Bethlehem PA: Social Still (October 2015)

My spouse and I dined at Social Still for the first time on a Saturday afternoon in late October 2015. Social Still is open for dinner only on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and lunch and dinner on Fridays through Sundays (the restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). The restaurant accepts reservations by telephone and via the Open Table system. Plenty of off-street parking is available (except during Musikfest and Christkindlemart!) in parking lots on either side of the building. You can take an in-depth tour the distillery on Saturday afternoons at 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm for $10 per person, and you can do a tasting anytime for just $2.50 per sample (refunded if you purchase a bottle of spirits to go). Social Still’s spirits (vodka, gin, rum, and whiskey) are used at Lehigh Valley restaurants including the Bayou, The Dime, Carmel Kitchen, Bell Hall, 3^rd & Ferry Fish Market, Two Rivers Brewing, the BrewWorks, PJ Whelihans, and the Sands Casino (at the three Emeril restaurants).
 

Social Still opened in late December 2014 in the former Gosztonyi Bank (built in 1915, just prior to the Prohibition Era) on East Third Street on Bethlehem’s South Side, across from the remnants of the old Bethlehem Steel buildings. The building restoration turned out beautifully, with huge soaring ceilings, and many large glass windows, including those that surround the distillery area. The main dining area is at street level adjacent to the bar, with small mezzanine areas at each end that offer additional dining (and which might be suitable for semi-private dining). The restaurant retained some of the building’s original details, such as the vault, the marble foyer, and the floors. Upon entry is a small room that sells Franklin Hill Vineyards wines (the owner of Social Still co-owns Franklin Hill, along with his mother). 

Our dining experience began with a rocky start when we tried to order beer and wine. Social Still serves only housemade spirit-based drinks (and a few non-alcoholic things like iced tea). We were shocked that there was not even ONE bottled beer, or ONE house wine available to satisfy different types of customers. We also wondered why our waitress did not mention that we could purchase a bottle of wine from the Franklin Hill shop to consume in the restaurant, which we later learned about in an online article; we also read that the restaurant hopes to gain authority to sell Franklin Hill wines, as well as aims to open a brewery so that they can sell beer. (As it turns out, the restaurant holds only a limited distillery liquor license, so for now, they can serve spirits only.)

We shared a short rib and gouda flatbread, followed by two entrees of shrimp gnocchi (with mushrooms and peas) and barbecued pork shank (accompanied by sweet potato hash and French-style green beans). The only desserts offered were housemade ice creams, which we declined. Although a waitress tended to our (non-alcoholic) drink order, our food was delivered by the chef, which was a nice touch. Prices were reasonable, with the flatbread at $10 and the entrees around $18.

Although we enjoyed the food, the service, and the setting, we probably will not return to Social Still until they begin serving beer and wine (and as mentioned previously, we are not looking for an extensive selection, just one of each!).

 

July 2019:

 

Allentown PA: Crust (October 2015)

My spouse and I enjoyed drinks at Crust on a Sunday afternoon in late October 2015. Crust, which opened in the fall of 2014, is open for lunch and dinner on Mondays through Saturdays (closed on Sundays except when an event is occuring at the PPL Center). Surprisingly in this day and age, Crust does NOT have its own website (it has only a mediocre page on the PPL website), nor do they accept reservations. The wait time can be long just prior to events, but otherwise seems reasonable.

 

Crust is located on the street level of the PPL Center. The restaurant can roll back the front windows of the space in nice weather for semi-al fresco dining. Inside, the restaurant has two levels: the main floor, and a higher mezzanine level a few steps above. The tables on the street level of the restaurant are high-tops (with regular tables on the mezzanine level), and the main dining area area also features an L-shaped bar that seats about 15 people. The coal-fired pizza oven is located at the back of the main level and is open to the dining area, so you can watch the chefs prepare your food. The ceilings on the main level are high, making the space seem more spacious than it actually is. The predominant color of the décor is black. Besides a large selection of pizzas, the restaurant also offers a few appetizers (like meatballs, wings, and a cold Mediterranean pie), salads, sandwiches and wraps, and entrees (which are cooked in skillets in the coal-fire oven). Parking is available on the street, or in a nearby surface lot or garage.

We saw enough to want to return to Crust to try the food; we just wish that they were open every Sunday.

Allentown PA: Roar Social House (October 2015)

My spouse and I most recently dined at Roar Social House for an early dinner on a Sunday afternoon in late October 2015; however, we have dined at the restaurant several other times as part of a larger group since it opened in September 2014. Roar accepts reservations by telephone or using an on-line system (Yelp by SeatMe). Roar is open for weekday lunch and dinner daily (which begins at 4:00 on Saturdays and 3:00 pm on Sundays). The owners of Roar also own the speakeasy called Hush and the ice cream parlor named Center Ice. All three establishments are owned by the Saylor family, who for many years owned The Shanty restaurant.

 

Roar is located in the space that used to house a Chinese restaurant, but there is absolutely no shred of evidence. The restaurant features three-story high ceilings (and two floors of seating) in a 1920s/1930s Prohibition/supper club atmosphere. The décor contains dark woods, exposed brick walls, interesting lighting, and a photo projection screen. The front of the restaurant contains both booth and semi-booth seating, a bar dominates the middle of the dining space, and the rear of the dining room contains both high-top tables and traditional low tables. To reach the restrooms, you pass through the semi-open kitchen, which has some high-top tables for two if patrons want to watch the workings of the kitchen. (These are not true kitchen tables, however because you are unable to see what the chefs are preparing; you can only observe the food after it has been plated when the wait staff adds the last-minute garnishes). Some limited outdoor seating is available on the front sidewalk in nice weather. Hush, the restaurant’s speakeasy, is located at the rear of the narrow building through an unmarked door. The small back room offers a tiny bar and some casual lounge seating, and the room can accommodate about 30 people. Valet parking is available (current cost is $6), but street parking and nearby surface lots and garages abound. This restaurant is located across from the rear door of the new PPL Center, so it makes an excellent choice before or after an event.

During our most recent dining experience, we shared several plates from their appetizer menu, including the macaroni and cheese balls (no longer on the menu) accented with a tomato dipping sauce, crab spring rolls (also no longer on the menu), crab cakes, and lobster roll. For dessert, we shared the apple cake, which was an enormous slice suitable for sharing and accented with whipped cream. We particularly liked the lobster roll and the apple cake. The crab cake appetizer was a bit disappointing in that each of the two mini cakes was topped with a piece of lump crabmeat, leading us to believe that the cake itself would also contain lump crab, but it did not. We have also tried the scallops (served with risotto) and lamp entrees, the papardelle pasta (accented with pancetta, chicken, and peas) and the charcuterie board appetizer. We look forward to trying their new menu (which began the day after our visit), particularly because it contains some new appetizers like the short rib steamed buns (which are very difficult to find on a restaurant menu in the Lehigh Valley), the cheesesteak dumplings, the short rib, lobster ravioli, tortellini with chicken and shrimp, and bucatini bolognese.

Service was excellent on this visit, even though it was a lazy afternoon. On past visits, we have found that service on a weekend night preceding an event at the PPL Center can lag a bit if the restaurant is operating at maximum capacity.

We will definitely return to Roar; we just wish that it was open for weekend lunch/brunch because it fits better into our schedules.