Memorable | One of the Best
Dutch Kitchen
Review by: Michael Stern
The Dutch Kitchen is part-diner (the original building) and part family-style restaurant decorated to the hilt with country crafts for sale.
The menu is a large one that ranges from bacon and eggs in the morning and hamburgers at lunch to such real local specialties as chicken and turkey pot pie (a kind of stew with big soft noodles), smoked pork chops, ham and cabbage casserole, and dessert of gooey-bottomed shoofly pie.
Turkey dinner is delicious, made from daily-roasted turkeys, a mild bread “filling” (the regional term for stuffing), and genuine mashed potatoes. “My ancestors were Pennsylvania Dutch,” said co-proprietor Jennifer Lekulic, explaining the presence of chow-chow, pickled vegetables, peppered cabbage, and serious apple butter on the menu.
Although seekers of regional food will want some excellent shoofly pie for dessert, extremists need to know about the “atomic banana split.” It is a heap of ice cream, syrup, bananas, and whipped cream, arranged vertically rather than horizontally: truly of atomic proportions.
Directions & Hours
Information
| Price | $ |
| Seasons | All |
| Meals Served | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner |
| Credit Cards Accepted | Yes |
| Alcohol Served | Yes |
| Outdoor Seating | No |
What To Eat
Dutch Kitchen Recipes
Discuss
What do you think of Dutch Kitchen?
4 Responses to “Dutch Kitchen”
Rose Markoff
February 2nd, 2012
I make many trips from upstate New York to Maryland to visit my grand kids. The Dutch Kitchen on Interstate 81 is my favorite spot to stop for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I am always pleased with my meal and plan my trips so I can stop there to eat. There is always a few good homemade soups and the salad bar is always fresh with enough extras to make it interesting. I happen to love the Thousand Island Dressing. The daily specials always include a yummy homemade meal.
On New Years Day the restaurant offered the traditional local favorite of pork and sauerkraut, of course with real mashed potatoes. It was awesome. Could not have made it better at home. I was curious as to why this dish was a local favorite on New Years Day and asked the waitress. Before I knew it, the owner was at our table explaining that when pigs eat, they move forward, but when chickens eat they move backwards. Therefore, it is traditional to eat the pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day to symbolize moving forward. Sounds good to me. I hope to be back next New Year’s Day and many times before that. And oh, I should mention, the sugar cookies are like something your grandmother would have made. A great take away for the rest of the ride.
Try the Dutch Kitchen. You will not regret it!
Benny Hodkinson
July 10th, 2009
After reading about it in Roadfood, our family was super-excited to eat at the Dutch Kitchen. The cute retro-diner-outside with the kitschy mirrored interior really had us stoked, but things started to turn sour when the jukebox on our table ate our quarters, and it just went downhill from there. Honestly, we should have eaten the quarters ourselves. It would have been tastier!
The salad bar we read about was closed on the Friday evening we stopped in, so we optimistically ordered the Italian special of chicken parm and the turkey croquettes, which we had never heard of but, based on the recommendation, we figured were a local treat. The chicken was a total bust, a wimpy soft breast covered in watery tomato broth. The croquettes were gross, some kind of mash of plate scrapings and dryer lint, and grosser still was the gray mystery gravy that covered them. The kids did OK with hot dogs and burgers. We thought pie might save the meal, and indeed the lemon meringue was delicious, but sadly they were all store-bought. Even I know to hide the package when I’m dealing store-bought pie!
Overall a disappointment.
Michael Shelley
February 3rd, 2008
Our meal at Dutch Kitchen (which we didn’t really enjoy) led us to a long discussion about what Roadfood is. There are plenty of restaurants in my town that I enjoy regularly (and are right off the parkway), but I would never say “If you’re passing by exit 148 you must try this restaurant.”
I think Roadfood restaurants need to offer the quintessential version of a dish or cuisine, or a truly original spin. They’re places to look forward to, offering a unique experience. The Dutch Kitchen was not that on our most recent visit.
Here’s what we had: chicken pot pie with the salad bar and applesauce, and eggs with potatoes and scrapple. The salad bar was a disappointment. Most of it did not appear to be made here; there was just the usual macaroni salad, canned beets, chickpeas, etc. There was some chowchow but it didn’t taste any different from the supermarket kind. There was homemade bread, which was fine but nothing special. The pot pie (which has no crust) was lacking in chicken and vegetables; it was mostly a dish of gelatinous sauce and dumplings. The applesauce on the side was regular supermarket applesauce.
The eggs, potatoes, and toast were all normal diner variety, nothing worth going out of your way for, or worth recommending this place over the thousands of other places that do a fine job with those standbys. This was my first experience with scrapple; I guess it was good. It kind of tasted like a slightly livery finely minced corned beef hash.
The bottom line is we thought the Dutch Kitchen was the kind of place you might go to if you lived nearby and found something here you liked, but not the kind of place to satisfy Roadfood expectations.
Jim Balcom
January 29th, 2004
I discovered this place in the very early spring of 2003 when I got forced off of I-81 because of heavy fog while traveling from Syracuse, NY to Alexandria, VA.
I have since been back several times (and, this is about a 250 mile trip for me). I now route my trips to upstate NY so that I can be in Frackville at meal time.
They have a terrific salad bar which always has terrific homemade bread on it. (I’ve tried to get the recipe for it, but can’t. There is a fantastic bakery in town that makes fabulous bread, though.)
All of the food on the extensive menu appears to be homemade and none of it is brought in frozen from elsewhere.
I’ve eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner here and I’ve never been disappointed!