Piero is wedged in on the corner of Route 183 and Upper Van Reed Road in Leinbachs, just a short drive north of the Reading Airport and Route 222.
The location has limited parking in the front and on the side of the building, more than enough especially if you’re just stopping in to grab takeout (though Piero does have a decent size dining area for those who would prefer to dine-in.)
Our order was prepared quick and was ready to go by the time we made our way from Wyomissing to pick it up.
Piero’s, like many Italian family restaurants, offers a little bit of everything on their menu, including pizza, subs, salads, fried appetizers, burgers and Italian dinners.
I was in the mood for pizza but didn’t want a whole pie so I opted instead for a calzone.
All of Piero calzones are stuffed with ricotta and mozzarella and served with a side of marinara sauce for dipping. I decided to add meatballs to mine, creating something between a pizza and a meatball sandwich.
I was not disappointed. It was really the ricotta that sets the calzone apart. The lighter and creamier cheese adds a different element than just mozzarella (as would have been in a Stromboli).
The calzone was also the perfect size for one, though I couldn’t help but order a side of fries. They were the battered kind, fried to a golden crisp and perfect for eating one after another without thinking about it.
Julie, meanwhile, had a tuna melt – her favorite sandwich order. The sandwich was stuffed with tuna and overflowing with lettuce and tomato. The roll was toasted perfectly. It was a very good sandwich, and Julie gave it her stamp of approval.
And our toddler approved of his slice of pizza. Jakob enjoyed his pepperoni pizza. The thin crust pie was a solid offering, and Jakob even ate the pepperoni slices. (He has been known, in the past, to not eat his pepperoni because it is “too spicy”).
We also couldn’t help but order a half dozen of Piero’s ham puffs. Ham puffs are basically pepperoni rolls – rolls of dough filled with cheese and meat – but with slices of ham instead of pepperoni inside. Piero’s uses a very good dough for all of their items and it was just as good in the ham puffs.
Our meal was enjoyable across the board. It wasn’t anything earth-shattering, but Piero delivered on everything that we tried.
For everything we got, it was right around $30, not a bad price at all for so much food.
And good food, at that.
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Very Good Ambiance: Good Price: Reasonable
Editor’s Note: Nino’s has new owners since this review.
For nine years, Julie and I lived in the Berkshire Heights neighborhood of Wyomissing. We loved the location – close to the highway and within walking distance of all the great restaurants in West Reading.
We also had some great restaurants closer to home. Willoughby’s on Park is one of our favorites for fine dining. Mikura always had delicious Asian-inspired meals. And I had many chai tea lattes from the Park Road Café.
But the one place we had never visited was the restaurant that had been there the longest: Nino’s Pizzeria.
Nino’s is in their 26th year of serving Wyomissing and Berks County. When we knew we were going to be moving, Julie and I made a promise that we had to have dinner from Nino’s at least once before we left.
One night after packing boxes all day, we called in an order, and I walked down the street to the little Italian restaurant in the strip mall. On many of our walks, we would see people sitting inside enjoying their meals, but the chairs were all up on the tables when I walked in, a symptom of the COVID-19 pandemic and the tight restrictions on dine-in.
Talking with the owners, it was easy to understand their decision to focus exclusively on takeout and delivery. With such a small space, 25% capacity would only allow them to seat about 12 people. And with the extra protocols around cleaning and sanitizing tables, it just didn’t make financial sense to offer table service.
But the phone-in orders seemed to be coming in at a steady pace. And I was anxious to get the food back to the house to finally try it.
Julie and I had both opted for one of their Italian dinners. Julie went with her personal favorite, baked ziti, while I ordered the homemade lasagna.
Anytime I order from a restaurant that has a large menu – as Nino’s does – I am drawn to anything that says “homemade.” The connotation, at least, is that the dish takes time to make and it is one that the owners are proud to serve.
By the time I got home the lasagna was not much to look at – it shifted around in the foil packaging so it looked like a blob of cheese atop a blob of pasta and sauce – but it sure tasted good.
The menu describes the meat sauce as slightly sweet with a rich flavor, and I can’t describe it any better than that. The lasagna noodles weren’t the thinnest that I have seen, but they weren’t thick either. And there was plenty of cheese on top. It was definitely worthy of the “homemade” distinction.
Julie’s baked ziti was also very good (and also tasted much better than it looked in the to-go packaging). The tomato sauce was a little sweeter than the meat sauce on my lasagna, probably just because it didn’t have the extra savory element to it.
Both meals also came with a side salad and homemade bread. The side salads were pretty typical – lettuce with red onion, a slice of tomato and choice of dressing. But the bread was much more than typical.
Normally when something comes with bread, I expect a slice or two. Both Julie and I got – essentially – a whole loaf of bread with our meals. We were happy to enjoy it with several more meals throughout the week.
I can say for sure that Nino’s didn’t skimp on quality or portions. And at around $35, we certainly got our money’s worth.
I’m really not sure why it took us so long to get to Nino’s – perhaps we just took for granted that it was there – but we wish we would have gone sooner.
The good news is, we didn’t move that far away so there’s nothing stopping us from going back again.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Service: Excellent Ambiance: Very Good Price: Reasonable
I was very excited when I heard Cherry’s Jamaican Delight was moving to West Reading at the beginning of the year. The new location would expose the restaurant – and the Jamaican culture that inspires the cuisine – to a whole new audience that otherwise may miss out.
Cherry’s shares a wall with Chen Vegetarian House in the 700 block of Penn Avenue. It’s a cozy location, one that previously housed small cafes. There’s limited inside seating – made more limited by current guidelines – with a few more yellow and green picnic tables set up out front.
For those not lucky enough to snag a table or those who prefer to eat at home, Cherry’s also offers takeout and delivery through GrubHub.
We decided to take advantage of the online ordering through the GrubHub app, but being just a short drive away, I opted for takeout and the opportunity to see one of West Reading’s newest restaurants.
I got a text notification that my order was ready for pickup early so I made the quick trip from our Wyomissing home into West Reading. Parking wasn’t an issue as I was able to snag a space right in front of the restaurant.
The restaurant’s renovation still feels fresh. Most of the walls are painted in a bright, vibrant yellow that is made more dramatic by the lack of tables.
My order was waiting behind the counter, and I was in-and-out and back home with my food in no time.
Cherry’s menu features Jamaican comfort food like Pepsi brown stew chicken, curried goat and several seafood options. But I had my sights on the brown oxtail stew.
Oxtail is a unique cut of meat. As the name suggests, it comes from the tail of a cow. It’s a gelatinous meat. The slow-cooking in the stew helps cook it down a bit but it still has a slightly chewy consistency, especially around the bone. But the flavor is rich, and it was enhanced by the brown stew sauce.
The sauce was dark and flavorful. And it was spread across the side of rice and peas (which are actually red beans), as well, adding those deep tones to the whole plate.
Arguably the most popular Jamaican dish in America – or at least the most familiar – is jerk chicken. And it’s also a favorite of my wife, Julie.
She was excited to try Cherry’s version of the dish and was not disappointed. The jerk spice, a little sweet and salty with a (very) mild heat, permeated through the perfectly cooked chicken.
Each of the meals also came with a nice little side of steamed cabbage and – my favorite – fried plantains.
And because every meal needs a little bit of sweet, we both decided to try the Calypso Mango, a delicious tropical lemonade that we haven’t seen anywhere else in our ventures.
In all, our dinners and drinks totaled a little less than $40, which isn’t a bad price when you consider we paid a premium for the convenience of online ordering.
Our first experience with Cherry’s Jamaican Delight definitely made us eager to try more. And hopefully others will be eager to give them a try, too.
BCE Rating: Food: Very Good Service: Very Good Ambiance: Good Price: Reasonable
On Friday, August 14, Barrio Alegría hosted its annual Delicioso Tour, a culinary tour that highlights some of downtown Reading’s best food businesses.
Normally, the Delicioso Tour is an actual tour with guests walking from restaurant to restaurant in the City of Reading to sample the cuisine of a diverse population and learn the stories behind the food and those who make it.
Rather than canceling the 2020 event, the tour went virtual. Instead of going from site to site, the food was delivered right to your door. And because we couldn’t meet the owners face-to-face, video introductions were included from each of the five restaurateurs giving tour-goers insight into their heritage and their food.
Stop #1 – Franklyn’s Breakfast, Burgers, and Shakes
The first “stop” on the tour was Franklyn’s (1007 Penn Street), one of downtown’s newer restaurants. Franklyn’s opened at the end of 2019, Franklyn’s has a simple menu that, as the name suggests, focuses on scratch-made breakfasts and lunch.
We were treated to our choice of milkshake from the diner. I chose strawberry-banana while Julie chose the Oreo shake.
This is one time when I was more than happy to eat dessert first. The shakes were amazing. Drinking my strawberry-banana shake was like drinking a banana split.
Stop #2 – Loncheria y Panaderia Doña Tere
Doña Tere is located across from Reading High School (800 N. 13th Street), and as we found out with our second course, it is home to some of the best tacos anywhere.
We each had two tacos – one of our choice and one of their speciality taco, suadero. Suadero is a slow roasted or stewed beef that is then shredded similar to a pork carnitas. It had a similar flavor, too, but was just a little richer. For my other taco, I tried the adobada.
All of our tacos were served with a side of traditional toppings – cilantro and onion. I wouldn’t want them any other way because the meat was perfect and flavorful all on its own.
The tacos also came with a green salsa and a red salsa – both of them were a little too hot for our tastes. The flavors were great, but a little bit went a long way.
Stop #3 – El Tronco de Lily
El Tronco de Lily (101 S. 6th Street) was the “main course” of the meal. Julie had their rice and peas with ribs while I had the white rice with chicken.
I was not expecting to enjoy my chicken as much as I did. It had a nice flavor, almost like a barbecue chicken but with a Latin twist. And the spices seeped in so it was good all the way to the last bite.
While Julie’s yellow rice had the “peas” cooked with it, my white rice came with a dish of beans in a tomato sauce to pour over top. It was all very good, but way too much food for a five-course meal (we both saved about half of our rice for later).
The ribs were good, too. They weren’t the fall-off-the-bone ribs like you would find at a barbecue joint. They were a little tougher but still with plenty of flavor.
Stop #4 – Antojitos y Algo Mas
The dishes from Antojitos y Algo Mas (154 Walnut Street) were practically a meal of themselves. We knew were were getting chicharrón (pork rinds) and arepas (ground maize/corn, kind of like a fluffy corn tortilla) but the box also included some fried plantains, ribs and chorizo.
The latter were actually my favorites. Because of how they were fried, they almost had the texture of jerky which I enjoyed, especially as a change of pace to the other dishes we had tried.
Stop #5 – Homemade Cravings
Just when we thought the meal couldn’t get any better, Homemade Cravings (50 N. 5th Street) had tres leches cake. The milky cake was so rich and sweet, but neither of us had enough room to finish it.
That was OK though, because after a couple nights in the refrigerator, the cake had soaked in even more flavor from the creamy mixture it was sitting in.
And it also helped extend the tour for a couple days, which was great because we didn’t want it to end.
The food throughout was outstanding and it was great to experience so many new places – some that I was vaguely familiar with and others that I had never heard of.
I really hope that the tour happens in person next year because the only thing better than eating the amazing food would be to dine alongside others who are discovering new dishes and new restaurants, too.
But whether the next tour is in-person or virtual, you can count us in.
Now that Berks County has entered the green phase of reopening, restrictions are starting to be lessened for area restaurants and eateries, but restrictions remain in place.
The new rules and regulations have forced businesses to adapt and innovate, from the way the food gets from kitchen to consumer (contactless delivery, curbside pickup) to how seats are arranged – inside and out.
One of the innovations that has come out of the restrictions on dining is Truck N Brew, a weekly event at Willow Glen Park in Sinking Spring.
Willow Glen is best known as the site of Shocktoberfest, the Apple Dumpling Festival, weekly outdoor flea markets and countless other events throughout the year. But on Friday and Saturday nights, Willow Glen is now home to Truck N Brew, an outdoor dining and entertainment venue with food trucks and concessions.
Not being ready for a dine-in experience quite yet, Truck N Brew seemed like a great alternative for a Saturday night dinner.
We arrive at 5 p.m. just as the stands were opening. We weren’t the first ones there, but there weren’t too many others around as we bounced from food truck to food truck and stand to stand in search of our meals.
The lineup of food trucks changes every week – this week featured wood-fired pizza, tacos, Cuban sandwiches, barbecue and more – but the venue is owned and operated by Konopelski Katering, and their concession stands are the anchors of the event.
One of those stands is Fat Jack’s, which operates out of a large kitchen at the end of the row of eateries. The menu was also the most varied of all the options with burgers, sandwiches, fried foods and more.
We both opted for burgers – Julie got the guac and bacon burger while I went with the fajita burger.
For Jakob, we stopped at a food truck called The Biggest Cheese where mac and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches dominate the menu. Actually, there’s mac and cheese in the grilled cheese sandwiches, but they were accommodating and made a plain old grilled cheese for our toddler to enjoy.
Seating was plentiful. There is a large pavilion with picnic tables spread out (it’s also where the bar is set up – the brew in Truck N Brew). And many more tables surrounding the pavilion. There’s also some wooden counters set up along the lawn’s edge, a place to stand and enjoy your drinks.
We snagged one of the tables outside the pavilion. Despite our car’s thermometer reading 90 degrees, the shaded picnic area felt very comfortable. And we were well-distanced from the nearest occupied table, making it easy to enjoy our delicious burgers.
My fajita burger came topped with grilled peppers, grilled onions lettuce, tomato and jalapeno cheese.
I personally love grilled peppers and onions on my burgers (they are among my go-to toppings at Five Guys), but I wasn’t sure what to expect with the jalapeno cheese. It added only a little heat to the dish, but it certainly added some flavor.
Overall, it was a very satisfying burger.
Julie was also satisfied with her guac and bacon burger. As you might guess, the featured toppings were guacamole and bacon (with lettuce and tomato). You can’t really go wrong with either of those on a burger.
Both of us got a side of fries with our burgers. The small, fresh-cut fries were very good though a little on the salty side (not too salty to stop me from eating them).
Meanwhile Jakob seemed to enjoy his grilled cheese (Julie tried some and said it was good. The bread was toasted well – not burnt – and was nice and buttery). However he was a little distracted because from his seat, he was looking directly at the Sweet Ride Ice Cream truck.
I ventured over and grabbed us some dessert, a cup of vanilla ice cream for Jakob, a cup of banana peanut butter chip ice cream for Julie and an orange cream float with chocolate ice cream for me.
Sweet Ride has always been good, but we’ve enjoyed them even more since they started making (most) of their own ice cream. Julie loves their banana peanut butter chip with the creamy banana base so there was never a doubt as to which flavor she would get.
My float was also very good. The chocolate ice cream was rich and I always enjoy the mix of chocolate and orange. It was definitely worth the extra calories.
It wasn’t the cheapest night out we’ve had but it was still pretty reasonable. Our burgers and fries were less than $25. Jakob’s grilled cheese and bottle of water were around $7. And the ice cream added another $12, bringing our total for the night to right around $45. That’s not bad for three meals and three desserts.
We kept our expectations low going into the evening, but were pleasantly surprised all around. There was more than enough seating to spread out (even at 6 p.m. when we left). There was a great variety of food, and what we had was very good. While I would say the majority of the other patrons weren’t wearing masks, a few were. And all of those working, at least the ones I could see that were interacting with customers, were wearing masks and gloves.
Really, it’s a great idea, one that was obviously fueled by the restrictions of the yellow phase of reopening. But it’s an idea we hope keeps going because we enjoyed it and would definitely go back.
Truck N Brew 94 Park Rd Sinking Spring, PA 19608
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Very Good Ambiance: Good Price: Reasonable
I, like a lot of Berks Countians, can trace my family history back to Germany. And I also happen to love German food, like what can be found at the Reading Liederkranz, a private club that bills itself as a “German Singing and Sport Society.”
I have been to the Liederkranz many times, but it was always for events (Oktoberfest and Christkindlmarkt) and never for a sit-down meal in the dining room.
Not being a member, that was never really an option until Julie and I were invited by our friends (and members) Jerry and Lisa to join them for dinner recently.
I don’t know what I was expecting to find inside the clubhouse, but this wasn’t it. For the most part, there’s nothing remarkable about the dining area. The diner chairs and vinyl tablecloths are a dark maroon while the walls are off-white with wood around the bottom. It’s all set against a drab gray carpet. The old-fashioned numbers on the tables made it feel even more like a diner in need of an upgrade. The bar area, as well, just felt like a bar when I walked past.
The only real distinguishing feature is the wooden dance floor which is set in front of a wall painted with a beautiful Alpine scene.
One thing that was clear from the start: if you’re in a hurry, this is not the club for you. There were a few tables taken in the large dining area (it was about 6:30 on a Thursday when we arrived). After being told to sit anywhere, it was a good 10 minutes before our server came to our table with menus.
As a German club, it’s not surprising that the menu at the Liederkranz is filled with a variety of traditional German meals. But there are other additions like burgers and sandwiches. Thursday is also wing night, but we decided to pass.
Julie, along with our friends Jerry and Lisa, decided to get the weekly special – a three-course meal that started with jumbo shrimp and a salad.
It was an interesting first course, jumbo shrimp being the least German item on our table throughout the night. The salad was good if you like lemon vinaigrette because it was strong and puckery. I happened to enjoy the bite I had, but I don’t think I could have handled the whole salad.
The entree for the three-course special was sauerbraten with a side of spätzle and red cabbage. Sauerbraten is a German pot roast that has been heavily marinated with pickling spices, making it slightly sour but also very tender.
The roasted beef is almost always served with gravy, but this version was different. The gravy was thick and had raisins throughout. The sweetness from the dried fruit gave the whole dish a sweet-and-sour spin that is very pleasant and helped it stand out from similar dishes.
The spätzle (German pasta) were very finely cut noodles. They were a little crispy in some bites – so small that they seared quickly in the pan. Still, they were enjoyable as was the red cabbage – a personal favorite of mine from our visits to the Oktoberfest celebration.
Red cabbage was also one of my choices for a side to go with my schnitzel.
The menu includes the “Schnitzel Ecke” (schnitzel corner) where you can choose from three styles of schnitzel and two cuts of meat – pork or chicken. I went with the “gypsy style.” The fried chicken cutlet came topped with pan-fried onions, peppers and paprika.
I’ve had plain schnitzel at Oktoberfest and enjoyed it each time. This was better. The paprika gave it just a hint of heat while the onions and peppers popped in every bite. It was just what I was hoping for.
The other item on my plate was the German potato salad. It’s a cold potato salad that features large chunks of potato with herbs and vinegar. It’s slightly sour – like a lot of German foods – but so good. I won’t eat the Pennsylvania Dutch version of potato salad, but I love this.
When she came to clear our plates, our waitress asked if I wanted to order anything for dessert since everyone else would be getting it with their meals. Julie was gracious enough to share her apple strudel with me so I didn’t have to order one of my own.
The plate had two slivers of strudel with a pool of custard and four dollops of whipped cream. Another favorite of ours from our Oktoberfest visits, the strudel is delicious. The apple and pastry crust melt in your mouth while the custard is rich and sweet. It doesn’t get much better than this.
It was a little while again before our checks arrived. Our server was very nice but it was a good thing we weren’t in a hurry. Our final tally for the night was $40 which seems like a fair price for quality food.
The waiting aside, it was an enjoyable evening with friends and good food. I would consider a membership in the future, but with 300 restaurants in Berks County left to explore, I don’t think I would get my money’s worth out of it right now. But we definitely got our money’s worth for this meal.
Danke schön, Liederkranz.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Service: Good Ambiance: Fair Price: Reasonable
Reading Liederkranz (Members and Guests Only) 143 Spook Ln Reading, PA 19606
Valentine’s Day has always been a big deal for Julie and I. With our anniversary being in mid-August, Valentine’s always marks the halfway point in another year for us.
It’s also a great excuse to find a new place around the county for a romantic dinner.
This year was a little different for us. Yes, we stayed in Berks County – the city of Reading, to be precise – but we didn’t go to a restaurant. Instead, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with dinner at the Inn at Centre Park, a bed and breakfast and event space in the Centre Park Historic District.
Each month, the Inn at Centre Park opens for dinner – usually on the third Friday. In February, the monthly dinner was moved up a week in honor of Valentine’s Day (and Saturday dinner service was added). The meals are all prix fixe; in this case, it was a four-course meal with appetizer, salad, entree and dessert.
There was only one seating for the meal – 6:30 p.m. We were among the first to arrive which gave us a chance to look around at the elegantly appointed rooms throughout the first floor of the inn.
Known as the Wilhelm Mansion, the building that now houses the Inn at Centre Park was the home of Charles Wilhelm for more than 50 years. However, it was originally built and occupied by Reverend Mark Anthony DeWolfe Howe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese. Our table for two was nestled at a door that featured original stained glass windows that depict two angels, one blowing a horn, the other singing.
Every nook and cranny of the house is filled with incredible detail, from the tall archways to the intricate moulding. This was certainly the lap of luxury in the late 19th Century and remains so today.
After satisfying our curiosity, we settled in for the first course: fried goat cheese with crispy prosciutto and pear jam.
It was a perfect beginning to the meal with a variety of flavors and textures. The soft, creamy goat cheese was countered by the crunchy, salty prosciutto. The pear jam sweetened the whole plate. The balsamic drizzle added another layer of sweet and sour.
The first course really blew us away and set the stage for a great meal.
In between courses, we were served fresh-baked rolls to enjoy with our salad. Homemade honey butter was already waiting on the table. Ours didn’t last that long. The soft, pillowy rolls were too good. With the sweet butter, they just melted in your mouth.
Our second course was a Waldorf salad, and while it wasn’t a revelation the way the fried goat cheese was, it was still delicious.
It was a traditional Waldorf with apples, grapes, celery and walnuts, but it was just done very well. And it was served atop large leafs of Bibb lettuce which was a nice choice for the greens.
The entree course was a surf-and-turf plate with filet Mignon and seafood cake served with green beans and mushroom risotto.
The filet was served with a simple herb butter, and it was good, but it didn’t really stand out compared to the rest of the meal. It was cooked well, but there wasn’t a “wow” to it like there was to the other three courses.
I would say the same for the risotto and the green beans. (I am not a seafood fan so I have to take Julie’s word for the seafood cake, which she felt the same about). Filet Mignon is always good, and I will never complain about eating it. It just felt “safe” compared to the other courses. That’s the best way I can describe it.
Dessert, though, was definitely a highlight. The fourth course consisted of chocolate “domes” with a ganache and raspberry center. The heaping dessert was sinful and delicious from the first bite to the last.
What really set the dish apart was the dusting of raspberry salt. Sweet and salty always works for me, and the concentrated raspberry flavor really added to the chocolate base.
Really, I can’t think of a better way to finish the meal.
The four-course meal cost $60 per person, which seemed like a very good price for the amount and quality of the food that we had. Non-alcoholic beverages were included in the price (for those looking for a little something more, the dinners are BYOB). Also, there is very limited space so reservations are must for the Inn’s public dinners.
I’m sure the Inn does a good amount of catering events throughout the year because the staff seemed very much on top of their game. Everyone’s food arrived within minutes of each other and always tasted freshly prepared. The servers worked as a team and were very attentive throughout the meal.
And, of course, the venue was amazing. It’s an ambiance you can’t get anywhere else in the county.
Everything combined to make this one of the most special Valentine’s Day dinners yet.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Service: Excellent Ambiance: Excellent Price: A little pricey (but worth it)
The Inn at Centre Park 730 Centre Ave Reading, PA 19601
Editor’s Note: Berks County Eats is sad to hear about the passing of Linda Bell, owner of the Culinary Classroom. Linda passed away in December 2025, and the Culinary Classroom is now closed.
For years – long before I started this blog – my wife Julie and I have been wanting to take a cooking class together. We both love the time we get to spend in the kitchen (though now that we have a two-year-old running around the house, we don’t really have the option to be in the kitchen together).
I finally resolved to make the class happen. For Christmas, I bought Julie and I two spots for a lesson called “Italian Comfort – Gnocchi” at the Culinary Classroom in Reading. The class cost $85 each, but I will tell you up front, it was worth every penny.
The Culinary Classroom is hosted by Chef Linda Bell, who holds classes in her home, which includes a spacious kitchen with two separate cooking areas – perfect for intimate classes of 6-8 people (we had 10 in our class and though it was a little snug, there was still enough space and food).
Chef Linda runs the classroom with her husband – and sous chef – Mike. She is a retired educator who has combined her passion for teaching and cooking into a business where she imparts that same love of cooking onto her students.
The evening began at 6 p.m. with an introduction to basic kitchen rules: never hand someone a knife, always set it down for them to pick up; always announce when you are walking behind someone else; and always gather your ingredients before you begin cooking.
Mise en place is the proper term for the latter. It’s French for “everything in its place,” and it’s a lesson I needed to hear. In my own kitchen, I have been guilty of making several trips to the pantry for ingredients that I should have had in front of me the whole time.
After learning the rules of the kitchen, we talked gnocchi. The Italian pasta is most commonly made from potatoes and rolled into oblong dough balls. But really, gnocchi can be made with just about anything and can be shaped in multiple ways.
Our first gnocchi, the gnocchi alla Romana, was made with semolina flour. For this, we mostly watched as Linda went over the basics. Instead of rolling the gnocchi right away, this particular recipe called for spreading the mixture onto a buttered parchment-lined tray then cooling it in a refrigerator or freezer. The pasta would later be cut into rounds and layered to be baked into more of a casserole-type dish.
The gnocchi di zucca con salvia e Parmigiano was our second dish to cook. We first had to make butternut squash gnocchi; then we made the sage butter sauce. With this, we got a few takeaways to use in our everyday cooking.
First, always save a cup of starchy water after you drain your pasta. You can use it to thicken your sauce.
Second, always use kosher salt, not iodized salt. It has better texture and ensures you don’t over-salt your dish (also, when the recipe says “add salt to taste,” make sure you taste it so you know how much salt you are adding).
Third, stainless steel pans are better than black-bottomed pans because you can see your butter brown a lot better.
For the second half of our lesson, we needed the more traditional potato gnocchi. Russet potatoes were baking in the oven while we worked on our other two varieties. This creates a drier gnocchi than boiling the potato. It also meant that the potatoes were very hot as we peeled the skins off.
The next step was to rice the potatoes. This makes the starchy tuber a lot easier to work with when combined with the other ingredients.
Linda combined the ingredients using the traditional method of gathering the potatoes and flour, then putting eggs in the middle, slowly incorporating the ingredients together into a dough ball (helpful hint: never add all of the flour the recipe calls for at the beginning – add it as needed because you may need more or less depending on the size of the eggs and how starchy the potatoes are).
Then we got to roll the gnocchi. You can buy a gnocchi roller – a small board that will add grooves to the dough – or you can use a fork for the same effect. Either way, the grooves and ridges are key to allowing the sauce to stick to the pasta.
From here, we split into teams to work on our sauces. One team was tasked with creating a fennel sausage and porcini cream sauce (with homemade marinara sauce as a base). Our team was in charge of the gnocchi alla bava, literally translated as “drooling gnocchi.” It’s not the most appealing name, but it is a delicious cream sauce that includes Parmigiano-Reggiano and Fontina cheeses.
Fontina cheese, I found out, is very soft and very difficult to shred, but I managed. And everything managed to come together nicely and almost at the same time.
It was about 9 p.m. when all of the meals were done. Though the time had gone by very quickly, we were more than a little hungry by this point and couldn’t wait to taste-test all of our dishes.
Maybe it was because I was so hungry, but I think these were the four best gnocchi dishes that I have ever tried.
The semolina gnocchi is one that Linda recommends being served as an appetizer. Because it is baked with cheese and not sauced, it is an easy snack that can be eaten like finger food.
Julie and I both love butternut squash gnocchi (and ravioli) and sage butter sauce. We are so glad that we now know how to make it ourselves because this was better than any store-bought variety and the butter sauce turned out perfect (in a way I have never been able to pull off).
The fennel sausage and porcini cream sauce was amazing. We were all invited to taste the marinara sauce before it was added to the cream and that on its own was amazing (the key is using real San Marzano tomatoes). With the cream and the slightly spicy sausage, it was perfect.
My favorite, though, was the alla bava. Maybe it’s because I helped make the sauce. Or maybe because it was so rich and creamy that I could eat it as dessert. Either way, I loved it.
One other thing I should note: the class was listed as running from 6 to 9 p.m. but we were there until almost 10. The food was worth the wait, though.
We learned a lot more during the class than will fit into this column. But beyond that, we also had a great time with the other eight people that were in the class with us (and Linda and her husband). Everyone else in the class was either a repeat student or came with someone who had taken a class before. The Culinary Classroom is certainly creating a loyal following, and it’s easy to see why.
Linda was an excellent teacher and there were plenty of laughs to go with plenty of delicious food.
Julie and I were both very glad to have taken the class. And I’m sure someday we, too, will be repeat students.
Every year between January and February, I am challenged to
find some date-night worthy restaurants for Julie and I to visit. Her birthday
falls at the end of January, and Valentine’s Day follows closely behind.
These special occasions have provided us with some of our
best meals in six year of Berks County Eats reviews.
Our expectations were high for another memorable meal when Julie and I made our first trip to Judy’s on Cherry for this year’s birthday date night dinner.
Judy’s has been on our list of places to try since the blog
began. We did visit Judy’s seasonal restaurant, Plein Air, in 2014 and loved
it, but had never dined inside the Cherry Street restaurant.
We made a last-minute decision to go to Judy’s on a Saturday
night. Luckily, we called in the afternoon before service started and were able
to secure a reservation for 6 p.m. We parked in the lot across the street –
free parking after 5 p.m. – and headed inside.
It’s hard not to be impressed when walking into the
second-floor dining room. The brick walls. The vaulted ceilings. They don’t
build them like this anymore.
At our booth along the wall, the lighting was dimmed,
limited to a single table lamp. The dim lights didn’t bother us though (except
when I was trying to take pictures of the food). From our table, we had a great
view of the kitchen, which sits right in the center in the dining area. Some
lucky guests were sitting at the bar seats surrounding the kitchen, giving them
an even more up-close-and-personal look at everything.
We were greeted quickly by our waitress who went off to grab
a basket of bread to accompany our meal.
The bread basket turned out to be eight pieces of what
appeared to be pizza crust or flatbread. A small plate of oil was preset at the
table for dipping. The bread was very good with just enough herbs to give it a
nice earthy flavor and set it apart from a more traditional bread basket.
The building was once a farmers market – among other things
during its history – so it’s only appropriate that the menu includes a variety
of fresh ingredients. We tasted the freshness right away with our appetizer: browned
Brussels sprouts with truffle cream.
Judy’s menu included several small plates that we were
interested in, including stuffed figs, lamb meatballs and pumpkin ravioli, but
the Brussels sprouts won out, and we were not disappointed.
The plate of Brussels were nicely charred – not burnt – to
bring out a little bit of a smokiness. The sprouts were slightly bitter which
we thought contrasted nicely to the bright, rich cream sauce. And the addition
of fresh sage was welcomed throughout the dish.
We had ordered our appetizer not realizing that our meals
also included starter salads. In addition to Caesar salads, Judy’s offers mixed
green salads with a variety of vinaigrettes and other dressings. Julie stuck
with the Caesar while I tried the ranch dressing with basil.
Julie’s Caesar salad was very nicely prepared with plenty of
dressing, cheese and croutons. We both remarked about the size of the salads
being just right.
My salad was also excellently done. The addition of the
basil to the ranch dressing was perfect and was a nice differentiator. I also
appreciated that there were plenty of red onions, my favorite.
The entree menu was extensive and included several dishes
that I wanted to try, like the duck confit cassoulet (a bean casserole with
duck confit, sausage, ham and braised pork), winter root vegetable curry and
black pepper rubbed duck.
But the limoncello chicken with saffron aioli was my choice.
The chicken was baked in lemon basil broth and served over capellini, a
spaghetti-like pasta that was incredibly thin.
Everything about the dish was mouthwatering. The chicken had
a nice crust on it and was cooked beautifully. I enjoyed the aioli, but it was
the lemon basil broth that was the real star. The sweet basil worked
beautifully against the lemon. Sun-dried tomatoes added a little more sweetness
to the dish.
It came together as a single, composed, delicious dish.
Julie’s Frenched pork chop was another great choice. Served over a bed of mashed potatoes, it was topped with mushrooms, truffle cream and crispy prosciutto.
It, too, was a wonderfully composed dish. First, the pork
chops were done perfectly, still very juicy. (For those who don’t know – like
me – “Frenched” is the style where the rib bone is exposed). The
mushrooms had a nice earthiness to them. The prosciutto was crispy which gave
it a feel almost like bacon. And the potatoes were present in almost every
bite, bringing everything together.
Like my meal, it was an excellent dish, and one that Julie
thoroughly enjoyed.
Unfortunately as we polished off our entrees, we both
realized that we weren’t going to have room for dessert. “That’s OK,”
our waitress assured us. “You can come in again and just have
dessert.”
It’s a nice thought, but our meals were so good, I’m not
sure we would want to skip out on the main course. The price wasn’t bad either.
For our two meals, appetizer and my unsweetened iced tea, our total was $66.
We’ve paid more for similar portions before.
Our service was very good, too. We had a seasoned server
with a dry sense of humor that we both appreciated. She was attentive
throughout the night refilling our drinks and checking in on us while other
members of the team brought our meals.
It was one of our best meals we have had overall; it
certainly lived up to our high expectations.
We are already looking forward to our next visit.
BCE Rating
Food: Excellent
Service: Very Good
Ambiance: Excellent
Price: Reasonable for Finer Dining
First impressions for a business are everything. I think
they are even more important for a restaurant because when you think about it,
your first visit to a restaurant is multiple first impressions.
What does the building look like? What does the dining room
look like? How were you greeted when you walked in? How is the service? How
long does it take to get your food or your check? And of course, what does that
first bite taste like?
Norte Sur opened in a former Turkey Hill Minit Market along
Kutztown Road in Muhlenberg Township, right across the street from the former
Freymoyer’s Restaurant.
The amount of work that was put in to transform the building
shows that Norte Sur is serious about their business. The exterior has been
given a touch of class thanks to the addition of a brick and stone facade.
That same motif carries inside to the dining room where brick
arches set it apart from the take-out and kitchen areas. Otherwise, the decor
is subdued compared to other Mexican restaurants in the area. Strings of small,
colorful banners hang from the ceiling while the walls are decorated with
paintings along with a few traditional men’s and women’s outfits. The seating
is comprised entirely of booths made of high-backed wooden benches.
We were greeted and seated by a friendly hostess who also
served us throughout our visit. We – Julie, Jakob and I – had arrived around 5
p.m. on Friday afternoon and were the only ones dining in at the time. Two
other couples were seated before we left at 6 while we heard several phone
orders coming through during that same time.
Norte Sur’s menu is pretty simple: tacos, enchiladas,
burritos, quesadillas and a handful of additional entrees and appetizers.
One appetizer that caught my eye was the crema de poblano, a creamy soup that started with a mix of chicken broth and poblano pepper. It was topped with tortilla strips, cheese and sour cream.
I had poblano soup once before, about a year ago at Alebrije
in Wyomissing. I enjoyed this one just as much, though they had very different
flavor profiles. Norte Sur’s version wasn’t as creamy, but I found it to be
just as flavorful with a little more spicy heat throughout. I enjoyed the
addition of the tortilla chips which added some texture. The shredded cheese
was also a nice touch, helping to thicken the broth as it melted.
It was definitely something that I would order again. The
same can be said for my tacos Norte Sur.
The tacos Norte Sur are, as the name implies, a signature
item for the restaurant. The three soft-shell tacos are filled with grilled
steak, cabbage, pickled red onions, chipotle sauce, pico de gallo and cheese.
It was a delicious combination.
The steak was nicely done in small-ish strips with a hint of
seasoning, but the flavor of the toppings was outstanding. The pico was bright
and fresh. The pickled onions added a vinegary note that paired well with the
citrusy tones of lime juice which could be tasted throughout. I was very happy
with my decision.
Most entrees at Norte Sur are served with a side of rice and
refried beans. Refried beans are not my favorite, but these weren’t bad. The
yellow rice was also good. It had peas and a few bits of carrot throughout. I
knew I couldn’t finish all of the food that I had ordered so I sacrificed some
of my rice and beans in favor of the tacos and soup.
Julie and Jakob both had rice and beans with their meals as
well. Julie always gravitates to enchiladas, and in this case, it was the
enchiladas Norte Sur.
The meal included three distinct enchiladas: one beef, one
chicken, and one cheese, each topped with a different sauce. The beef was
topped with a traditional red enchilada sauce that had more of a kick to it
than the other two. The chicken enchilada was topped with a creamy white sauce
that provided a cooling contrast. And the cheese was topped with green
tomatillo sauce that was somewhere in the middle.
All three were very good, but Julie’s favorite was the
cheese enchilada (it usually is).
Jakob’s favorite thing on his plate was the rice. Our
two-year-old can sometimes be adventurous with his meals and sometimes not. We
knew he would eat the rice – and he did, happily. We had hoped he would eat his
beef taco, but after a couple bites he gave up on that.
We had the choice of soft shell or hard shell for his taco,
and chose soft. It seemed like he was having difficulty holding it together
which may have been why he stuck with the rice.
I should also mention that we had chips and salsa at our seat before we had even ordered our meal. The chips were served warm – always a nice touch. And the salsa was very good, and like much of our meal, had a kick to it.
The service and price both left good impressions as well.
The two servers covering the dining room were attentive throughout, and our
meals and my bowl of soup cost about $35.
After we left, Julie and I were both remarking about how
good the food was and how impressed we were with what they did to turn a mini
market into a real restaurant.
Our first impressions of Norte Sur Mexican Restaurant were
very good all around.
BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Very Good
Ambiance: Very Good
Price: Reasonable
Norte Sur Mexican
Restaurant
2610 Kutztown Rd
Reading, PA 19606
