Allentown Adventures!

I had the pleasure of popping down to the Bethlehem/ Allentown area recently and I got to stop in at a few of my favorite places ( all involving food of course because what else does one do in PA?). I was fortunate to be there on a day that the Allentown Farmer's market is open and I went straight for my favorite places, Dan's chicken and Red Barn Produce. Dan's mashed potatoes are to die for, especially when drenched in gravy. YUM!

When I lived in Atown I would buy my produce from Red Barn pretty much every week, or two weeks if I had enough to last that long. I even have a snazzy Red Barn shirt. Since I was just visiting I didn't really need a lot but I picked up some sweet frying peppers and grape tomatoes anyway. The usual guys weren't there either so I couldn't really say hello, but the lady, who I believe is one of the owners was kind enough to let me take some pictures.


Another favorite place is Woody's or the Tavern as it is more correctly known by the locals. There's another place called Woody's but for my generation of college students it will always be Woody's. I don't really know how that happened, but that's what everyone calls it.

Whatever you want to call it, its a fun little place to hang out and very convenient if you happen to live at the college across the street. Woody's has excellent pizza, which I would like to point out is a very serious statement coming from someone who is accustomed to NYC and NJ pizza. The standard is pretty high for me when it comes to pizza, and while I wouldn't call Woody's pizza quite traditional, its certainly very tasty, and much better than the kind that is sold at the farmers market. Yuk. There's a nice selection of bar food including some tasty wings but I've never ventured very far into the food. More importantly there's a very extensive collection of beer.

On this trip my friend SS, who is now a beer expert, introduced me to Mad Elf beer. Wow. Definitely a win. This beer is so smooth you really don't know you're drinking beer. It's made with cherries and honey, and for once, it actually tastes like those things. It really doesn't have a very beery taste at all. What it does have however, is an 11% alcohol content, so its not a good one to have if you're driving anywhere. Fortunately I was not. The company who makes it is Troegs, and according to their website the beer is ruby red. I certainly think that's going to far but it has a reddish tint to it. In any case, I'm hooked, although I don't think this beer comes with a particularly cheap price tag. Still, its a good festive beer for the holidays! And I'm all about the holidays!