Allentown: Union and Finch (January 2017)

My spouse and I dined at Union and Finch for an early dinner on a Sunday afternoon in early February 2017. The restaurant is open for lunch (or weekend brunch) and dinner daily except Mondays. Some limited off-street parking is available in a parking lot shared by the tenants of the building; complimentary street parking is also possible.

Union and Finch, which opened in late July 2016, occupies the first floor of a brick apartment building that formerly housed J.P. O’Malley’s pub. The current owners added new lighting, floors, paint, and windows (including two huge windows at the front of the building that allow lots of light). The décor is clean and simple, including miniature live potted plants as table centerpieces and clever and interesting framed photographs on the walls. The 90+ seat restaurant is divided into two parts. You enter the restaurant through the bar room, which features an antique 13-seat wooden bar and bar back, high-top tables and barstools, and low stools that share a wooden counter against a wall and window (in a sort of lounge/waiting area). In the main dining area, guests sit at wooden tables with black Colonial-style chairs, tables that share a wooden banquette on one side, or at communal regular-height tables with benches. A large frosted mirror on the end wall of the dining room displays the restaurant's namesake finch (which is a nod to the Allen High School canary mascot). Menus are thumb-tacked to pieces of cardboard, which is a novel and homey touch.

Union and Finch offers upscale American cuisine. We shared the beef sliders (meat, bun, and a thin house-made pickle) and the ham salad biscuits to start. The ham biscuits were the star dish of the day, an unusual offering that will make us return solely to order it again (but next time, we will each order our own portion!) Three cheddar biscuits are filled with creamy ham salad and a thin house-made pickle, then arranged around some perfectly dressed greens on a plate decorated with dollops of Dijon mustard. As our entrees, we ordered the fish tacos (seared tuna, radish, and seaweed salad inside crispy shells and served alongside rice and beans) and a daily sandwich special (fried catfish and fries). The fish sandwich was served on a long thin roll (perhaps more suitable for a sausage sandwich or hotdog, and the piece of fish was absolutely enormous, spilling over the narrow roll in every way possible. We requested tartar sauce from our server, but none was available (she delivered aioli instead, which did the trick). Red cabbage slaw accompanied the sandwich and fries (which are served in a metal holder to retain warmth). We passed on the one weekly rotating dessert selection, which was homemade ice cream accompanied by house-made biscotti on the day that we dined. A full liquor license is offered, including 14 draft beers, bottled beer, wines by the glass and bottle, and cocktails.

We will return to Union and Finch for their ham salad biscuits.