Road Trip: Honesdale

 

HONESDALE FEELS LIKE IT IS ON THE PRECIPICE OF CHANGE. Founded in 1826 and originally named Dyberry Forks due to its location at the confluence of Dyberry Creek and the Lackawaxen River, which courses throughout the town, Honesdale has just 4,400 residents. But in the past decade, an influx of residents and businesses has brought a slow shift to this town, which emerges like an oasis from the thick green woods that surround it.

Main Street is Honesdale’s hub, home to the majority of its businesses and restaurants. You can drive the length of the street in just a few minutes, but its offerings are plentiful. It’s here that the change is felt. Vestiges of signage from the 1950s and ’60s remain on some buildings. Victorian-era church designs still stand as houses of worship down side streets. Ice cream is a dollar a cone at Gravity Ice Cream. Visitors can take a scenic railroad ride, which pays homage to Honesdale’s heyday when the coal industry boomed in the 1800s and Honesdale was the home of the first railway steam locomotive.

But change has come steadily in the past 10 years, with an increase in new and exciting restaurants along Main Street and an influx of artists to the region. Restaurants and breweries attract visitors from across the region. The Great Wall of Honesdale greets visitors with murals from local artists. It’s an exciting time to live, visit, and eat in Honesdale.

8:00AM
BREAKFAST AT STOURBRIDGE BISTRO

At Stourbridge Bistro, owner Jackie Verrastro greets you by pulling up a chair and chatting as if you are old friends. You might hear about incoming inclement weather, details about the annual Honesdale Halloween parade, and recommendations for where to find a sweet treat (she favors Gravity Ice Cream). It just feels like home. The eatery offers traditional breakfast sandwiches like the classic bacon, egg, and cheese as well as French toast, omelets, and pancakes. Most sought-after, though, are the homemade pastries, like their blueberry lemon pie tart, cinnamon roll bars, and blackberry cobbler bars. Imagine if diner breakfast fare got married to baked goods made from long-held family recipes, and that’s Stourbridge Bistro.

10:00AM
COFFEE AND A CHAT AT GREEN HOUSE

The best cafés, like great bars, have a unique personality that hooks you and keeps you coming back, until one day you’ve become a regular, integrated into the very fabric of the place. Owner Caitlin Cowger’s Green House, which is part café, plant store, and vintage shop, sells espresso drinks, drip coffees, matcha, and hot chocolate, as well as baked goods from Tablespoons Kitchen, namely their cookies, scones, and bars.

While the coffee is excellent, it’s the space that will lure you back, whether you are working on a laptop at the tables that look out upon Main Street, socializing with friends, or simply daydreaming with a hot latte. Warm light falls on the front of the shop, feeding the hanging plants and succulents lining the racks and shelves. The back half of the café houses the vintage side of the business, selling clothing, furniture, and other wares; a portal into the past lives of previously loved items looking for a new home.

NOON

Among the many restaurants on Main Street, two stand-outs should not be missed:

TABLESPOONS KITCHEN

Tablespoons Kitchen, owned by Melanie and Sonny Ön, is part of an exciting new crop of restaurants in Honesdale. The fully plant-based and gluten-free establishment sells freshly prepared meals, frozen meals for busy patrons, and cold beverages like iced coffee and raspberry ginger limeade. But you can’t miss the revolving roster of home-baked cookies, biscuits, and scones that entice visitors from the holy glow of their pastry case, either. It’s a testament to an excellent plant-based eatery when meat eaters don’t miss their regular protein sources. It feels even more magical when you leave there wondering, “How did they do that?”

Don’t skip the peanut noodle salad, a cold dish of Thai rice noodles with shredded purple cabbage, carrots, edamame, and green onions in a creamy homemade peanut sauce. It’s a savory, filling combination of foods.

BÀ & ME

Bà & Me is a Vietnamese restaurant founded by Nhi Mundy. The dining room is a warm, inviting space with wooden tables, artwork, and a shrine. But the adjacent alleyway and footpath, with its outdoor tables and a window into the drink preparation area, feel most like dining on a side street in Saigon. Classic Vietnamese flavors of lemongrass, coriander, and Thai basil flavor their popular menu items such as pho, rice bowls, summer rolls, and even Viet tacos. Everything is prepared fresh—even the limeade is hand-squeezed in view of thirsty patrons. If you’re new to this fare, an iced Vietnamese coffee is essential. The strong pour-over coffee is filled tableside and combined with sweetened condensed milk. The result is a refreshing and energizing treat with a flavor akin to coffee ice cream.

3:00PM
TAKE A FOOD TOUR OF MOKA ORIGINS

Speaking of coffee. . . just outside of town, Moka Origins is worth the sidetrip. It’s located on the campus of the Himalayan Institute—a yoga, wellness, and meditation retreat center set on more than 400 acres of gorgeous green lawns, woods, and trails. Moka Origins sells specialty coffee and ethically sourced chocolate from single-source farms. This includes dark chocolate from growers in Ghana, Cameroon, Mexico, Uganda, and the Dominican Republic. Unique flavors are found in their limited-batch chocolate bars. The Dark Chocolate Blueberry and Mexican Spice, which infuses milk chocolate with vanilla, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Every chocolate bar features the country of origin on its packaging.

Jeff Abella and Ishan Tigunait founded the company after first running a farm in Cameroon that is still in use as a training facility and community-led agricultural project. An old barn houses Moka Origins’ picturesque facility. In addition to a café, where you can try a variety of coffee products, mocha, chocolate, and ice cream, the facility offers tours of its chocolate-making process. It’s hard to miss; the smell of roasting cacao fills the halls like brownies fresh out of the oven. The 45-minute tours are free on Saturdays, between 10am and 2pm.

If you fall in love with their products, Moka Origins offers robust monthly subscription coffee and chocolate combos. If you need a fix more quickly or frequently than that, you can buy their chocolate at Wegmans.

5:00PM
COCKTAILS AND BAR BITES AT DYBERRY FORKS

The term bar bites doesn’t always suggest high-quality food, but Dyberry Forks flips that notion on its head. Imagine expertly crafted cocktails accompanied by delicious bites, such as house focaccia bread with honey butter. Or roasted Brussels sprouts topped with crispy bacon lardons and feta; as well as addictive and savory crispy potatoes. Dyberry Forks is also a stellar dinner option. The menu is focused on seasonal ingredients sourced from farmers and producers they trust. We recommend any pasta dishes—they are made in-house—such as the tagliatelle. It’s tossed in an arugula soubise and topped with crispy bacon over a cauliflower purée.

 

7:00PM
DINNER AT NATIVE

Native is the shining star of the Honesdale culinary scene. Founders Alex and Caleb Johnson worked in the restaurant industry in Philadelphia. Caleb worked his way up to chef de cuisine at Barbuzzo and Alex worked her way up to front of house manager of Lolita and Little Nonna’s. They pride themselves on offering a full dining experience, with an open kitchen, a lively atmosphere, creative cocktails, and seasonal, mostly local ingredients. We recommend ordering as many small plates with as much variety as possible. This way you taste Native’s full spectrum.

When available, the locally foraged and fried chicken of the woods mushrooms are one of the most popular items, as is the rib-eye with ramp butter and crispy potatoes. For us, the beef short rib mac ‘n’ cheese, with housemade pasta, is a gooey, unctuous masterpiece. We left the table uttering curse words that could not convey its deliciousness. Finish your meal with the blissful Chevre cheese cake. It comes a drizzle of local honey whose sweetness lingers long after you’ve left.