Hazleton, PA: Pizza and Fries with Gravy and Schumutz

The Sterns' Roadfood guidebook is notably short on restuarants along I-80, even though much of Northern PA was settled by Eastern European immigrants.

On my travel to New York, I spent the night in Hazleton (I-80, Exit 262). I ate dinner at Rossi's (Ros-size) (Unfortunately I don't have the address or phone). Rossi's is a tavern-cum-Italian restaurant-pizzeria. The pizza is a style that I gather is unique to the area. The topping is served on a thick cracker crust. Apparently the cracker crust is made separately by a local bakery, and then the topping (tomoto and cheese or a spicy tomato sauce) is placed on the crust and heated. While I can't confess to including the pizza among my favorites, it made for an interesting transition (palate cleanser) between Chicago and New York styles.

For breakfast, I went to Byorek's Knotty Pine Restaurant. The restaurant itself is quite exquisite, having something of the ambience of a Pennsylvania hunting camp. As the name suggests, everything is in knotty pine, and must have been around for half a century, given the decorations. Aside from the scrapple, which was properly crusty on the outside and soft on the inside [this is not truly Pennsylvania Dutch country, but given I haven't had scrapple for awhile, I wasn't complaining], the most striking entree was "Fries with Gravy and Schumutz." Schumutz is a local mozzarella-type cheese and the dish had brown gravy and melted cheese poured on top of the fries. I wish that the fries had been hand cut, but it was a tasty, if somewhat heavy, breakfast. I understand that a more careful search would have turned out more Bohemian and Hungarian specialities in this area that is supposedly a roadfood desert.

On to New York.

Byorek's Knotty Pine Drive-In Restaurant
26th & N. Church Streeets
Hazleton, PA 18201

717-455-3211

Byorek's is just about six-seven miles south of I80 on highway 309.

HI,

You found anything is a blessing to us to troll that road. I will link or post to a few we have found.

Thanks!

Regards,

Hi,

We often leave for the NJ suburbs of NYC in the evening from Chicago. We drive about 6-7 hours until we cross the PA border, which is the half way mark. We often stay at a Howard Johnson in Mercer, PA mostly out of habit with a nod toward breakfast comes with the room, which cuts one less stop.

The restaurant attached to this Inn is not a Howard Johnson's restaurant. I have not yet eaten there because of the hour we usually arrive, though I have read the menu. What I have always wanted to try there is their white pizza. My parents did stop in on their trip home for dinner and didn't particularly like the white pizza. I can't say I am expecting greatness, I simply want something a little different to liven up a tedious trip.

Howard Johnson Inn Mercer
I-80 And US 19 Road 6
Mercer, PA 16137
http://www.hojo.com
724-748-3030

We have experimented with various truck stops because there is always this suggestion they are competing for the driver's business. We've been to Sapp's Brothers and didn't find it worthwhile. There is another truck stop where the restaurant has a name like Grandma's Coffee Pot or something like that. Their logo is a pink tea pot which is tipped to pour. We've tried the buffet, we've tried ordering a la carte, we've given up.

At the half way point in PA, which means lunch time, we have found a place in (Harry*) Bellafonte, PA named Schnitzels Tavern in the basement of a Civil War era hotel on a riverbank. The food is German, the town is picture-esque and it is off the expressway. The food is not as great as can be found in Chicago, though it is certainly better than any offering immediately off the highway. If you walk upstairs to the hotel, it has a Miss Habersham quality of nothing being touched since the day it opened.

Schnitzels Tavern
We Are Schnitzels
315 West High Street
Bellefonte, PA 16823
814-355-4230

If you drive a little bit around town, you might find the bed and breakfast in a restored Victorian red stone (I think it is red stone) which has me dying for a tour. On the 2nd floor toward the rear is green house/atrium which you might see on a Prairie Avenue home. Unexpected in midstate Pennsylvannia or anywhere else, which always causes me to wonder where did the money come from. Probably mining, though it could have been independent wealth.

I expect I might be on I-80 in the near future, I will try to keep track of where we were disappointed so you can at least avoid those pitfalls. There is also an early Roadfood recommendation near the PA-NJ border, which we have visited a few times. I'll get back to you soon on that.

*Years ago in my other life, I used to watch the closed circuit English television programs offered to foreigners in my complex. The very earnest master of ceremonies was always making very earnest mispronounciations of English words. On one occasion, he was talking about the exciting music of American singer Gary Bellafonte and I'd talk back to the television, "It is Harry! Harry!" I knew the origins for this error resided in the Russian language. The 'H' in English to Russian transliterations was the Russian letter whose sound was similar to a 'G.' You could hear Hitler referred to as Gitler, for example. The letter 'X' in Russian in my opinion might be a better substitute though very hard sounding from our point of view. Though they would avoid these laughable situations from our vantage point.

Regards,

Hi,

When we leave NJ for home, we are often leaving before breakfast just to get beyond the NY-NJ traffic. Once we have crossed the Del Water Gap, then we begin to think about food.

Long ago, the Stern's recommended The Family Diner in White Haven, PA, which can be reached at the exit called White Haven off of I-80. This is an old mining town with steep roads but if you sense your way toward the center of town it is an easy place to find within several minutes. I am pleasantly surprised to find the Stern's still include this place in their recent edition of Roadfood.

This is a simple diner and not a truck stop, which by itself is a reason to go. It is also an opportunity to try chipped beef, scrapple and a pork roll. Since this is a real small town, people are simultaneously ignoring you and checking you out.

The Family Diner
302 Main Street
White Haven, PA
Tel: 717/443-8797

Both the scrapple and the creamed chipped beef at the Family Diner are just first rate (if creamed chipped beef can ever be said to be first rate). When we were there a few years ago, my son enjoyed his pancakes as well. The scrapple was, I must say, more crispy and less mushy inside than at the Knotty Pine.

GAF wrote:Both the scrapple and the creamed chipped beef at the Family Diner are just first rate (if creamed chipped beef can ever be said to be first rate).

GAF,

Why couldn't it?

Creamed Chip Beef, the legendary Sh*t on a Shingle, is probably one of the most maligned dishes ever served...and yet, why couldn't it be made well? Recently, I gave Fettucine Alfredo a shot, having loathed it for a long time, and it was as abominable as I had recalled, and yet, and yet, it COULD have been good, it could be good. Why not Creamed Chip Beef?

David "Always Asking the Big Questions" Hammond

I did say "if." Yes, Family Diner comes pretty darn close, and, remember, I did order it.

The problem involves neither the Sh*t or the Shingle, but the blanket of goo above. If smooth and clean, it can be a platonic version of S.O.S. but not one that necessarily has a repeted siren call.