I’m not big on doing “Best of…” contests or stories (with one exception: our Best Wings in (Upper) Bucks annual review). Food is so subjective. It’s also akin to drawing a target on my back. I almost always get grief from someone who disagrees. Not fun.
But…I can see quite easily which stories are the most popular among the Bucks County Taste loyal readership. I got numbers. Lots of numbers. Between Google Analytics and WordPress, I’ve got numbers out the wazoo.
So here are YOUR favorite articles from Bucks County Taste in 2014.
Breakfast in Bucks, our post listing all the places you can eat breakfast in our fair county tops the charts. We originally wrote this in 2011 and have been updating it regularly ever since. In fact, if you have any suggestions to add, email us at info@BucksCountyTaste.com. If you like this post, you should take a look at Let’s meet for breakfast, which covers the best restaurants to meet for a business breakfast. There’s also Lunch in Bucks, which we published in 2013. Probably needs to be updated so do email us with any we may have missed.
Meat eaters unite. We have a lot of good meat here in Bucks County. Farmers who raise animals on pasture, old-fashioned butchers, Amish markets and more. Our post, Where’s the beef? And pork, and lamb, and chicken… gets tons of views every year and we updated it in 2014. If you like this post, check out Fall Foodie Road Trip #2: Meat Alley. Bring a cooler and take a few hours buying some of the best meat and poultry in Bucks County. It’s winter. Be prepared. You don’t want to get snowed in without a 3 lb. roast in the freezer.
I got my own bottle, where do I go? Our absolutely most popular food map is the one listing all the BYOBs in Bucks and nearby. We know there are more out there (just got an email with a suggestion this morning), so by all means, take a look at the map, and email us with some great place we’ve missed.
And while you’re perusing our BYOB map, take a look at some of the other food maps and guides we published this year. There’s the Beer Map, which lists brew pubs, breweries and stores with a good selection of craft beers (this year we’ll be adding beer festivals too).
If you’re a cheese lover like me, click on our map of Local cheesemaker. From New Jersey to Pennsylvania, in Bucks, Lehigh, Hunterdon and Mercer Counties, you’ll find some of the best cheese being hand-crafted with milk from pasture-raised cows. It makes a great day trip.
Nowhere else will you find a more comprehensive list of our Bucks County farmers’ markets (and some in New Jersey too) and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms. In fact, this is the time of year to start thinking of which CSA you’d like to join. Don’t wait until spring; they may be filled up by then.
Where do I go for…? Ice Cream? Another of our most popular posts is Let’s go for ice cream, a list of all the independently owned ice cream shops in the county. We update this regularly too. While it’s a bit chilly this time of year, it’s never too cold to eat ice cream!
This year we also gave our readers a pretty darn comprehensive listing of Mexican and Latino restaurants in Bucks County in our post, Viva México. I’m still trying to make my way through it. Yum.
Restaurants new and old. One of our most read restaurant stories this year was Charcoal AM & PM. This is a place I am constantly telling people about, because it’s great and because so many folks in Bucks don’t know it exists. It’s a local favorite for sure. Owned and run by the Plescha family, it is really two different restaurants—a great breakfast and lunch place during the day, and an innovative, exciting and delicious dinner experience in the evening. Check it out.
Another delicious secret in Bucks County is the Inn at Barley Sheaf Farm. You drive by it all the time but I bet you don’t know they are serving dinner Wednesday through Saturday evenings and Sunday brunch (and have been for the last year and a half). Chef Josh Homacki is having fun creating seasonal, locally sourced and delicious meals in this cozy 40-seat BYOB.
Hamilton’s Grill Room in Lambertville has been around for over 20 years, but this past fall Jim Hamilton along with Chef Mark Miller launched a new menu—the first in 26 years—focused on steak and seafood. Read our story, Hamilton’s Grill Room: Some things just get better, about this delicious change.
Just this past May, Empanada Mama started selling her flaky, wonderful empanadas in Doylestown. Sure she makes traditional empanadas (meat-filled, BBQ) but her creativity doesn’t stop there. Buffalo Chicken, Chicken Pot Pie, Caprese, Sweet Onion, Pepperoni and Mozzarella and Mediterranean Eggplant are just some of the empanadas on the menu, which changes every day. Read all about Kendall Bajek, Empanada Mama, here.
With winter here, and the tourists gone, help area restaurants out and enjoy some great meals at a nice price. Check out some of the specials and Locals’ Nights in our post, Here’s to the locals.
