This story originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Town&Gown magazine.
Nestled in the woods in Toftrees, the Carnegie House is a 21-one-room boutique inn offering elegant stays, activities and dining. Its restaurants, Grace and Stonehouse Pub, present diners with a variety of delectable options crafted by a team led by Executive Chef Paul Herceg.
Herceg celebrated one year in his position in August. Cooking and baking have long been a passion, starting with his childhood and teen years.
He fondly remembers baking and cooking with his mother. Herceg says he initially wanted to be a baker, but as an entrepreneurial teen he thought there were more opportunities with cooking.
“I got more into the culinary side, but I still enjoy baking a lot,” he says.
At 14, Herceg netted his first job at McDonald’s, which further ignited his yearning to work in a kitchen. He learned of the opportunities at a local technical high school, where he really got hooked on the culinary industry.
“I just love the hustle of the restaurants and how everything else fades out and you’re just focusing on the food and the service,” he says.
After graduating high school, Herceg enrolled in the Pennsylvania College of Technology to continue developing his culinary skills.
Herceg has had a hand in preparing plates for Happy Valley diners before, as he’s spent time working at different restaurants in the area. Today at Grace Restaurant at Carnegie House, he wants to make sure every diner’s experience is positive, from the atmosphere to the served foods and beyond. In fact, it’s one of his favorite parts about being a chef.
“It’s coming out here and seeing people being happy and having everything they need—that ‘wow’ factor,” Herceg says, sitting in the dining room before a dinner service. “When you put a plate down in front of them, and they’re just like ‘wow’ before they even taste the food. Then they taste it, and it just gets even better from there. It’s about the whole experience.”
When Herceg isn’t in the Carnegie House kitchen, he likes to travel and try other restaurants. He finds inspiration dining out and scrolling through Instagram. While everything he tries isn’t a success at first, it’s important to him to experiment with new flavors and dishes. He describes his cooking style as upscale American cuisine.
“I use things from all over, but Grace is considered to be French inspired. A lot of the cooking all over is French inspired,” Herceg explains. “It’s just got a lot of influence all over the world. I like pulling different flavors and making that work and then putting my little twist on it with adding this and that.”
Herceg also encourages the kitchen staff to help form weekly specials and chef’s creations for the menus.
“You can’t do it by yourself,” he says. Herceg asks staff members what inspires them and what they like to cook. “We build on each other and use that connection as a foundation to come up with something different.”
It’s important to Herceg to develop dishes based on in-season produce and fresh meats and seafood. He says he visits local farmers markets and talks to purveyors to see what’s coming in. The kitchen staff also keeps a small garden on property to grow some produce and garnishes.
“We like to bring in flavors from all over and try different things,” Herceg says.
The Day Boat Scallops entrée features tender, melt-in-mouth seared scallops with a lemon aioli, frisée greens, blanched and sauteed new potatoes, tear drop peppers, almonds and tuile garnish. Each ingredient adds a new level to the flavor profile of the dish, coming together for the perfect bite each time. The dish pairs well with a glass from Grace’s 500-bottle wine cellar, which was recognized with a 2024 Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator.
The menu also includes a variety of steaks, from dry aged ribeye to filet mignon, as well as salmon that is farm-raised in ocean silos in Norway.
Herceg says many diners end their meals with what has become the restaurant’s signature dessert. The “Is That An Apple?” is appropriately named and quite popular with Happy Valley diners.
The dish looks like a small green apple on a bed of streusel crumbs, delivered to diners on a white dish. Inside is a vanilla cheesecake filling with apple butter that is molded into the shape of an apple before being dipped into a green-dyed white chocolate coating. A mint leaf and chocolate stem perfect this rich dessert’s disguise. The “apple” is served with cinnamon streusel topping, making for an apple-pie-like combination.
Diners who have a sweet tooth will also want to try the donuts offered at weekend brunch—a personal favorite for Herceg. They’re served in a trio—chocolate, glazed and a rotating flavor, depending on what’s in season or what the team in the kitchen is craving. Herceg grew up near the Jersey shore and recalls the many bakeries offering freshly baked products each day. The fresh donuts are a nod to those days spent at the shore. The weekend brunch menu features a variety of sweet and savory and elevated interpretations of breakfast regulars.
Whatever meal or event diners choose to share with Grace Restaurant, Herceg recommends they dive into the experience. He encourages them to try a specialty drink, appetizer, entrée, and dessert. T&G
Hannah Pollock is a freelance writer in State College.
