Drafting Room, Exton revisited

Calamari

One of my favorite places in Pennsylvania is The Drafting Room in Exton. We've been there a few times, twice I had a burger and once we had the Sunday brunch. Each visit was excellent with good food and service. One of the bet points about the place is the tap beer selection which rotates depending on season. This time the season was hoppy harvest ales and that was for me. We got two very nice beers. One was Hair of the Dog Blue Dot and the other was Flying Dog Centennial Hop. What I like about the Drafting Room is that you can get a five ounce, a ten ounce or a fifteen ounce glass. All the better to try a few different beers. They also have an amazing Scotch menu with some darn fine single malts offered. 

I ordered the calamari with aioli sauce to share. The sauce was quite buttery with a good garlic flavor, not overdone. For my dinner I got out of my comfort zone and ordered the Scallops and pumpkin ravioli with leeks, roasted garlic and pine nuts shown here. Teresa got the Ravioli with olives, asparagus and capers and it had a taste similar to a putanesca. Very nice. 

Bangers and mash

Brian got the Bangers and Mash, sausages on mashed potatoes, and it looked quite nice. Large portion and nice presentation. 

Overall, a good meal and some good beer. The Drafting Room is a winner. 

Metro Diner, Flemington, NJ

The Metro Diner sits on Route 202 just south of Flemington, on the northbound side, and we've passed by saying we should try them sometime. Well, today was the day.


Inside it has more of a restaurant feel than a diner, but the menu was pure diner with all of the standards. We looked through the menu and debated back and forth over the rueben, the French dip, the Philly cheesesteak and the club sandwiches. 

Teresa got the triple decker turkey club with fries and I got the French dip. We shared so I can comment properly on both. The club sandwich had a ton of smoked turkey on it, so much that I took a bit out to make it easier to handle. The French dip had quality roast beef sliced on it with a bowl of au jus that could have been a bit darker, but it wasn't bad. The fries were nice and crispy and hot too. 

I looked at the food going to other tables and the burgers, the omelets and the Ruebens all looked good. Our food, and what I saw going by, had a different feel than typical diner food. It seemed a bit more upscale, a fact that was not reflected in the prices as they were quite reasonable. 

Overall, good food at reasonable prices with good service. They even had a piano player in the front room belting out some songs and pictures of famous actors on the walls. 

Sweet Lorraine's at Peddler's Village, New Hope, PA

In our quest to find good places to eat, we like to try different places so we stopped off at Peddler's Village, a shopping area in New Hope, PA, for something different. Looking around we saw Sweet Lorraine's Cafe next to the Golden Plough Bed and Breakfast and decided to stop in. 

I went with the Fireworks Burger at $11. It had havarti cheese, jalapeños, peppers, bacon, lettuce and tomato with fresh made chips. I ordered it medium and there was a bit of pink in the middle so it was closer to medium than I've been getting lately. The burger was good with a nice flavor and the combinations of ingredients added some good notes. 

Teresa had the quesidilla shown here at $10 and there was plenty. She said the salsa was a bit bland and I agreed, but the guacamole was good. 

We had water with the meals, but they did have a good beer selection. Service was excellent and there was a nice ambiance. Overall a good experience. Nothing amazing, but good food at reasonable prices. They have a website for more informations. 

The Wherehouse, Newburgh, NY

Hot Spot Burger

I've heard a lot of good things about the Wherehouse in Newburgh, some from a nice Greek writer named Anonymous who has commented here, so it's been on my short list for some time now. Well, today we were coming back from Fishkill and decided to swing through Newburgh to check it out.

The restaurant is on the South part of Liberty Street, just a short block from Broadway, near Washington's Headquarters. The neighborhood is an area that is a few blocks from the booming restaurant row on the waterfront and right near where a couple of entrepreneurs are building a brewery. Inside the place is not too big, but warm with old album covers hanging on the brick walls, plenty of wood and a neat looking bar with quite a few tap handles. We were told to sit where we wanted and took a table near the window so I had better light for the pictures and we could keep an eye on the car.

The menu was extensive with plenty of good choices but there was a separate menu for the burgers and that's what I came for. There were two full pages of interesting choices. I decided on the Socrates, grilled kalmata olives and feta cheese, medium. Teresa debated between the Chicago Fire and the Hot Spot. The Hot Spot burger, shown above with hot peppers on it, was her choice and she ordered it medium well. I also got a Saranac Ginger Ale. 

Socrates Burger

When the burgers came they looked good. You can see what I mean by the pictures, they did a nice presentation. I tasted mine and it was very good, but much closer to well done than the medium I ordered. That said, it was still a delicious burger with plenty of flavor and it wasn't dry at all. The grilled olives and the feta cheese gave a nice flavor to the burger and complimented the beef. No ketchup was needed. I tasted Teresa's and it was good too, if not a bit busy with all of the flavors going on. There was a heat coming from the peppers, but tolerable without overpowering the burger. She said that the next time we go she wanted to try a regular burger and I agreed. I'll try a simple bacon cheeseburger. I didn't like the fries all that much as they were cut too large and were more like fried potato wedges, but that's more a matter of personal taste. I'll have to ask about other options and see if a side salad or mac and cheese can take the place of the fries.

The bottom line? Very good food, good service, nice ambiance and fair prices. The burgers were a shade under ten bucks each. When you're in Newburgh, skip the waterfront and head a couple of blocks uptown for a good burger. They have a website for information and you can Facebook them too.