This Week at the Herdic House
Lordy! Is it Wednesday already? In the midst of bus tour season, it can get a bit difficult to remember exactly where we’re at in our schedule. But yep—it’s Blue Plate evening here at the Herdic, and our Blue Plate is a classic: Misty Mountain Farm ham loaf served over macaroni and cheese. 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 we enjoyed those apple cider donuts so much last week, we think we’ll make some more—this week served with a scoop of maple, bourbon and toasted walnut ice cream…
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 plum manhattans at the bar…
It’s Gloria’s favorite time of year, when Liz parks her sauerkraut crock right next to the safe in the basement, meaning that Glory gets a whiff of it every day when she tots up our cash drawer. House-cured sauerkraut is a delight unlike any other, but the curing process is an olfactory bane without parallel, and Glory has hoped for years that Liz would just start buying the damn stuff—or at least cure it somewhere slightly more remote.
That said, her sniffing and suffering for this year is nigh over, as we begin preparations for our Oktoberfest menu this Friday evening! German cuisine, (presided over, in our kitchen, by the twin gods of pork and cabbage) is a pleasure we don’t often allow ourselves here at the Herdic House—the delightful sort of comfort food that all of us Pennsylvania Dutch-influenced rural folks secretly crave the whole year round, but that a fancy-schmancy restaurant would get laughed out of town for preparing on the regular.
But we permit ourselves one annual indulgence, on a Friday in late October, when our craving for spaetzle reaches its peak. So make your reservations for this Friday evening as we celebrate Oktoberfest with lots of delicious German fare and a toasty patio fire to warm yourself by, as you sip gluhwein and breathe in the autumn air…
- Gluhwein: warmed wine mulled with cinnamon and spice and spiked with a bit of rum to fortify you further
- German cheese soup, with celery, carrot, leek, parsnip and, of course, crisp bacon
- Local sausage plate with sausages from Misty Mountain and Today Farms, served over house-cured sauerkraut, with homemade applesauce and mustard
- Misty Mountain Farm pork schnitzel, served over herbed spaetzle and sweet red cabbage
- Black Forest Cake, with homemade cherry syrup and dark cherry compote
P.S. We postponed our Gatsby-versary party until Saturday, November 15. But that means that you can still grab tickets for an excellent party, replete with champagne, gilded hors d’oeuvres of all types, and delicious dancing to the strains of Fats Walter and the Susquehanna Boom Rats, on November 15 at 7:00 pm! Tickets are $75 and can be reserved via email (hit us up at herdichouse@gmail.com) or phone at 570.322.0165. Beautiful fools, indeed…
P.P.S. Don’t forget to check out the beautiful works of Beth England in the Lounge this month—and pick up a few notecards or prints while you’re here. Works and prints will be on sale throughout the month of October!