This Week at the Herdic House
We’ve been going hard on the comfort food here at the Herdic House of late, and we don’t expect to let up until January blows in a fleeting passion for the tropics and their bright flavors. And if comfort food is the order of the day, then there’s nothing more comforting to a Wilpo resident, with our ample Italian-American roots, than a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. So tonight’s Blue Plate will be a riff on Gloria’s frequent Sunday supper growing up: organic fettuccine tossed with local tomato sauce and topped with two meatballs braised in sauce and finished with a blizzard of parmesan. It’s $18 at our House, and $20 to go, like always—but, per usual, our number of to-go orders will be very limited. And for dessert, Liz promised a friend she’d bake up another batch of apple cider donuts—this time spiced with cardamom and paired with housemade butter pecan ice cream. Get all your calories here, folks!
Come join us for our Thursday happy hours at the bar, from 5-7 pm, with $1 off all beers and $2 off wines by the glass. Plus we’ll be serving our Thursday night feature that feigns healthiness, all while loaded with the tangy umami of ranch dressing: house favorite Herdic Pittsburgh salad, this week served with grilled tenderloin tips, fresh-cut fries, grated cheddar and parmesan ranch. Plus, Hannah will be mixing up black manhattans at the bar, with some of the new, delicious amaro we just received…
The Herdic will be doing an exciting fundraiser this Friday (11/21) and next Friday (11/28), to raise money for our Central Pennsylvania Food Bank here in town—we’re running our own little pay-what-you-can soup kitchen! Stop in to pick up a quart of warm soup at our bar on Friday evening starting at 5:00 (until the soup runs out!) and make a donation to the Food Bank while you’re here, if you’re able. The soup is free until we run out, but we encourage those who can to be generous to our local Food Bank—they’ve been experiencing a huge surge in need over the past several weeks, and the money that you donate to them goes an incredibly long way: they can make 4 meals with every dollar you donate. (Liz is now feeling guilty about how much more her meals cost to produce.) This Friday’s soup will be an Italian-style turkey soup with shiitake mushroom, leek, thyme and orecchiette. Call ahead if you’d like to reserve a quart—our suggested donation is $25…
And for anyone who missed it (but how could you?!), the big news of this week is that it’s that most wonderful time of the year…Victorian Christmas! As we type, the House is getting gussied up in the frothy beginnings of its Christmas finery, thanks to the abundant efforts of Diane Franklin and Heather Hollick (Miss Holiday herself), with some assistance from our helpful staffer Red Leydig. The tree won’t make its appearance until after Thanksgiving (or it won’t have any needles left by Christmas after all), but from the festive look of things, you might expect a wee Santa to tumble out of one of our gas fireplaces any moment now.
But the Herdic dons its Christmas finery so early in the season for one reason only…the glorious, decked-out weekend that is Victorian Christmas in Williamsport, replete with costumes, house tours, church tours, several tea parties (included a sold-out event at our place) and even a model train exhibit in Peter Herdic’s former hotel Park Place. The tour this year features several homes that are near and dear to our hearts, including Bob Elion’s and the late Marcia Miele’s gorgeous mansion at 522 W. 4th St. (where the Herdic clan will celebrate Thanksgiving next week) and the one-time home of the late Marguerite Bierman, which is guaranteed to be the coolest, most colorful house the tour has ever traipsed through (though her work at Bob and Marcia’s home is pretty brilliant too).
If you’d like to tour other examples of Marguerite’s artistry (because they’re all spectacular), stop by the James V. Brown Library’s entrance and atrium, pop into the YWCA to make some purchases at their Boutique and, hell, swing into the Herdic House for a drink or a gander. Marguerite painted the wood graining on our entry door and pocket doors too…
We won’t be listing a featured menu for this weekend, because, between two busy nights of dinner service and a tea filled with wee tiny cakes and sandwiches, we’ll have our hands full. But if you stop by for a drink or dinner while you’re out touring, we’ll be cooking our butts off in the kitchen and holiday-ing to the max out front. Sip on a Christmas champagne and soak up the splendor as Williamsport steps off the holiday season!