Take a beautiful drive through picturesque rolling hills and rich farmlands to a quaint, casual restaurant in Reedsville and have one of the best farm-to-table meals in Central Pennsylvania. Located at 6 North Main Street in Reedsville, Revival Kitchen, as the name suggests, is resurrecting old cooking methods and taking the concept of farm-to-table to a renewed level of excellence in dining.
Owners Quintin Wicks and Liz Hoffner create weekly menus based on what they can source directly from local farmers and purveyors.
“We met a young Amish farmer named Moses Hostetler, who lives out by Milroy, practices organic, and partnered with him to grow a lot of what we use on our menu, like our heirloom tomatoes, heritage sweet corn, whole smelt wheat, and honey nut squash,” explains Wicks. “The way we plan our menu is on Monday, I go out to Moses Hostetler’s farm, walk through the fields, and see what is available. We also work with Fasta Pasta in Pleasant Gap, Village Acre Farms in Miffintown, Byler Goat Dairy in Belleville, Brummer’s Happy Breeze Farm in Port Royal, just to name a few of our purveyors.”
A Lewistown native, Wicks has been cooking since he was 16. After culinary school in Pittsburgh, he traveled extensively, working under some of the best chefs at high-end fine dining restaurants in Australia, Alaska, California, Portland, Oregon, and Val, Colorado, where he met his fiancée, Hoffner, a University of Missouri graduate with a degree in hotel, restaurant management.
“After 15 years in Val, Colorado, during a visit with Quintin’s family in Lewistown in October 2014, a friend of ours mentioned that there was a building in Reedsville with a wine bar operating in the back, but there was no restaurant, even though it was set up for one. So we decided to poke around,” explains Hoffner. “By the end of February 2015, we were talking to the owners of the building as well as Scott and Mary Ann Bubb, who own Seven Mountains Wine Bar, and when we went back to Colorado, we packed up and were back six weeks later!”
Three months of renovations on a tight budget using repurposed wood from two old barns, tables and chairs purchased at yard sales, and with help from family and friends, Revival Kitchen opened in July 2015. The restaurant only serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. by reservation. Some walk-ins are accepted on weekdays, but to guarantee a seat, call (717) 667-7089 to reserve a table.
“We recommend reservations because it helps me judge how much to prepare, and we max out about 100 to 120 diners a night!” says Wicks.
Hoffner adds, “Every Wednesday we print a new menu, and we always have a special sheet featuring limited-edition items that, when we run out, we are sold out!”
Some unique favorites on the menu include the bone marrow and the hand-rolled potato gnocchi.
Wicks says, “My cooking is by no means French, but I use classic French techniques and introduce new-school ways to incorporate flavors together, like our wine-infused watermelon salad. We put watermelon in a vacuum bag with wine and vacuum seal it to concentrate the flavor into the fruit. It’s delicious!”
Other menus items include coffee roasted beets, grilled lamb t-bones, corned pork shank, and ginger-miso-peach-glazed salmon.
Hoffner adds, “There is a lot of a braising and cooking tougher cuts of meat, slow and low. It’s simple food, but takes days to make. We take the time to make our own chicken and veal stocks, and I think the food speaks for itself.”
On the fall menu, look forward to a squash risotto dish as well as a honey nut squash dip with local honey, Byler goat cheese, and puffed smelt.
There is a kid-friendly menu as well, complete with tomato soup, grilled cheese, and house-made chicken fingers.
“If you take a look in our freezer, all you will find is fresh blueberries that we brought 50 pounds at a time when they were in season and local corn that we brought by the buggy loads, and we are saving it for the winter months,” says Wicks. “There are no prefabricated foods made in a factory somewhere.”
Revival Kitchen invites diners to bring their own beer and liquor, but wine is available for purchase at Seven Mountains Wine Bar in the back of the dining room.
Sign up for the monthly newsletter to keep informed about the Give Back Dinners, where a percentage of the proceeds benefit a local charity or organization, and the once-a-month Sunday Supper Club, a themed, family-style meal.
“Our first Give Back Dinner was a Burger Night to benefit the revitalization of the vacant lot across the street, and we didn’t know what to expect. I made 320 burgers, and they were gone in the first hour and a half! We had 500 people show up, so that was incredible!” says Wicks. “Now they are going to turn that vacant lot into a nice green space, and it’s wonderful to help revitalize this little town!”
For more information or to sign up for the monthly newsletter, visit revivalkitchen.com.
Revival Kitchen’s Flourless Beet Chocolate Cake
Flourless Chocolate Beet Cake
Inspired By Chef Charlie Trotter
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Red Beets julienned
5 cups Sugar (plus 1 tablespoon) – divided use
6 1/3 cups Water
1 Yellow Beet julienned
1 Chioggia Beet thinly sliced
3 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
3 1/2 ounces Cocoa Powder
9 tablespoons Butter Room Temp
3 Eggs
2 Tbs RK Preserved Lemon Fluid Gel
Directions
Place the red beets in a medium saucepan and cover with 1 cup of the sugar and 1 cup of the
water. Stir and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Strain the cooking liquid back into
the saucepan and set the beets aside for later use. Simmer the cooking liquid over medium
heat for 30 minutes, or until it coats the back of a spoon. Pour half of the beet syrup over the
julienned red beets, reserving the rest for garnishing. Place the julienned yellow beets in a
small saucepan with 1/2 cup of the sugar and 1 cup of water, simmer for 30 minutes, then
drain.
Deep fry or pan fry the thinly sliced Chioggia beet slices and set aside for garnish.
In a small saucepan, bring 5 tablespoons of sugar and 1/3 cup of water to a boil. Stir in the
chocolate chips and cocoa, add the butter, and stir until thoroughly combined. In a large
bowl of an electric mixer, whip the eggs and 4 tablespoons of sugar to a ribbon. Fold the
chocolate mixture into the whipped eggs. Fold in the julienned red beets. Butter 4 ring
molds (1 1/2 inches high by 2 1/2 inches wide molds are best, but cupcake tins also work)
and place on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Fill the molds three-quarters of the way with the
batter (if you have extra batter, you may prepare more ring molds). Bake the cakes at 350ºF
for 20-25 minutes, or until just firm to the touch.
To Assemble:
Place a cake in the center of each plate and top with fresh whipped cream and the candied
julienned yellow beet and chioggia beet slices. Drizzle the remaining red beet syrup around
the plate. Dot RK preserved lemon fluid gel throughout the sauce and enjoy!
