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Dragon 21 – CLOSED

triangular awning with purple background and the words "Dragon 21" in yellow and "Chinese restaurant" in white

Dragon 21 is now closed. The restaurant closed days after our visit after losing an eminent domain battle against the county and the borough of Fleetwood. Read below for the story of a lost local business.

It’s never a good thing to see a restaurant close.

Restaurants are more than just a business venture, they’re employers, economic drivers and most importantly, a part of the community. When one closes, a piece of a community is lost.

Dragon 21 has been a part of the community in Fleetwood and beyond for 15 years, but it’s time is almost up.

The borough of Fleetwood and the Berks County Redevelopment Authority have taken the property via eminent domain. The building that houses the restaurant will be razed in order to redesign the intersection of Main and Franklin Streets, leaving Dragon 21 without a home.

And according to the owners, the government’s compensation is not enough to enable them to reopen in a new location.

While I had never been there before last week, several of my closest friends grew up in the area and were practically raised on Dragon 21. The news of the imminent closing hit my friend Mike especially hard as he took to social media to voice his displeasure.

Anybody that knows me understands that it’s nearly impossible for me to get super angry. However, I just found out that Dragon 21, run by an insanely hard-working Chinese family in Fleetwood, is getting thrown out of their building and shut down by the Berks County Redevelopment Authority (to decrease “truck traffic”)…It’s disgusting how the government can take something away so easily, while offering unfair compensation (way, way less than professional appraisal) for the business to get a new start in another location…At the end of the day, my heart breaks for this caring, diligent, respectful family following the American Dream.

A faded mural graces the west side of the building, a leftover from the Fire and Ice Cafe that operated there in the late 90s. Paint is peeling, and in other places, is gone completely.

There’s no denying that the building has become an eyesore, but according to the owners, that falls on the borough. Fleetwood officials told them to stop all repairs nearly a decade ago.

Built in 1860, the three story building is old, but the former general store lacks historical or architectural significance that could save it from the wrecking ball.

The entrance to Dragon 21 faces away from the street. It’s tucked away in the back corner of the building, hidden from view to anyone not travelling west along Main Street.

Inside, it’s your typical Americanized Chinese restaurant: a handful of tables that no one is using surrounded by stereotypical dragon motif. It’s a place that was built for takeout and little else.

One thing that is clear immediately is a sense of community. The takeout counter is littered with cards and flyers for other Fleetwood businesses and organizations. For as many supporters as Dragon 21 has, the restaurant gives back equally to its community.

plate with an order of fried wontons

I invited Mike to join us for what would be our first—and likely, only—visit to Dragon 21, and he talked us into sharing an order of fried wontons to start. Crispy outer shells held a piping-hot mixture of meat and vegetables. There was nothing extraordinary about them, but once I started, I couldn’t stop popping them in my mouth.

plastic cup with wonton soup

While we were chomping down on the wontons, Mike was doubling up with a bowl of wonton soup. He packed away an extra five or six dumplings before his dinner actually arrived.

Knowing that this was likely my only visit to Dragon 21, I decided to be boring with my main course and order the old stand-by, General Tso’s chicken.

plastic takeout container with general's chicken and fried rice

It’s amazing how much variation there is between different restaurants in their interpretation of the sweet and spicy classic. Dragon 21’s version had a teriyaki base with enough heat to keep me going back to my bottle of water throughout. The fried rice—the darkest I have ever seen—probably wouldn’t stand on its own, but it went really well with everything.

plastic take-out container of chicken with a cup of sweet and sour sauce

Mike went with another staple of Chinese fast food: sweet and sour chicken. The fried nuggets were served with a side of blood red sweet and sour sauce that had no nutritional value but was delicious nonetheless.

plate with three egg rolls stacked in a pyramid at Dragon 21

It was so good that I also used it to top my egg roll which I really did not need to eat, but still polished off anyway.

shrimp lo mein from Dragon 21 in Fleetwood

Julie at least ordered something a little different, opting for shrimp lo mein. It was a little odd that it was also served with fried rice, but the flavors were different enough to not compete with each other. The soy based lo mein was good, especially with the choice of shrimp over chicken.

Of the three of us, I was the only one who didn’t leave any for the next day’s lunch so between the three of us, we got five meals for less than $30.

To most, Dragon 21 is not unlike any other Chinese restaurant in Berks County. The menu, the ambiance, the to-go containers: all basically the same as anywhere else.

But that’s not the point. Dragon 21 was never meant as a place for someone like me living in Wyomissing.

As Mike said, “Yes, this is just a little Chinese restaurant. But it is MY little Chinese restaurant.”

Dragon 21 is Fleetwood’s little Chinese restaurant. And when it closes, a little piece of Fleetwood will be lost.

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Review: Tlacuani Mexican Restaurant and Grill

Metal sign hanging from a building with the words "Tlacuani Mexican Restaurant & Bar" carved in it

Since I started Berks County Eats as a part-time hobby in 2012, I have only had two dinners that didn’t live up to my expectations.

One of those was La Cocina Mexicana in Kutztown. It was one of my earliest reviews, and one of the most disappointing, with food that our party of four all found to be bland and tasteless, the complete opposite of what Mexican food should be.

La Cocina notwithstanding, there are still plenty of places in Berks County to get great Mexican food. One of those is Tlacuani Mexican Restaurant in Temple.

Tlacuani literally means “someone who eats things” or “glutton” in the Aztec language of Nahautl (thank you Google Books search). That suits me just fine because if the food’s good, I have no problem being a glutton when I go out to eat.

Dining room filled with brightly colored tables and chairs - one set is green, one set is red, one set is orange

The dining room is vibrant. Some would call it gaudy. The tables, each one carved with a scene of life in Mexico, are painted in bright colors with matching chairs. Shades of orange, blue, red, green and pink pop against the off-white tile floor.

Carving on the back of a chair depciting a man in a sombrero riding a bull in front of a small village

Our six-person table, which felt empty with just the two of us, had a scene set outside an old adobe building. The sides and all of the chairs were painted green, with alternating scenes of rural towns and a man riding a ox.

It’s a stark contrast from the homey feel of the building overall. Our table was directly in front of the original fireplace. Above it, behind a sculpture on the mantle, is a metal plate that reads, “Temple Hotel. 1853.”

Basket of tortilla chips lined with white paper with chili pepper images and a blue cup filled with salsa

Like many (all?) Mexican restaurants, the meal began with free chips and salsa, but Tlacuani’s was unlike any we had tried before. The salsa was not the standard red tomato mixture. Instead, there were two options: a slaw-like mixture with green chilies mixed in, and a green syrup-like sauce.

Both packed a serious punch and had us refilling our drinks before we had got through half of our chips. Any worries we had about our meal being bland were quickly thrown out the window.

Tlacuani offers a more varied menu than some other Mexican restaurants we have tried before. Sure, there are plenty of options for enchiladas, burritos and tacos, but there seemed to be more entree options, or at least more than appealed to me, including the chiles en nogada.

Blue plate with rice, beans and stuffed poblano peppers

Two stuffed poblano peppers arrived, each one stuffed with a mixture of steak, pork, almonds and fruit, topped with white sauce and dried cranberries, and served with four tortillas.

The peppers easily peeled apart into strips that laid nicely on my shells. I piled on the filling (and rice and beans for good measure) and dug in. It was love at first bite. Poblanos are on the mild end of the heat spectrum, but that was enough spice to cut through the sweetness of the filling. The sauce was delicious, and though simple, the dried cranberries were a pleasant surprise every time I found one on my fork.

Sopes were another dish that I had not seen before. Perhaps I’ve skimmed over it in other places, but Julie spotted it on the menu at Tlacuani and decided to order it.

Plate with two sopes topped with tomatoes, lettuce and cheese

The description was rather vague, only saying that there would be two soft corn sopes topped with choice of meat, with beans, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese, but no mention of what a sope is. I blame my ignorance on the Pennsylvania Dutch in me.

It turns out that sopes are little corn pockets that look like hollowed-out waffles but are crispy like a taco salad shell. The meat (in this case, chorizo), was buried inside with the veggies loaded on top. It was close to a taco, but the sopes were heavier with more corn flavor. And the chorizo added all of the spice needed to make it a perfect dish.

We had really hoped to finish our meal with some fried ice cream, but neither of us had any room for dessert so we asked for our check—just under $30 for the two of us.

Three years ago, I walked out of La Cocina disappointed.

This trip to Tlacuani definitely did not disappoint.

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Good
Ambiance: Good
Price: Reasonable

Tlacuani Mexican Restuarant
5005 Kutztown Rd
Temple, PA 19560

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Basil Restaurant and Pizzeria – CLOSED

sign hanging on a covered walkway that reads "Basil Dine In Entrance"

Basil Restaurant and Pizzeria is now closed. The restaurant shut its doors in spring 2017. The location is now home to Juliana’s Italian Restaurant.

A great chef is critical to the success of a restaurant.

The chef is more than just a cook, he is the leader in the kitchen, and is the one responsible for sending the customers home happy.

Berks County has many great chefs (just check out either of the two Iron Chef competitions at Wilson or Hamburg), many of them classically trained in the Old World style.

One such chef is Chef Gianluca Longo, who created Basil Restaurant and Pizzeria in Fritztown.

Basil is hidden in a non-descript building that looks more like a warehouse than a restaurant. Even with the roadside sign, many people probably drive by without a second glance.

Inside, the restaurant is full of character. It is split into two rooms: the pizzeria and the dining room. The pizzeria is bright, open and filled with families.

The dining room has softer light, most of it coming from the lamps hanging on the burgundy walls. A never-ending waterfall cascades along the length of the rear wall.

In the back of the menu is a welcome letter from chef Longo where he tells the story of his climb through the culinary ranks, from his start as a dishwasher at age 11 in Catanzaro, Italy, through jobs in Milan and Miami, to the opening of Basil, his first restaurant.

The dining room menu is filled with Italian favorites, starting with pizza—choose from 14 specialty pies or create your own with more than 25 toppings—and continuing through a variety of chicken, seafood, beef and veal entrees.

Basil’s menu also includes a lengthy list of homemade pasta dishes, which is where my eyes started and ended.

I wanted to try angolotti, a ravioli dish filled with beef and prosciutto with bescaimella sauce, but was disappointed to learn that it was removed from the menu a month ago. So in its place, I settled on spinach ravioli.

spinach ravioli smothered in marinara sauce

I was expecting traditional ravioli filled with spinach, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was baked into the oversized pasta squares, evident by the green hue that stuck out beneath the sea of red.

Of course with a name like basil, the herb is going to make an appearance in every dish. It was very much a part of the sauce, giving it a distinct sweetness. I wouldn’t have minded a cup of it on the side to drink.

Each bite made me want more, and somehow I managed to pack away the whole dish.

garden salad topped with cheese and red peppers

Basil (the herb) even starred in the garden salad, where it was mixed with the sliced tomatoes for a delicious appetizer.

The stuffed shells, which Julie also ordered off the homemade pasta menu, were covered in marinara sauce and melted provolone cheese. A mix of beef and ricotta filled each one.

stuffed shells under red sauce and melted cheese

The sauce on her dish differed from my own, with a deeper flavor, one that tasted more like sun-dried tomatoes than those that are fresh-picked. It was a perfect match for the dish.

On this night, we also had Julie’s parents with us. Both of them were also very happy with their meals, even my father-in-law, who was still raving about his veal Parmesan the next day.

For the four of us, our total came in at just under $70, which seemed very reasonable knowing that I was the only one to clean the plate so we were taking three more meals home with us.

In Chef Longo’s letter, he ends with this: “Your satisfaction is not only my goal, but also my measure of success.”

In my mind, there is no doubt that Chef Longo is a success.

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Road Trip: Stephen’s on State

metal stamped logo for Stephen's on State in Media, Pa

Berks County Eats crosses the county line to bring you some of the best dining both near and far. This edition takes us an hour southeast of Reading to Media, PA.

As much as I love exploring (and tasting) Berks County, sometimes life takes me to faraway places.

That was the case last week as Julie and I ventured to Media, Delaware County, where her brother now calls home, and where we met her family for dinner on the town.

Media is one of Philadelphia’s most happening suburbs with a bustling downtown and a big city feel. There’s a lot to do, but more importantly, there’s a lot of places to eat.

A restaurant they always mentioned among the popular spots in Media was Stephen’s on State. On a recent visit, they suggested it for a nice dinner. They’re the experts so we just followed along.

State Street is essentially a row of restaurants packed one next to the other, and if you look at the review sites, Stephen’s has received mixed reviews.

One of the common complaints I see about Stephen’s on State is that the service is slow, but our waitress, who introduced herself as Julie (easy enough to remember), was very attentive all evening, constantly returning to refill our water and check on us throughout our stay.

We were seated at a round table tucked in a small alcove between the bar room and the more formal dining area. It was a tight squeeze for a table of six, but it never felt uncomfortable.

steak with butter atop a bed of mashed potatoes and green beans

Stephen’s dinner menu is not very big. There are 10 entrees to go with six choices of steak. Being at a steakhouse with a manly appetite, I chose one of Stephen’s “signature steak” options, a spice crusted steak with garlic shallot butter.

The big, beautiful cut of meat was served atop a bed of mashed potatoes and French cut green beans in a red wine sauce. And it was delicious.

The steak had a beautiful crust from the spices which helped seal in the juicy flavor. The spice combination reminded me a little of a Memphis rub—a little sweet, a little salty with the slightest kick at the end.

With every bite-sized piece that I cut, I soaked up as much of the red wine sauce as I could, especially as the steak began to shed its spicy coat.

As flavorful as the steak was, the mashed potatoes were a tad bland, but they did soak up the au jus which greatly helped.

Having few entrees to choose from and a much smaller appetite, Julie decided to create her own meal with a pair of appetizers.

crock of french onion soup overflowing with cheese

She started her meal with a cup of French onion soup. The presentation was beautiful with the bubbly cheese on top melting over the sides of the crock. It tasted just as good as it looked with a flavorful broth and plenty of onions and bread pieces throughout.

quesadilla cut in four quarters topped with avocado and diced peppers

Part two of her meal was very different, but just as cheesy: a smoked chicken quesadilla. The cheesy pocket was topped with salsa, guacamole and chipotle sauce. It was good, but we both agreed that the French onion was better.

basket of bread with sesame seed topping

Along with our meals, Stephen’s also gave us complimentary loaves of sesame seed-topped bread with olive oil dipping sauce, a delicious pairing that helped hold us over until our dinners arrived.

The other common complaint on review sites is related to price. Stephen’s is not inexpensive—my steak cost more than $30 and Julie’s pairing came to $15—but it didn’t feel unfair, especially for the amount of food and the quality of it. At the time, I did wish I had a starter salad, but I still left on a full stomach.

Stephen’s on State may not be a darling on Internet review sites, but the menu proudly proclaims 13 years in business in downtown Media. Our experience was great, and the busy bar area showed that it certainly has a loyal following among the locals.

Media is not a destination that many Berks Countians are likely to find themselves in. But those who go will surely not go home hungry. If Stephen’s on State is any indication, you’ll be going home happy too.

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Black Dog Cafe Closes Again and more food news

Black Dog Cafe Closes

The reincarnation of Stouchsburg’s Black Dog Cafe has closed, according to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. The original Black Dog Cafe closed in August of last year, but re-opened under new ownership in December. The new Black Dog Cafe was owned by the same partners as Johnny & Hon’s Smokehouse in Robesonia and Johnny & Hon’s Grill on Kutztown Road.

Van’s Cafe sets moving date

West Reading’s Van’s Cafe is readying for a move to its new location. A sign on the door of the current location at 448 Penn Ave says the restaurant will be closed starting June 22 and will re-open at its new location, one block west, on August 1. Van’s Cafe is a Vietnamese restaurant specializing in pho.

Wayback Burgers of Wyomissing offering BOGO burgers this weekend

Wayback Burgers of Wyomissing is celebrating its official grand opening this weekend with buy-one-get-one-free Wayback Classic burgers all day on Friday and Saturday. In conjunction with the event, Wayback Burgers will be holding a fundraiser for Relay for Life of Western Berks, with a representative from the charitable organization on hand all weekend. Though this week is the official grand opening, the restaurant has been open at the location since early February. Wayback Burgers is a fast casual chain specializing in burgers and shakes with locations in 22 states, including 17 in Pennsylvania.

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CeGee’s Drive-In – CLOSED

CeGree's Drive-In Blandon

Editor’s Note – CeGee’s Drive-In closed in 2020. A new restaurant, Fiore’s Grill ‘n Chill, now operates in the space.

When I go out to eat during the summer, I’m looking for something very different than any other time in the year.

I can’t explain why, but something about the warm months makes me crave less gourmet meals and more fast food. Thankfully, Berks County has no shortage of home-grown restaurants offering an alternative to the Big Mac.

A few weeks ago we traveled south on Route 222 to Boehringer’s. But a short drive in the other direction brings you to another summer-only spot where ice cream is king.

CeGee’s Drive-In sits on Fleetwood-Blandon Road, just a short piece from where the Route 222 bypass ends and the two-lane begins.

This season marks the 11th for CeGee’s. For the first nine of those years, the parking lot would fill up on select Saturday nights for the popular restaurant, a tradition that ended last year with the arrival of a new retail store next door that took away the extra parking needed.

Even without the cruise nights, the restaurant remains busy. When we arrived on a warm Saturday afternoon for lunch, most of the booths that lined that dining room were full with families.

One difference between CeGee’s and similar restaurants that we’ve visited like Boehringer’s and Schell’s is that CeGee’s has a much larger food menu than the others. In addition to the staples like hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries, the menu includes cheesesteaks, chicken fingers, and a variety of sides like jalapeno poppers and pierogis.

sign for CeGree's Drive-In in Blandon

But when the sign outside proclaims “Coney Island,” there’s really only one option.

Coney Island hamburgers are a favorite of mine, but there are not a lot of places in Berks County to get one anymore.

Coney Island hamburger on a paper plate

It’s a simple pleasure: a traditional hamburger patty covered in onions and Coney Island sauce, and CeGee’s does it really well. The sauce is somewhere between hamburger barbecue and chili with the meat ground really fine. It’s a just a little sweet, a great topper to a tasty burger.

burger topped with bacon and cheese on a paper plate

Julie also was hungry for a burger, ordering the bacon cheeseburger. The American cheese was melted on top of the bacon, smothering everything for a delicious meal.

basket of fries from CeGee's Drive-In

Planning ahead to dessert, we decided to split an order of fries. The thick cut spuds were good, but not unlike any other fast food joint.

While the lunch and dinners are good, it is ice cream that is CeGee’s real bread and butter, so to speak. The soft serve only comes in two flavors—vanilla and chocolate—but those two flavors are just a starting point for flavor burst dips, a dozen different sundaes, countless milkshake flavors and nor’easters, CeGee’s version of the Blizzard.

banana split from Cegee's Drive-In

And then there’s the classic banana split which was just too tempting to resist. Three mounds of soft serve topped with pineapple, chocolate and strawberries, a load of whipped cream and the obligatory cherry on top, it was perfection in a plastic boat.

soft ice cream blended with chcoolate cookies

A chocolate crunch nor’easter sounded good to Julie. Essentially cookies and cream, the vanilla soft serve was swirled with chocolate cookie bits. It’s impossible to go wrong with that flavor combination.

Dessert almost cost as much as our meal, which says more about how reasonable the food prices are at CeGee’s. All told, we spent just over $20 during our visit.

As with most of the summer drive-ins, there’s nothing fancy about CeGee’s. The food is good, the ice cream is fantastic, and there’s plenty of each to choose from.

It was a great place to satisfy my fast food craving.

BCE Rating
Food: Good
Service: Good
Ambiance: Very Good
Price: Very Reasonable

CeGee’s Drive-In
833 Park Rd
Blandon, PA 195

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Review: Laxmi’s Indian Grille

exterior of a strip mall business with a sign that reads "Laxmi's Indian Grille"

Berks County has been going through a restaurant boom for well over a year now. It seems like new restaurants have been popping up constantly in recent months.

And nowhere is that more evident than Wyomissing. For a while it felt like I was reporting weekly on a new restaurant coming to or opening in the Reading suburb.

Among those restaurants are a Philly-area sports bar, an Irish pub, a retro hamburger chain and two barbecue restaurants. But to me, the most intriguing of all of the new openings had to be Laxmi’s Indian Grille.

The State Hill Road location is the third for the Philadelphia-based operation. The first location in Manyunk led to a second in East Falls in 2013. Now, the micro chain has expanded west, all the way to Berks County.

Laxmi’s opened in January in a State Hill Rd strip mall that also included Mama’s Original Pizzza and Alebrije Mexican Restaurant (which has since moved).

A surprisingly large number of seats are squeezed inside the restaurant. Booths line the outside with four-person tables running through the middle.

brass holder with three small bowls of chutney - one gree, one red, and one dark brown

The tables are all pre-set with plates for appetizers and cloth napkins. Three chutney sauces are set in in the middle of the table waiting for the complimentary basket of papadum, a wafer-thin dish that is similar to a tortilla, but crispier.

a basket with two papadum from Laxmi's Indian Grille

It was light and airy, but did well to soak up the flavors of the chutney. Chutney is a very general term for a lot of different condiments, and the three on the table could not have been more different.

The first was a dark, reddish-brown sauce that was very runny. It was similar to a chili sauce, but thinner and with a little bit of fruity flavor to it. The second was the green chutney, which was close to a green taco sauce but the spice was more tolerable. The third, my favorite of the three, was tomato based and closer to salsa, but with bits of carrots. It was more sweet than spicy and the chunky texture was great for the papadum.

Laxmi’s menu is not very big, but it is diverse in its offerings. There are nine curry dishes, all of which can be served with vegetables, paneer (a type of south Asian cheese), chicken, lamb or seafood. There are also several tandoor-prepared items including kababs and tandoori chicken.

All of the items sounded delicious, but I finally decided on one of the curries: chicken jalfrezi.

metal bowl of chicken jalfrezi in red sauce with sliced peppers

Jalfrezi looks very similar to the more well-known tikka masala, but the two are very different dishes. Despite its red color, jalfrezi is onion-based. Green peppers, ginger and garlic are also listed as ingredients in the menu description.

The dish was very flavorful. The onions were easy to pick up, but more for the sweetness they added than for any potency. I dumped every last drop that I could onto my plate, dousing my pile of rice in the sweet red sauce.

white bowl with white rice topped with two green peas

Back in April, when I took a road trip to Saffron in Ambler, I thoroughly enjoyed their korma. I guess it sounded good to Julie because at Laxmi’s, she ordered the chicken korma.

metal bowl of chicken korma with slivered nuts on top

The two versions of the cashew-based dish were very similar. Both were creamy with a nice nutty flavor. The spices were a little stronger with Laxmi’s dish, making just that much better than what I tried a month ago.

Along with our main dishes, we ordered a side of naan. While Laxmi’s offered eight versions of the bread, but we went with the plain version.

basket with four pieces of buttered naan

It was anything but plain. It was soft and buttery, like pillowy pitas. They were perfect for soaking up the last of the jalfrezi on my plate.

Our total for the visit was just over $30, but we were probably closer to the low end of the price range (some of the tandoori entrees are in the $20-$25 range). Still, the food packs flavor that is well-worth the price.

Laxmi’s Indian Grille is one of many restaurant chains that have expanded into Berks County, but it may be among the best. If all of the new restaurants are of the quality of Laxmi’s, there’s going to be a lot of happy customers to go with them.

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Very Good
Ambiance: Excellent
Price: Reasonable

Laxmi’s Indian Grille
1806 State Hill Rd
Wyomissing, PA 19610

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Review: Letterman’s Diner – CLOSED

small building with a blue sign with orange letters that reads "Letterman's Diner"

Editor’s Note: Letterman’s Diner closed in January 2026. A former employee purchased the space and opened Selena’s Diner in the space in February 2026.

“Feeding the world, 23 seats at a time.”

That’s the slogan written on the shirt of a waitress at Letterman’s Diner in Kutztown. The busy breakfast and lunch spot is made busier by the fact that it only seats 23, most of them at the counter.

The seats go quickly, but the wait is never long. Service is quick, and in the time that we were there, only one group (a party of 7) actually left because of a lack of seating.

The cozy pre-fabricated diner that sits in the heart of downtown has been serving customers for more than 70 years. Since 1998, the restaurant has been known as Letterman’s and has been serving big flavor in big portions.

In the middle of a college town, it’s a place that caters more to the locals, the year-round residents who keep the restaurant jammed every morning even after the semesters end.

As we waited for our food, a couple came in, and I heard the young woman exclaim, “Look, I made the board!” This was Abby, for whom one of the daily specials, the Abby omelette, was named.

This is the type of thing that you will only find from a true neighborhood joint. I don’t know how many Abby omelettes (Swiss cheese, onions and potatoes) were sold, but I know at least one person who bought one.

Julie had her eye on one of the other daily specials, the porky omelette. As the name implies, the omelette was loaded with pork: smoked sausage, bacon and pulled pork with onions and cheddar cheese.

omelet with sausage and pulled pork overflowing on a plate with hash browns and toast

From our counter seats, we watched as all of the food was prepared on the small grill top. We watched as the eggs were cracked, as the massive sausage link hit the griddle, followed by the wad of pulled pork and four foot-long strips of bacon.

The omelette was no match for the mound of meat, splitting open on the plate to reveal the delicious contents. By itself, the pulled pork would have made a great sandwich. The sausage, also, could have served as a dinner entree at any area restaurant.

Because that just wasn’t enough, the omelettes also come with toast and homefries. It’s almost a shame that they give you so much food because the homefries are really good, but completely unnecessary at that point. The omelette is just too big, and too delicious to sacrifice.

I was almost jealous looking over at Julie’s gorgeous plate of food. Almost.

two slices of French toast topped with strawberries and whipped cream

That’s because in front of me was my own scale-breaking plate of food: strawberry stuffed French toast. Three slices of French toast, layered with cream cheese and topped with whipped cream and strawberries.

Each bite was decadent. It probably didn’t need the cream cheese because there was enough sweets with the whipped cream and strawberries to cover every bite.

plate of sweet potato fries covered in maple syrup

And I managed to finish every bite, despite making the mistake of ordering a side of sweet potato homefries (which actually turned out to be regular sweet potato fries). I only finished half of those and should never have ordered them to start.

We did take home half of my sweet potato fries along with half of Julie’s omelette and homefries. There’s enough Letterman’s in our fridge for at least two meals, which makes the price tag of a little over $25 (we also had two glasses of juice) a little easier to take.

Letterman’s is a place you could only find in a small town, a greasy spoon that caters to the local community and its loyal customers.

It’s a place that makes sure you never go hungry, but always leaves you wanting more.

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Very Good
Ambiance: Good
Price: Reasonable

Letterman’s Diner
242 W. Main St
Kutztown, PA 19530

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Vegetarian Mango Chicken from Chen Vegetarian House
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Review: Chen Vegetarian House

exterior of a restaurant with a light orange awning that reads "Chen Vegetarian House"

It is very hard for a Chinese restaurant to set itself apart. With so much competition—it seems as though there is at least one in every town—there has to be something unique, a hook that separates it from the pack.

One West Reading restaurant found a way to make its mark on the Berks County food scene by taking Chinese food in a new direction by giving it a vegetarian twist and making it more healthy.

That’s what makes Chen Vegetarian House different from the rest.

In addition to healthful foods, Chen offers a range of healthful drink options including 18 fruit and vegetable juices, five dairy-free smoothie flavors, and four kinds of hot teas.

large glass with a papaya smoothie

I was craving something sweet so I went with a papaya smoothie. Papaya has always been one of my favorite fruit flavors, but it’s one that isn’t readily available. The fruit has a light sweetness, a perfect base for a refreshing drink.

large glass with pineapple juice

Of the 18 juice bar options, more than half start with carrot. The rest are pure fruit, most mixed with ginger to add a little spice to the sweetness. Julie’s juice cocktail was a combination of apple and pineapple with a hint of ginger.

Chen Vegetarian House has some familiar sounding entrees on its menu: General Tso’s chicken, beef teriyaki, and sweet and sour chicken. But as a vegetarian restaurant, all of the “meat” is made from soy  and wheat. The shapes and textures are meant to resemble the real thing because sesame chicken sounds a whole lot more appealing than sesame tofu.

My original plan was to try the vegetarian version of General Tso’s, but the description of the mango chicken sounded so good that I changed my plans. And it was the right decision.

sliced mangos with a bowl of rice

The dish included strips of mango, “chicken,” onions and peppers tossed in citrus sauce and served inside a mango shell. The best part of the dish was the fresh mango, which took center stage over the tofu that was there strictly to absorb the sweet sauce and make the dish more filling.

I was actually happy that there was no meat in this dish because chicken would have made it too heavy. It was hard enough to finish the giant plate of food as it was, but I couldn’t let any of it go to waste.

plate with broccoli topped with vegetarian version of orange beef

Across the table from me, Julie went with the orange flavored beef. The tofu in this case was made to look and feel more like strips of steak and served atop a bed of broccoli. The orange tangerine glaze was thick and stuck to the tofu.

The flavor was spot on, sweet and tangy with just a little spice. The tofu came close to the right consistency, though it was a little chewier, closer to beef jerky than steak. Still, it was a great dish, one that Julie got two meals out of (it was just as good heated up as it was fresh, the mark of good Chinese food).

Not only are Chen’s dishes comparable to its meatier counterparts, but the prices are similar as well. Entrees are all in the $10-12 range. Our two specialty drinks put our final bill right at the $30 mark.

Chen Vegetarian House is truly unique in Berks County, a place that serves one-of-a-kind dishes not found anywhere else around.

And it’s meals like this that make Chen as good as, if not better than, all of the other Chinese restaurants out there.

BCE Rating
Food: Excellent
Service: Very Good
Ambiance: Fair
Price: Very Reasonable

Chen Vegetarian House
709 Penn Ave
West Reading, PA 19611

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Review: White Palm Tavern – CLOSED

exterior of an old small-town hotel

Editor’s Note: The White Palm Tavern is now closed. The location is now home to The Tavern at Centre and Main.

If you had asked me a few years ago to point out Topton on map, I don’t think I could have done it.

All I knew about it was that it was somewhere in the general vicinity of Kutztown and that I had played a Junior Legion baseball game there 15 years ago.

But as I continue eating my way across Berks, I continue to become more familiar with the place I call home, finding the best restaurants in every corner of the county.

Topton was a town that was still missing from my map 16 months after I began my weekly blog posts, but what better way to check it off my list than with a stop at one of the highest rated restaurants, not only in Topton, but in all of Berks County.

With no less than 4 1/2 stars across every review site, I had to try White Palm Tavern on my first trip to Topton.

White Palm Tavern is filled with subtle nods to the Caribbean. A copy of Islands magazine sat on the hostess stand atop the latest Berks County Living. Island-themed artwork hung from the light green walls in the dining room.

Much like Island Pizza in Birdsboro, White Palm Tavern has an island-themed menu: a hot roast beef sandwich becomes the Fiji; the Bora-Bora is actually a French dip.

White Palm Tavern promises patrons will “escape the ordinary,” and there are several menu items that enable you to do just that. We decided to start our meal with one of those one-of-a-kind appetizers: pretzellas.

mozzarella sticks battered in pretzels on a plate with marinara suace

Pretzellas are mozzarella sticks that are battered in crushed pretzels—a delicious mashup of two bar food favorites. The pretzel flavor was subtle, but it made for a crunchier, slightly saltier version of mozzarella sticks. With the marinara dipping sauce, it made for an excellent start to the meal.

The Tavern’s menu is dominated by sandwiches and burgers, but there are a select number of entrees that allow you to “escape the sandwich.” At the top of that list is a dish inspired, not by Latin America, but southeast Asia: Thai riblets.

ribs in Thai hot sauce over noodles

Don’t confuse these riblets with those at Applebee’s (which are actually button ribs); these are meaty, individual pork ribs that White Palm Tavern serves over rice noodles with a cup of sweet ginger sesame sauce on the side.

Without the sauce, the riblets reminded me of barbecue chicken (actually surprisingly close to Kauffman’s). Adding the sauce gave it a whole new flavor, sweet and spicy with a little saltiness thrown in. Ginger is one of my favorite spices, and I loved it with this dish.

Rice noodles absorb flavors very well so they already had the strong ginger flavor from the start. They were an excellent accompaniment, one that very much stood on its own.

While Julie didn’t escape the sandwich, her dinner was anything but ordinary as her eyes were set on the fruit wrap.

wrap filled with fruit on a plate with sliced kiwi, blueberries and strawberry

A fruit wrap is exactly what it sounds like: a tortilla shell filled with fruit—grapes, strawberries and bananas with cream cheese spread. As an added bonus, kiwi slices were served on the side.

The dish was sweet and delicious, one that could work well as breakfast or dessert. Somehow it even worked as a dinner entree. Served without a side, it was filling enough that you didn’t miss one.

We both left full, and my wallet left only a little lighter than when we arrived. Our dinner came in under $30, a little price for a lot of food.

It may not have been the Caribbean, but White Palm Tavern deserves its place as one of the hottest restaurants in the county.

I don’t know how the rest of Topton can top it, but with all the restaurants we passed on our way, the town has plenty of opportunities to try.

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Good
Ambiance: Good
Price: Reasonable

White Palm Tavern
5 Centre Ave
Topton, PA 19562

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