Yellow Creek Inn

Traveling north of the city last week, I came across a place on a country road that looked promising.  It was early and we were only the second table there.  The Yellow Creek Inn is converted from a small house to a restaurants.  It's warm and old time comfortable, and a quick look at the menu told me it's a meat and potatoes place, which is fine with me on a snowy morning.




The menu had a nice variety of main dishes and sandwiches, but the Chicken Pie caught my eye.




I've never had Chicken Pie, but they make it as a weekly special so I decided to give it a try.  As sides I chose a salad, and the recommendation from the waitress, mashed potatoes.  This may have been the least healthy meal that I've had in a long time (and that's saying something), but it was wonderful! The crust was crispy and help up to the gravy.  The potatoes were tremendous, and LOADED with butter.  The salad was as expected, if you know what I mean.

We were so enjoying our meals, that we didn't even notice the place had filled up while we enjoyed our meal.  The food here is good, but may not be for you if you are looking for healthy eats.  Our waitress was prompt and always smiling.  I'm sure we will be back.

The Yellow Creek Inn is located a minute or two East of Interstate 79, on route 62 in Jackson Center, Pa.

Rachael's Roadhouse

For many years my family owned a little cottage North of Pittsburgh, outside of Meadville Pa. The fastest route is the interstate, but I always liked to travel on Rt. 19, which runs parallel to Interstate 79. While the scenery is great, the food was a struggle until the Iron Bridge Inn, the Springfield Grill, and Rachel's Roadhouse popped up. All are owned by the same group so technically, I guess it's a chain, but it doesn't seem like it! My favorite of the three has always been the Iron Bridge, all are pretty good and comparable to each other.

Stacy and I were doing a little Christmas shopping, and headed to the Grove City outlets. By the way, I was a bit worried about the holiday crowds on the weekend before Christmas, but Sunday was our only opportunity to shop so we had to go then. We arrived just after opening time at 9:00. To my surprise, it was practically empty! After about three hours it started to really fill up, but it wasn't bad. Anyway, after our morning of shopping, I intended to head over to Rachael's.

The menu has a nice selection of salads, sandwiches, steaks, ribs and seafood, but one thing I really like is their variety of different Reuben's. Traditional of course, but they also have a Carolina Reuben, that is loaded with BBQ pork, also a Russian, a turkey, and even one with a fish fillet. I went with turkey on rye and it was very good. Stacy had a salmon salad which had a generous portion of salmon over mixed greens with a balsamic drizzle. Looked pretty tasty!

If you are want to go to any of these places, take 79 to the Grove City exit, turn left, and continue to route 19. Turn right on 19 and Rachael's is just ahead on your right. If you want, the Iron Bridge Inn is just a bit farther on the left hand side. Either one's a good choice!

As usual, just click on the title above to see their website.