Savoring Seasons

“That’s what this whole movement is teaching us: Getting back to the natural cycle,” says chef Ross Morris of Trattoria Piatto in Carlisle. The restaurant was formerly known as simply Piatto, but Morris changed the concept of the more formal Italian restaurant to be in line with the consumer demand for more casual restaurants. As Piatto celebrates its 12th year, Morris says the prices reflect menu prices from 12 years ago, with entrées under $20.

Bert Myers is the Newville farmer from whom Morris sources his produce. Walking his family farm, rich with the scent of heirloom tomatoes and musk melons, he says, “My forefathers appreciated cantaloupes and peaches because they were

special. One of the problems with the advent of being able to ship strawberries and tomatoes is that it isn’t sustainable. We can’t continue to get raspberries all year round from Chile.” When Myers’ tomatoes are finished in a couple weeks, Morris says, that will be the last caprese salad on the menu at Piatto for the year. Morris’ philosophy can be summed up in three words: Eat. Real. Food. His style is to use fresh, seasonal ingredients in simple, authentic Italian applications to create an experience that has made Piatto a local favorite dining destination for over a decade.

Everything Myers grows is seasonal, so when we visited in late August, he was growing yellow beans that would be the vegetable for the day at Piatto; heirloom tomatoes like Soldaki Red, Brandywines, Cherokee Purple and Jubilee; and white and purple striped Italian heirloom eggplants called Rosa Bianca. In the fall, two to three varieties of kale such as Nero de Toscana or Tuscan Black Kale will show up on Piatto’s menu in soups like minestrone. Then it will be butternut squash that will star in risotto alla zucca.

Morris has been working with Myers for about 10 years. In the beginning, he says, “Bert would sit down with me and say, ‘What do you want?’ 10 years ago it was cardoons, this year it was musk melons.” There’s a complete sense of trust even though Morris knows Myers can’t always predict when crops will be ready; Morris is prepared to go with the flow of nature.

Myers has been farming his whole life: “Since I was big enough to walk behind my daddy,” he says with a Southern drawl that’s remained since he moved to Newville from Norfolk in 1987 to take over the farm property that’s been in his family since 1866. “The primary asset here is a good limestone-based soil—and it’s been taken care of a long time,” he adds. The farm has always been farmed organic; “Everything I’m doing would meet the requirements to be certified organic.” But he just doesn’t sell the scale to justify the cost of certification. He’s found that his customers trust his practices—and that’s enough.

I used to think I was the hardest worker in this field,” says chef Morris, referring to the restaurant business, “But it’s the growers.”

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Delicate Nature

Walking the 25 acres of Promised Land Farms in Millersville with grower Amy Yocom, you get the sense of the kind of care that goes into getting each edible morsel from seed to ground to harvest to table. One worker carefully washed each heirloom tomato to take to market later that day at a serene station under a shade tree at the end of summer when we visited. “We’re so careful with them,” Yocom says about her heirloom varieties such as Lemon Boys, Jubilee and Green Zebras. Commercially, she says, the green tomatoes are so hard they’re picked with a truck, and they’re one uniform size so they can be compartmentalized into six packs. “We do everything by hand from hoeing to weeding,” adds Yocom.

She and her husband Dan bought the farm in 2000 and have been farming organically there ever since, growing 75 to 1,000 different herbs and crops. “We were always backyard farmers interested in sustainability. As humans, we think we know how things should be, but we inadvertently mess up things we can’t even see,” she says, when we create unnatural ways of doing things. Dan’s a biology and environmental science professor at Millersville University, so the property literally serves as a field study for him and the students. Amy says they don’t irrigate and they don’t spray. If a crop doesn’t make it, they just plow it under. The soil, she says, is referred to as letort sandy loam, which drains well and is very deep, making it ideal for beets and root vegetables.

In fact, “Dan and Amy’s beets” show up on the menu at the quaint yet chic Lancaster BYOB, Effie Ophelia. “It’s a very special chef to seek out the farm fresh produce,” says Amy, nodding to Effie Ophelia’s chef, Eric Howton. The collaboration between them is evident as we walk through the fields. Howton spots heirloom burgundy okra growing and has to have some. He says he’ll serve it later in the restaurant just like he grew up eating it in the Midwest: Cornmeal-fried with a green chile remoulade.

“Sometimes it’s hard to have everything,” Yocom says, referring to breadth of crops and their unpredictability, but Howtown interjects, “I’m small enough to adjust my menu or change to something else.” Yocom adds, “And sometimes you come [to the farm] with one idea, see something growing, and get another idea.”

Like when Willis, a neighboring farmer who’s about 85 years old, stopped by to drop off some ground cherries—one of Howton’s favorite ingredients. They resemble a tomatillo, in a papery covering, but are smaller and sweet like a tomato with a hint of watermelon flavor. Willis has been saving seeds for years, explains Yocom. Take the beans they grow and call “Willis’ Beans,” which are sort of like a hericot vert: “Some professor went to France and brought them back.” And Willis saved the seed, so here they are today.

“It’s something that people are really passionate about: Food,” says Yocum. “I see a big difference from when we first started 10 years ago.”

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Raising the Bar

One of the signature items on John J. Jeffries menu is called "The Truth." It’s grass-fed, dry-aged beef tartare, with local greens, shaved onion, olives, tomme cheese, and herb vinaigrette. “It’s the real way to eat beef,” says chef Sean Cavanaugh. He has it for dinner every Saturday night to celebrate the end of his night and another week at the restaurant.

“We know where the beef comes from, and the people that raise it,” he says, standing next to farmer Matt Rulevich.

Rulevich is Cavanaugh’s go-to guy for beef. Kookaburra Farm in Brogues could be the setting for one of the “happy cows” commercials—except this is the real deal. About 40 minutes west of the Susquehanna, on the hillside of windy Gum Tree Road, a herd of Angus cattle graze the sunlit 60-acre farm eating clover and alfalfa. Rulevich explains the cows’ routine: “They come and go as they please.”

“This used to be a crop farm that grew corn and soybeans,” says Rulevich, so he had to plant the food for the cows. He “got bit by the farming bug” when he was little, Rulevich says, and began farming tobacco at age 13, working on different kinds of farms from then on. He and his family moved to Pennsylvania from Massachusetts in 2007 to start Kookaburra Farm. His sons, Rees, who’s 8, and Beck, age 5, say they’re going to help out with the farm, too.

While we were there visiting, Susan Korsnick from the Spring Grove area pulled up the gravel driveway to pick up her “family pack,” which is comprised of about 40 pounds of the grass-fed beef in different cuts—from ground to roasts and steaks—all at a flat fee of about $5 per pound. She says this will feed her household for an entire year. She’s enthusiastic about finding similar sources for pork and poultry and inquires with Rulevich if he knows of other farmers packaging for consumers they way he is. She’s not alone; there’s been a resurgence of families splitting shares of livestock to freeze for the year—and feeling good about where the animal came from, and how it was raised and handled through butchering.

Rulevich has his cattle butchered at Smucker’s in Mount Joy. This year, he’s raised and slaughtered between 36 and 48 head. Cavanaugh confirms, “They’re handling one animal at a time,” unlike mass manufacturing that has led to a lot of the recalls and contamination in the news. “There’s a lot going on with our food that will hopefully continue this movement of finding out where food comes from and how it’s packaged and handled,” says Rulevich. That second part of the process is important, he says, because, “Once I hand it off to [be butchered], I’m drawing my line of responsibility.” He adds, “Smucker’s really is a family business I can trust. I can’t do what I do without them.”

From there, Smucker’s dry ages the beef for John J. Jeffries, which, Rulevich explains, “Is kind of like making wine… The subtleties of the flavors start to come out.” It’s then vacuum-packed at its peak and delivered to the restaurant.

John J. Jeffries was one of the first restaurants in the area to blatantly state their stance on sustainability and focus on local, organic ingredients. It’s become a haven for supporters of organizations like Buy Fresh Buy Local and people who just generally care about where their food comes from.

Right on the menu, it states that all of their meats are raised locally on fresh green grass pastures without hormones, antibiotics, steroids or confined animal feeding operations. John J. Jeffries also sources sustainable seafood and fisheries. The restaurant is vocal, especially via social media, about encouraging a shift in consumer demand away from over-exploited fisheries, unhealthy fish farming practices and other food safety concerns. They know where all of their food comes from and are involved in how it is raised. For John J. Jeffries, it’s not just a trend; it’s a way of sustaining life.

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The 2010 Silver Spoon Awards Winners

Formal Fine Dining
For special occasions & memorable meals

Accomac Inn

Known for its scenic Susquehanna River views. Diners may not realize that some of the food is  grown at the restaurant’s own garden.

Alfred’s Victorian

An Italian family restaurant housed in an 1888 Middletown mansion.

The Belvedere Inn

Elegant yet upbeat atmosphere featuring ever-changing menus inspired by the latest trends and seasons.

Bricco

Known for its PA Preferred meats and cheeses used in the restaurant and available for purchase at Olewine’s.

Cameron Estate Inn

Pastoral evening getaway to a Mount Joy B&B and restaurant with fireside dining.

Carr’s

A pioneer of the local food movement, chef Tim Carr has always featured and credited regional produce and meats on his menu at Carr’s. Also try the new wine bar upstairs, Crush.

Centuries on the Square

The Gettysburg Hotel’s casual fine dining featuring classics in the heart of downtown.

Char’s Bella Mundo

A 100 percent wind-powered Shipoke neighborhood favorite American bistro.

Circular Dining Room

Known for its brunch and exquisite dining with views of Hotel Hershey’s manicured gardens.

Clementinas at El Serrano

The ultimate private dining experience, fireside. Authentic Peruvian setting with five courses and wine pairings.

The Commonwealth Room

Fine dining in York’s premier hotel built in 1925 meets 21st century food trends. “We’ve been using Scheid Produce [which has been in business 82 years], so that’s where we’re getting all our seasonal fruits & vegetables. We try to use as many PA Preferred products as possible.” — Executive chef Mark Pawlowski

Gibraltar

Specialty: Seafood. Service: Superb. A Lancaster go-to for special occasions or casual evenings at the Aqua Bar.

The Golden Sheaf

A luxurious pampering experience from palate to service. Celebrating 20 years of fine dining memories in downtown Harrisburg.

Haydn Zug’s

Dine in a former general store dating back to 1852 in quiet East Petersburg. Great for business lunches, date nights or events.

Josephine’s

A historic Marietta gem in a 1792 log home where chef and sommelier Daniel LeBoon serves world-class cuisine.

The Inn at Herr Ridge

History meets contemporary cuisine. Proteins and produce supplied locally by organic farmers such as Earth-N-Eats in Waynesboro; Gettysburg Heirlooms; Highborne Deer Farms in Dallastown; and Rettland Farms in Gettysburg.

General Sutter Inn

A Lititz landmark. Established in 1764, it continues to be one of the most popular dining destinations for locals and visitors.

The Left Bank

Chef David Albright set the bar for fine dining in downtown York over 10 years ago and this year is featuring his own “rooftop garden” specials.

Mangia Qui

Couples capital views with authentic Italian downstairs and the authentic tapas bar, Suba, upstairs. Chef Qui Qui Musarra’s internationally inspired, locally crafted dishes have been known to include native paw paw. She also sources Broad Street Market’s Kocevar Farms and Brogue Hydroponics.

Mazzi

A romantic retreat to Pennsylvania Dutch Country with a European atmosphere.

The Pressroom

Great booths for lounging and listening to live jazz. Plus, seasonal outdoor dining in Steinman Park in the heart of Downtown Lancaster.

Rillo’s

Italian comfort food, fine dining style, celebrating 50 years of special meals and memories.

Rosa Rosa Ristorante Italiano

From a small family bakery in Naples to a picturesque recreation of an authentic Italian experience, a family legacy continues in Lancaster.

The Sheppard Mansion

A historic Hanover B&B and restaurant featuring farm-to-table cuisine by chef Andrew Little.

Sidney

A historic East Berlin rustic tavern setting where world-renowned chef Neil Annis creates innovative seasonal specials using local ingredients from farms such as Earth and Eats in Waynesboro, Eberly Organic Poultry, Everblossom Farm and Hannah Vista Organic Farm in Wrightsville. He also uses Camelot Valley cheeses and, along with his manager, gathers eggs from sometimes three different area farmers to fuel the restaurant’s needs while remaining committed to local food.

Strawberry Hill

Dine in an 1880s Victorian at the corners of Strawberry, Mulberry and Vine Streets in downtown Lancaster; known for its wine list and family hospitality.

2201 in the Boro

A Camp Hill neighborhood BYOB where it’s all about the service.

Casual Contemporary
Upscale cuisine, dressed down attitude

Annie Bailey’s

So much more than an Irish pub. Irish favorites and inventive fusions, in an elegant environment.

Blue Moon Restaurant

Fresh concepts and seasonal American cuisine in a downtown York bistro setting.

Café Fresco

Hip, day or night. Featuring Asian American flavors in the heart of Harrisburg’s Restaurant Row.

California Café

French cuisine without the fuss located in a former firehouse in historic downtown Carlisle.

Carley’s

Sing for your supper at this downtown Harrisburg piano bar featuring rustic Italian fare.

The Cellar

“The main concept here,” explains chef Matthew Hickey, “is trying to use as much local sustainable produce,” working with Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op and Creekside Farm in Marysville, using PA cheeses such as Camelot Valley in Dover. The Cellar was also chosen to host a Harrisburg Slow Food dinner featuring food activist and author Gina Millet in 2009.

Checkers

A James Street District neighborhood gem with a globally inspired menu.

Confit

A Camp Hill neighborhood French bistro (BYOB) known for its breads and ever-changing chalkboard specials.

Cork & Cap

An old bottle cap factory features fresh approaches to traditional Lancaster County favorites in a chic yet rustic setting.

Devon Seafood Grille

Flying in seafood every day; doesn’t get any fresher than that. Except of course the fresh concept it brings to Hershey’s dining scene.

Effie Ophelia

Chic downtown Lancaster BYOB located on Gallery Row featuring farm fresh seasonal specials.

Fenz

Chef Daniela Ward can be seen shopping at Lancaster’s Central Market for that evening’s specials. “We’ve been working with the vendors there for years,” she says. “Barr’s Farms is where we get most of our bulk.” She also resources John Stoner and Shenk’s Poultry, both market vendors, as well as Buck Hill Farms, a local CSA owned by one of the servers and her husband.

Gusto

Mediterranean fare with flare on the hip and happening 300 Block of North Queen Street in downtown Lancaster.

Harvest

One of The Hotel Hershey’s newest dining experiences offering fresh farm-to-table dishes prepared from local ingredients found within a 100-mile radius.

Jethro’s

For over 30 years, Jethro’s has been a Lancaster neighborhood favorite and hidden gem for new diners to discover, serving innovative Americana cuisine in a relaxed bohemian atmosphere.

John J. Jeffries

Seasonal, sustainable, farm fresh, organic in a historic tobacco barn setting in downtown Lancaster’s Arts Hotel.

Iron Hill

Beyond the handcrafted brews, a restaurant for the beer guru with special pairing events, and something for everyone every day of the week.

Lily’s on Main

Enjoy dinner and a show Art Deco style in downtown Ephrata’s historic theatre building.

The Loft

Cozy atmosphere and chef Gunter Backaus’ European specialties have made this a downtown Lancaster staple on the dining scene for decades.

Niko’s

Under the new ownership of Lonnie Long and Steve Kujovsky and the direction of chef Shawn Moyer, Niko’s continues to be Lebanon’s go-to spot for stylish dining and nightlife.

Olde Greenfield Inn

A Lancaster County favorite for brunch, business lunches and dinner with live jazz and a notable reputation for wine and special events.

Penn Square Grille

Chef Bob Rothfus is a Lancaster County native who takes relationships with area farmers and producers seriously, with local specialties like Linden Dale Farms goat cheese, Cope’s corn, Kunzler ham and Long’s horseradish showing up on his menu.

Pomona’s

Chef Shaun Wolfe celebrates the harvest of Adams County in this intimate, casual BYOB in Biglerville. His go-to gal: Jane Shord of Beech Springs Farm. “She comes in at the beginning of the year, brings in her seed books, and grows whatever I want, and then takes excess to the farmers’ markets. She does the best heirloom tomatoes I’ve ever seen, really nice beets and flower arrangements for the restaurant.” Look for her organic Brussels sprouts and fennel on the menu this winter.

Porch

A dining destination worth the drive to Myerstown. Fine dining upstairs and lite fare downstairs feature upscale home-style classics updated by chef Joe Edwards.

Stock’s on Second

The heart of Harrisburg’s Restaurant Row that’s stood the test of time with an up-to-date urban beat.

Trattoria Fratelli

Lebanon’s long-standing favorite for Italian, featuring wood-fired breads and pizzas and rich standards.

Trattoria Piatto

A new concept to this beloved Carlisle Italian restaurant features a more casually priced trattoria style menu.

Trevi 5

Authentic Italian plates with a modern palate are served in one of The Hotel Hershey’s newest restaurants, focusing on combinations of the five essential flavors of the country’s cuisine.