The Bowers Hotel is back. And its menu, while different under new owners Bonnie and Richard Tremmel, is a mix of old favorites and fresh additions, with every bite as enjoyable as years before in true Bowers Hotel tradition.
DESSERT FIRST!
Perhaps most telling is the dessert menu, which features made-from-scratch cakes and other treasures baked by Bonnie herself, using recipes given to her—literally—in a box from a neighbor across the street. These old-fashioned sweet endings include a coconut walnut cake, bread pudding, a lemon creme cake and a good-sized hunk of chocolate cake with buttercream icing. Their full-bodied textures and flavors have a time machine effect, like taking a bullet train back to grandma’s kitchen. Considering that the neighbor’s good will gesture could have gone unanswered by another owner, it’s a strong testament to the Tremmels that they gave the local, handwritten recipes in a box their best shot. And what a bullseye they scored!
WANT MORE?
Here are some of the other reasons people are heading over to Bowers, a small old town sitting right next to the railroad tracks and surrounded by cornfields and cows:
The Hotel’s thick white chicken chili delivers a Southwestern twist with its pulled poultry mixed with beans that are seriously hot and filling.
The Pierogies au Schpeck are homemade potato crescents, each one hugged by a smoky bacon strip, that make a hearty, enticing appetizer.
Another surprise is something so common on an American appetizer list, it’s hard to believe it could be so scrumptious: mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce. Sounds like a no-brainer. Everyone likes mozzarella sticks, right? But imagine darkly crusted, perfectly fresh-breaded dipping sticks with hot mozzarella popping out in the mouth. Not just better, but a thousand times more satisfying — simply because they’re homemade.
“It takes extra energy to bread them and make them from scratch,” says the waitress. “But it’s so worth it!”
With tasty appetizers (and yes, the baked spinach balls are still an item) and Yuengling Porter (dark beer) on tap, the meal is well begun. Outside the window, mid-meal, you’ll likely see a couple walking their Weimaraner, or Mennonite girls in calico dresses, laughing as they walk along the street. At some point, the conversation slows and the floors shake as a train goes by. A mini Tiffany-style lamp at the table adds to the cozy feel. The antique bar occupies part of the hotel, with Tom, the longtime bartender, taking care of customers. On certain nights, there’s live piano music.
A WELL-DESERVED DINNER
Dinners are very reasonably priced, ranging from filet mignon to sandwiches (a favorite is The Haus—roast beef) and salads. The Roasted Vegetable Salad is especially nice in autumn; it features squash and zucchini over a bed of greens and peppers.
The Broken Crab Salad—a meal in itself—is a creation of luscious crab cake pieces strewn across lettuces, cukes with the skins on, carrots, onions, half-sliced cherry tomatoes and cheese, topped with a lightly pungent lime, basil and vinegar house dressing. Bread rolls arrive at the table warmed, attended by small cups of butter jazzed up by brown sugar, cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg. Yum-m-m.
The Shepherd’s Pie is picturesque in an oval tureen, showing off juicy beef, carrots, peas and onions surrounded by rolling waves of mashed potatoes. This dish is very traditional and down-to-earth in taste: nothing too fancy—in other words, just the way most Berks Countians like it.
The Chicken Marsala ventures outside the Berks box. Its darkly delicious, caramel-y sauce, made with marsala wine, does full justice to both the chicken and the mushrooms piled on top. With its subtle notes of open-hearth smoke, surely this is what mushroom lovers would eat daily in Heaven. Like everything at the Bowers Hotel, the entrée succeeds due to the very obvious attention the chef pays to detail.
As a side, the pickled beets with onions are marvelously fresh and ever-so-lightly vinegared to encourage the natural sweetness of the bold beet to shine through. Again, this dish harks back to a Pennsylvania Dutch countryside table. If you love coleslaw, you’ll agree that this side is made in a truly traditional style: quite juicy, just creamy enough, and completely satisfying in crunch and flavor. There doesn’t appear to be anything extraordinary in it herbs-wise. It’s just one damn good coleslaw.
KEEPING IT IN THE BERKS FAMILY
Enduring local ties show up in the beverages, as the Kutztown Bottling Works Ole Tyme Sodas supplies their sarsaparilla, cream soda, root beer and birch beer.
If you’ve got any “space” left for dessert, see what Bonnie has baked that day. The coconut walnut cake is a heavier, fuller cake with good-sized nut chunks flowing throughout. The combination of coconut and walnut is unforgettably honest, and it’s almost too good to share. It’s a straightforward cake, an experience to be savored with coffee and the kind of languid conversation that wraps a wonderful evening around the very roots of Berks County cuisine.
THE BOWERS HOTEL | 298 Bowers Rd., Bowers | 610.899.0183 | Bowershotel.com
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BY MARIAN FRANCES WOLBERS | PHOTOS BY HEIDI REUTER
