Category: Closed

Editor’s Note: Blue Star Family Restaurant is now closed. The dining car from the restaurant has been moved to a campground near Williamsport, PA.

We never went out to eat a lot when I was a kid. But when we did, it was usually to Risser’s Family Restaurant in Stouchsburg.

It was always a favorite, a good diner with plenty of food at reasonable prices. And I absolutely loved their Pennsylvania Dutch specials.

When Risser’s closed in the wake of owner Ernie Risser’s death, it left much of western Berks and eastern Lebanon Counties looking for a place to go.

But the restaurant was reborn in late 2015, and the new Blue Star Family Restaurant is trying to create its own loyal following.

The restaurant’s name harkens back to the 1950s when the Blue Star Diner first opened in the spot, decades before Ernie Risser took it over. More than the name has changed, though, as the restaurant has undergone a significant overhaul under the new ownership.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the wall mural that canvasses one side of the dining room. The images of Pennsylvania Dutchmen and Dutchwomen, horses and buggies is as vibrant as ever, though a row of booths have been added where the dining room was once all tables.

The mural seems out-of-place now. The menu is no longer filled with Pennsylvania Dutch favorites (it’s unlikely that you’ll find stuffed pig stomach on the specials either). And the wall-mounted televisions are in stark contrast to the depictions of simple farm life.

One of the highlights of the old Risser’s was the expansive soup and salad bar. The current version has been scaled back. Gone is the soft ice cream machine (yes, that was part of the soup and salad bar). Two soups are offered daily instead of six. And while the ever-popular hot bacon dressing is no longer on the salad bar, it is still available by request.

I filled a bowl of beef vegetable soup and made a simple salad for the side. The soup was good, but a little too brothy with only a few small pieces of beef.

Julie grabbed a wider variety for her salad: mixed greens, bacon bits, hard-boiled egg, cheese and ranch dressing with applesauce and red skin potato salad on the side. The potato salad was the one thing that Julie could point to and say she didn’t enjoy as much as Risser’s. It was creamier than what the old restaurant served and not done in the Pennsylvania Dutch style.

Though the PA Dutch dinners are gone, the menu remains expansive with sandwiches, burgers, paninis, seafood entrees, comfort food dinners , pasta and a section of sautéed dishes.

That’s where I found the chicken Milano: chicken breast with roasted peppers, artichoke hearts and spinach in lemon garlic wine sauce over pasta.

I’ve had similar dishes at other restaurants and this was as good as any of them. The sauce wasn’t thick, but it soaked into everything, especially the chicken, giving the whole dish a hint of citrus and the familiar taste of garlic.

Along with the salad bar, my dinner came with one side. My choices were a baked potato, mashed potatoes, French fries, sweet potato fries, potato pancakes, corn nuggets or mac and cheese. None of them really go with pasta (and quite frankly, the soup and salad bar was enough because I took more than one-quarter of my meal home). I just went with the baked potato because it was first on the list.

Baked potatoes are not normally a go-to for me when dining out, and I was reminded why. The potatoes rely too much on add-ins for their flavor. I would have loved some chives and bacon. All I got was two little cups of butter and one cup of sour cream to spread on my foil-wrapped potato that was slightly undercooked. Next time I’ll try the fries.

On the other side of the table, Julie was enjoying a tower of roast beef on her open-faced sandwich. Partnered with mashed potatoes and loaded with gravy, it looked like Risser’s (the fact that it was served on a plate from the old restaurant, with its distinctive brown trim, probably helped).

It was true diner food done really well. The thin slices of beef were good, the gravy was flavorful and filling. The only thing I could say negatively about it was that the “real mashed potatoes” seemed a little too much like everyone else’s. It lacked that special something you expect from homemade versions.

On this occasion, we were dining with Julie’s family, her mom, dad, aunt and uncle. The dish that got the most attention around the table was macaroni and cheese, ordered by both her mother and aunt.

The mac and cheese was a special for the day and was definitely homemade. The noodles were tossed in creamy white American then doused in a pile of bright yellow cheddar. Everyone who tasted it raved about it and said they would get it if it was available next time.

One thing I can say for certain is that we all got our money’s worth. Julie and I spent less than $25 for our two meals (plus an iced tea for me).

The Blue Star Family Restaurant is not Risser’s. It’s a new restaurant doing things its own way.

That’s not a bad thing. And judging by the full parking lot when we arrived and when we left, I’d say a lot of people agree.

Potts’ U closed in late 2016. The space is now home to the Saucony Cafe.

Philadelphia has cheesesteaks. The Lehigh Valley has hot dogs.

And when it comes to the battle for supremacy, there are two names at the top of the list: Yocco’s and Potts’.

Yocco’s has been around longer, but the Potts family are no rookies. They opened their first location in 1971 and have expanded to include locations in Allentown, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Emmaus and Northampton.

In 2014, they arrived in Berks County, opening Potts’ U in the shadow of Kutztown University.

Potts’ U’s surroundings are very familiar. Until the summer of 2014, the building had been home to CC’s Wooden Grill, a place that I loved and blogged about two years ago.

Stepping back in, it was a bit surreal. Other than a fresh coat of yellow paint, the dining room hadn’t changed much.

I missed the smell of the wood chips from the smoker, but I appreciated the addition of the menu screen above the open kitchen.

One thing that you’ll find with Potts’ is that each location has its own unique menu, despite the fact that they are all still owned by the same family.

At Potts’ U in Kutztown, they decided to branch out. While hot dogs are still the star attraction, you’ll also find pulled pork barbecue, French fries, soup and the craziest addition of them all: empanadas.

I was so happy to see that Potts’ U offered a “sampler” special: one hot dog, one empanada, one side and a drink for less than $7.

If you order your hot dog with “The Works,” you get mustard, onions and chili sauce (ketchup, relish, sauerkraut and pickles are also available for free, with extra charges for cheese and bacon). I skipped on the mustard and just went with the onions and chili.

In 40 years of Potts’ restaurants, they have figured out how to make the perfect hot dog. It had that crispy outside that’s a sign of a well-done dog. The chili was delicious: meaty, a little salty and just a little sweet. And they put on just the right amount of raw onions to get that flavor I was looking for without overpowering the hot dog.

The real surprise was the empanada. They had two choices on the board for the day: taco and buffalo chicken. I went with the taco and really enjoyed it. It wasn’t overly stuffed with the ground beef, but it was  filled nicely with a little zest and a great flavor overall.

And the thin-cut, fast-food style fries were a perfect way to finish off the tray.

Julie had the same idea as me, but she opted for just ketchup on her hot dog. She also switched it up on the empanada, going with the buffalo chicken, instead.

The buffalo sauce was strong, but not overly hot (her tolerance for heat is lower than mine, but she handled hers well). The chicken was chopped up very fine in the sauce, mostly serving as substance for the sauce to stick to.

We had arrived in the middle of a mini-rush for lunch so our food took a few minutes to come out (only one person was working, taking orders and building the hot dogs), but for a delicious meal at a price tag of just $15, it was easily worth the wait.

Potts’ U does the Potts family proud, and it has been a great addition to Kutztown’s restaurants scene. It’s great food with better prices and a location that’s ideal for students and residents alike.

Hopefully it’s a recipe for a long-lasting restaurant.

Editor’s Note: Lavigna & Son’s closed in July 2018. The building and neighboring greenhouse were sold and are being torn down to make room for a new hardware store.

There is no shortage of lunch spots in Berks County. From the city to the smallest towns, you don’t have to look far to find the local sandwich shop.

But there are some places that are a cut above the rest, places that offer the perfect combination of great food, fast service and convenient location like Lavigna & Sons.

Lavigna & Sons is one of two restaurants that were added to the Spayd’s at Green Valley Nursery complex outside Sinking Spring. Along with Crave Cafe, they have helped revitalize the shops by turning them into the go-to lunch spot.

The two restaurants compliment each other well. Crave opens every day for breakfast and has the vibe of a trendy coffee shop. Lavigna & Sons doesn’t open until 10 a.m. and feels like what it is: a South Philly-style hoagie shop.

There are maybe 10 tables in the place, all of them basking in the sunlight from the large picture windows (though none offer much of a view. Most face the parking lot; two overlook Route 422).

Brightening the room isn’t the only benefit of so much sunlight. Pots along the window sills are lined with herbs, including a row of six basil plants.

There are exactly 30 items on the menu at Lavigna & Sons — 24 hoagies, three salads and three hot sandwiches.

When you think of Philadelphia style sandwiches, you probably think of hoagies or Philly cheesesteaks. There are no cheesesteaks on the menu, but there is the other classic Philadelphia sandwich: roast pork.

Very few places in Berks County do a Philly-style roast pork sandwich. The best I have found is at the San Marco Italian Food Festival. At least that was the best until I found Lavigna & Sons.

I ordered a whole hoagie (approximately a foot-long roll) with broccoli rabe, sautéed spinach, Italian long hot peppers and slices of provolone. It was an incredible sandwich.

The pork was chopped so fine it practically looked like crumbs compared to the pile of broccoli rabe that concealed it. The meat was so flavorful and juicy, I would have eaten it on its own. But that slight bitterness of the broccoli rabe and the spicy sweet from the peppers made it perfect.

But those Italian long hots are evil. I thought I could handle spicy. It turns out that I can’t. I had one bite that was just peppers, cheese and bread, and that was enough to have my chugging on my orange cream Kutztown soda.

The roll — a delicious hard roll with sesame seeds (optional) — did nothing to temper the heat. Neither did the bag of Deep River potato chips. Every bite just made it worse until I had to start skimming the pork and rapini off the top (the long hots were lining the bottom of the roll).

Julie had no such problems with her sandwich, the South Philly Italian. Number 1 on the menu, the South Philly Italian featured capacolla, genoa salami and prosciutto with provolone cheese.

All hoagies are served with lettuce, tomato, onions, spices (what spices, I’m not sure) and olive oil. Like mine, the ingredients were falling out of the roll onto the plate with the first bite.

What really made the sandwich was the prosciutto. The flavorful cut made this stand out among other Italian sandwiches.

The great thing about hoagies is that they are quick to make. It only took about five minutes from the time we ordered until they were delivered to our table. The other great thing about them is that they are relatively inexpensive. We paid $20 for our two hoagies (one half, one whole), two Kutztown sodas and a bag of chips.

Lavigna & Sons promises Philadelphia hoagies, and they are delivering on that promise with some of the best sandwiches in the county.

It’s a can’t-miss for your lunch break.

Editor’s Note: The Outside Inn closed in August 2018. No restaurants have taken over the space.

As an avid hockey fan, I try to make as many Reading Royals games as I can every season. I love everything about the experience at Santander Arena, but lately I’ve been wanting something more out of the dining experience.

Food at the arena can get expensive. It’s hard for two people to eat for less than $25, and for that you’re getting a cardboard tray to take back to your seats, which are not quite big enough to accommodate both you and your food.

That’s the struggle we’ve gone through in nearly every game we have attended in recent years. Finally I decided it was time for something different.

We drove into town early, nearly an hour before the doors opened. We were the first car on the parking lot, picked out the perfect pull-through space and headed a block west of the arena for dinner at the Outside In.

On the second floor of the Santander Building, overlooking Penn Street on one side and the lobby on the other, the Outside In has carved a niche as a breakfast and lunch spot for those living and working downtown.

Normally, the restaurant only opens its doors between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, but it makes exceptions when there’s an event at the Arena (all additional hours can be found on the events tab of the Outside In’s website).

The dinner menu is very similar to the usual lunch menu with the addition of a handful of entrees like crab cakes, coconut breaded shrimp and the smokehouse chicken grill (chicken tenders topped with ham, barbecue sauce and Jack cheese).

Just like at lunch time, Outside In offers the “Souper Salad Bar,” both as an all-you-can eat dinner option or as an add-on to your sandwich or burger.

The salad bar includes two soup options, salad greens and all of the toppings, six different dressings and rolls. I grabbed a cup of beef and rice soup to go with my salad of lettuce, onions, green peppers and cucumbers.

The soup reminded me of a beef barley soup, but with rice as the grain. There were chunks of tomato and other vegetables in a broth that the rice helped to thicken. Between that and my salad, it definitely hit the spot and helped stave me over until my main course arrived.

It was a tough choice, but I decided on the taco burger my entree. It is exactly as it sounds: a hamburger topped with taco meat, lettuce, tomato, olive, onion, cheese (which I passed on) and southwestern sauce.

The crumbles of taco meat barely stayed on the burger before I took a bite. Afterward, bits rolled all across my plate. It would have been a little less sloppy if the hamburger patty had been dusted in the taco seasoning instead of adding the taco meat, and it probably could have used a little more southwest sauce to really add some kick. Overall though, it was a very good burger.

All burgers are served with your choice of fries, but there really is only one option at the Outside In, and that’s the Brew City fries. These beer-battered delights are the perfect addition to any meal. I made it through all of mine and a handful of Julie’s as well (for the record, she offered them to me).

For her main dish, Julie went with the English pub ciabatta, one of four hot ciabattas on the menu. Her sandwich was built with just four ingredients: ciabatta bread, roast beef, onions and cheddar cheese sauce.

Julie was a little worried about ordering the sandwich, fearing that it would just be lunch meat on a roll. While the roast beef was essentially lunch meat, it was grilled and very tasty, especially when paired with the cheese sauce. The ciabatta roll made it even more enjoyable. In the end, she was very pleased with it.

In the end, we spent about as much at the Outside In as we would have inside the arena, but it felt better paying $25 for a sit-down meal with made-to-order food. The service was certainly better and we didn’t have to stand in line for 20 minutes just to place our order.

I’m sure that I have plenty more Royals games ahead of me this season. And while I know that I will continue to look for new places around the Arena, I’m sure that I will be back at the Outside In before too long.

Editor’s Note: La Abuela Mexican Restaurant quietly closed in early 2026. Archie’s Taqueria opened in the space in 2026.

A few months ago, Julie and I were walking through West Reading during the annual Fall Fest on the Avenue. As we made our way down Penn Avenue, we paused outside La Abuela Mexican Restaurant, the newest restaurant in town at the time.

The owners were standing outside, handing out photocopied versions of the menu to everyone walking past. I was intrigued, but I always like to give a restaurant some time before making a visit.

Fast-forward to a Friday night in November, in need of a place for dinner that was close to home. I dug through our pile of menus and came across the La Abuela menu I picked up two months ago. My decision was made.

La Abuela is located in the old Van’s Cafe, next to Subway on the 400 block of Penn Avenue. It has a major advantage over many of the other restaurant’s along West Reading’s main thoroughfare: a row of customer parking spaces on a private lot behind the building.

The most notable change in the building since the new restaurant took over the space is the floor-to-ceiling map of Mexico. Bright shades of orange, yellow, purple and green highlight the country and neighboring Guatemala, home to one of the restaurant’s co-owners.

In English, La Abuela translates to “Grandmother.” A picture of an elderly grandmother adorns the menu, which is filled with traditional Mexican dishes.

It also includes 10 flavors of Jarritos, a brand of Mexican soda. I enjoy these sodas so much more than American soda because they are made with real cane sugar (and a lot of it. A two-serving bottle contains more than 50 grams).

But what I love more than the soda is the food. I couldn’t wait for our meal so I ordered an appetizer of flautas, fried tacos filled with chicken and topped with homemade salsa, queso fresco, Pico de Gallo and sour cream.

The crispy tortillas ate like an egg roll with more flavor coming out of every crunchy bite. The sour cream and queso fresco helped temper the spices in the salsa. I probably could have gone through a couple plates of flautas and left very happy.

Instead I finished off my share and waited for my tacos al pastor to arrive. Normally, I go for something heavier like enchiladas or fajitas, but marinated pork with pineapple, sautéed onions and cilantro sounded too good to miss.

I was not disappointed. The meat was so tender and flavorful. With the sautéed onions, it ate more like fajitas than tacos.

Three different salsas accompanied the dish, including a cup of fresh-made guacamole. It was so smooth with the right mix of cilantro and mild heat. The other two salsas — one a Pico de Gallo, the other a tomatillo sauce — were good in their own right (the Pico was probably my favorite of the two), but the guacamole was perfect.

While I was enjoying my tacos, Julie was digging into her enchiladas verdes. Like me, she opted for something a little out of her comfort zone as she normally enjoys her enchiladas with a red sauce, but she greatly enjoyed this change of pace.

The chicken was juicy and spicy, but not hot. The cheese was melted inside the tortillas as well as sprinkled on top.

Her favorite part of the meal might have been the refried beans, which she called the best she has ever eaten. I would tend to agree.

The beans were made using black beans so they looked more appealing than the brown beans we get at most restaurants. The black beans also gave it a richer flavor.

After we had our fill, Julie asked our waiter for a box for her last enchilada. Our waiter, one of the co-owners, tried to talk us into dessert, saying it was better than dinner. Unfortunately we had no room left in our stomachs to confirm his claims.

We had arrived early for dinner, about 5 p.m., and there were not many others in the restaurant with us. By the time we were finished an hour later, it had begun filling up for dinner so it took our waiter a little longer to take our check (about $35) and see us on our way.

After a delicious, and quite filling meal, I was glad that I found the menu earlier that day. La Abuela was definitely the right choice.

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

La Abuela
448 Penn Ave
West Reading, PA 19611

Editor’s Note: Phamous Phil’s is now closed.

Berks County Eats crosses the county line to bring you some of the best dining both near and far. This edition takes us 45 minutes east of Reading to Collegeville, PA.

I have talked often in this blog about my love of barbecue, especially the great options we have here in Berks County.

But the barbecue boom is alive and well outside our borders, too. In neighboring Montgomery County, Phamous Phil’s BBQ is doing southern-style barbecue a little differently, but as well as anyone else.

The restaurant gained some notoriety in 2013 when it appeared on the short-lived Food Network series Restaurant Divided.

On the show, co-owners Phil and Robin Schmidt had competing visions for the restaurant. Phil wanted a barbecue joint. His wife wanted a chophouse.

In case you were wondering who won, the sign above the door now says “Phamous Phil’s BBQ.”

The address says Collegeville, but Phil’s flagship restaurant is actually located in the village of Evansburg, just west of the state park of the same name.

Driving from Berks County, it’s best to keep your eyes peeled. If not for the large parking lot next to the building and the small sign out front, there’s not much to distinguish Phamous Phil’s from the houses along the road. The two-story building, complete with vinyl siding and blue shutters, blends in with the residences on Germantown Pike.

Inside, Phil’s looks like — if there is a such a thing — a typical barbecue restaurant. The walls are adorned with things like old license plates, antlers and antique machinery. There’s also a push-pin map asking “How far did you come for great BBQ?”  with at least one tick in most of the 48 states plus some in Canada and Alaska.

Feeling very much in the barbecue spirit, I decided to order a glass of the fresh-brewed iced tea (for those who prefer something a little harder with your BBQ, Phamous Phil’s is a BYOB).

It came served in a mason jar with a second glass of simple syrup to sweeten it to your taste. As someone who has ripped through sugar packets to sweeten iced tea in the past, I gladly took advantage of this easy alternative (and probably used a little too much, if that’s even possible).

Like all great barbecue restaurants, Phamous Phil’s serves all of your favorite smoked meats like ribs, brisket and chicken, but the menu also includes some originals, like the Sloppy Phil, a sloppy Joe made with rib ends, and my choice, the smoked meatloaf.

The meatloaf is crafted in-house with Phil’s own barbecue seasoning then smoked to give it the beautiful pink smoke rings around the outside.

Phamous Phil has three unique sauces available to pair with your meal. The Inphamous sauce is the original sweet, mild barbecue. The Jacked Up barbecue is a hotter version of the original. And the Phired Up hot sauce is exactly as it sounds.

I poured some Jacked Up sauce on my meatloaf sandwich and dug in. The sweet-hot flavor of the sauce was perfect with the smoky meatloaf. The meat was very tender, almost melting in my mouth with every bite.

While sandwiches are all served with a side of chips, I decided that I needed just a little more and ordered some potato casserole. The blend of chunky potatoes and just the right amount of cheese was a great addition to the meal.

Another one of the unique menu items at Phamous Phil’s is the chicken salad sandwich. While you can find this at a lot of delis around the area, Phil’s puts a unique spin on it by using smoked chicken as the base.

The smoked chicken is mixed with mayo, celery and a spice blend to create a chicken salad sandwich unlike any other. Having the smoked chicken gave it an added flavor depth that Julie really enjoyed on her sandwich.

After having our fill of barbecue, we made the drive back to Berks County full, satisfied and only a little lighter in the wallet — our total bill came in under $25.

I always love good barbecue, no matter where I find it. And I found it at Phamous Phil’s.

Editor’s Note: The Greshville Inn is now closed. A new location for Plaza Azteca opened in the space in the summer of 2021 but closed in 2025. The space is currently empty.

It’s a rare occasion when I don’t have a restaurant in mind for the weekly review. Usually it’s planned out days, if not more than a week, ahead of time.

But this week was different. We were headed to Boyertown to the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles. The town’s Oktoberfest celebration was being held on the same day, and many of the town’s restaurants were closing their doors to participate.

We went to Boyertown with no plan, driving out St. Lawrence Avenue and continuing along the Boyertown Pike (Route 562). I made note of all the restaurants we passed on our way, just in case we couldn’t find something downtown.

As much as I wanted to try all of the stands at Oktoberfest, I really wanted a sit-down meal for my review. So after walking out empty-handed, we hopped back in the car, headed about a mile west of town and pulled into the parking lot at the Greshville Inn.

TripAdvisor had listed the Greshville Inn as the No. 2 restaurant in the Boyertown area. The parking lot was mostly empty. Inside, there were two ladies sitting at a booth and guy at the bar. The rest of the dining area was empty.

But the Greshville Inn is more of a dinner and drinks place than a lunch stop so we were not all that surprised.

We were led into the dining room to a table for two that sat next to a large aquarium, with two oversized goldfish and one silvery fish whose scales were losing their luster.

The trio provided our entertainment during the meal, especially the larger of the goldfish who spent the entire time digging around the bottom of the tank, sucking stones and spitting them back out against the glass.

On its website, the Greshville Inn says that it is “proud to offer the largest American home cooked cuisine selection available in the greater Boyertown, PA region.”

It’s a mouthful, and a little deceiving. The dinner menu isn’t very large at all: two chicken dinners, three steaks, a veal Oscar, four seafood dishes and an array of appetizers and sandwiches. The lunch menu added another handful of options though three of them were crossed out.

One of the sandwich selections was the hard-carved roast beef. It sounded too good to pass up.

The toasted roll was overstuffed with meat and sliced in half. A small cup of au jus was set in the center for dipping, and the plate was flanked by a pile of fries.

It was excellently done. The beef was cooked perfectly. The au jus gave it a softer texture that made it easier to put down. And the fries were great as well.

Julie’s meal didn’t stray far from me as she opted for the prime rib French dip. Served on an Italian roll, the meat wasn’t packed in as tight. The addition of melted Swiss cheese gave it a richer flavor and the use of prime rib meat gave the sandwich a richer flavor.  It was an excellent—and filling—sandwich in its own right.

It took a little while for our bill to arrive. The only waitress on staff was doubling as the bartender. And while no one else came into the dining room while we were there, the stools had begun filling up for the college football games.

Our total was only $22 for two sandwiches that were hearty enough to hold us over for the rest of the day.

The Greshville Inn may not have been my first choice on this day, but it ended up being a great meal. Sometimes your second choice turns out pretty good.

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

Greshville Inn
1013 Reading Ave
Boyertown, PA 19512