My spouse and I dined at the Trapp Door most recently on a Saturday afternoon in mid-November 2015, but we have dined there several times over the past few years. (We were also patrons of Tap & Table, which occupied this location until 2011, as well as customers of Rumors Café back in the early 1990s). The Trapp Door is open for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, and dinner Monday through Saturday evenings (no dinner served on Sundays). Reservations are accepted; in fact, they are necessary on a weekend night (when the restaurant often features live music). We dined on a Saturday afternoon around 4:00 pm, and as we spent the next 1.5 hours there, staff placed small Reserved signs on all but one table.
The Trapp Door is
located on Route 29 (Chestnut Street) in Upper Milford Township, through Emmaus
proper, past the Trivet, and on the way to Shimerville. The restaurant occupies
a small stand-alone building that sets just off the road. Plenty of parking is
available, although on a gravel lot that has some elevation changes. One change
from the previous restaurant is that the dining space is much lighter now even
though there are still only two small windows. Previously, Tap & Table used
real wax candles, even on its overhead chandeliers, which was beautiful but
dangerous and not terribly functional; the Trapp Door now has smaller but
electric chandeliers. Another change is that the owner replaced the long
communal wood tables with regular tables, allowing just two or three high-top
tables adjacent to the J-shaped bar. Otherwise, the restaurant retains its rustic
European look, with vaulted ceilings and exposed wood beams. Impressively, this
restaurant has no television, not even near the bar. This restaurant’s claim to
fame is their huge beer selection – 3 cask ales, 6 draft beer, 100+ bottles,
which is complemented by gastropub fare.
Although we had difficulty
choosing items from because the menu sounded so interesting (pork cheek poutine!
smoked pork pierogies! Roasted bone marrow! Reuben gnocchi!), we decided to
share the “cheeseburger” flatbread pizza as an appetizer, followed by a burger (topped
with pork belly and fried egg), and one of the daily appetizer specials (three hoisin
pork sliders topped with a ginger carrot slaw). Our dessert of pumpkin crème
brulee was served with candied pecans and cookie crumbles, but impressively
delivered topped with bourbon smoke! Some of the entrees (which we did not
order, consisted of duck breast, pork sirloin, scallops, steak, and trout),
seemed a bit high-priced at $30. The restaurant smokes everything in house, and
sources from local purveyors wherever possible. We were impressed that both our
burger and our sliders managed to stay upright and did not fall apart or drip
excessively like at most other restaurants – the chef really knows how to
“build” a sandwich!
Service was
extremely professional – our knowledgeable waitress really knew her way around
the menu and beverages and was friendly, helpful, and observant. This
restaurant uses one of those little tableside credit card scanners when you pay
your bill, so that your card does not leave your site – this is actually the
only restaurant in the Lehigh Valley where we’ve seen this done (but we have
seen it many times when traveling internationally).
If you are “into”
beer and eclectic menu options, check out the Trapp Door.
December 2019:
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