Dutch Kitchen - Frackville, PA

Posted By Michael Stern on July 8, 2002 3:10 AM

We always assumed that the Dutch Kitchen got its name because it is somewhat near Pennsylvania Dutch Country. During our last visit, manager Tom Lekulic confided that when his father-in-law, John Morgan, moved the original dining car to this location, the move and start-up costs were so expensive that he could not afford to buy a new sign. So he simply used the old sign that had been on the diner – “Dutch Kitchen”; and so it has been for thirty years!

An extremely convenient place to eat along I-81 just south of the junction with I-80, the Dutch Kitchen is part-diner (the original building, now the smoking area), and part family-style restaurant decorated to the hilt with country crafts for sale. We never can leave without at least one needed speckle-ware pitcher or silly kitchen homily to bring back as a gift for a friend.

The menu is a large one that ranges from bacon and eggs in the morning and hamburgers at lunch to such real local specialties as homemade chicken and turkey pot pie (a kind of stew with big soft noodles), smoked pork chops, ham and cabbage casserole, and dessert of gooey-bottomed shoofly pie. The turkey dinner is especially delicious, made from daily-roasted turkeys, a mild bread “filling” (the regional term for stuffing), genuine mashed potatoes, and access to an awesome salad bar. “My ancestors were Pennsylvania Dutch,” explained Tom’s wife Jennifer Lekulic. “That’s why we put out the chow-chow and all those vegetables.” Oh, what vegetables! Pickled melanges of carrots and cauliflower, corn and beans, beets and peppers. There is also a bowl full of fantastic apple butter, which is like apple sauce but serious apple sauce – dark and spicy.

Although we always have shoofly pie for dessert, we were intrigued by another item that Tom recently added to the menu, the “atomic banana split.” Tom is a self-confessed banana split fanatic, and this heap of ice cream, syrup, bananas, and whipped cream, arranged vertically rather than horizontally, is of truly atomic proportions.

Overall Rating

turkey dinner

chicken and turkey pot pie

salad bar

shoofly pie

Turkey and Waffle Special

Pumpkin Pie

16 out of 18 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Rose Markoff on February 2, 2012 5:44 PM

I make many trips from upstate New York to Maryland to visit my grand kids. The Dutch Kitchen on Interstate 81 is my favorite spot to stop for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I am always pleased with my meal and plan my trips so I can stop there to eat. There is always a few good homemade soups and the salad bar is always fresh with enough extras to make it interesting. I happen to love the Thousand Island Dressing. The daily specials always include a yummy homemade meal.

On New Years Day the restaurant offered the traditional local favorite of pork and sauerkraut, of course with real mashed potatoes. It was awesome. Could not have made it better at home. I was curious as to why this dish was a local favorite on New Years Day and asked the waitress. Before I knew it, the owner was at our table explaining that when pigs eat, they move forward, but when chickens eat they move backwards. Therefore, it is traditional to eat the pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day to symbolize moving forward. Sounds good to me. I hope to be back next New Year's Day and many times before that. And oh, I should mention, the sugar cookies are like something your grandmother would have made. A great take away for the rest of the ride.

Try the Dutch Kitchen. You will not regret it!

Overall Rating

Pork and Sauerkraut

turkey dinner

chicken and turkey pot pie

salad bar

Chicken Croquettes

shoofly pie

Pumpkin Pie

1 out of 1 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Eileen Charbonneau on October 28, 2010 10:50 PM

My husband and I were delighted by the Dutch Kitchen. We found the turkey pot pie full of white and dark meat, great chunks of carrots and a tasty sauce. The chicken croquettes were crisp and not greasy. The mashed potatoes and gravy were a toothsome delight. Our favorite parts of the salad bar were a great vinegary cole slaw, big cherry peppers, and pickle relishes. We tried a new drink offered--clear and refreshing birch beer. And twelve delightful flavors of locally made Leiby's Ice Cream were available. We took away coconut and and Bordeaux Cherry -- wow: rich, creamy and only $1.45!

Overall Rating

chicken and turkey pot pie

1 out of 1 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Benny Hodkinson on July 10, 2009 1:53 PM

After reading about it in Roadfood, our family was super-excited to eat at the Dutch Kitchen. The cute retro-diner-outside with the kitschy mirrored interior really had us stoked, but things started to turn sour when the jukebox on our table ate our quarters, and it just went downhill from there. Honestly, we should have eaten the quarters ourselves. It would have been tastier!

The salad bar we read about was closed on the Friday evening we stopped in, so we optimistically ordered the Italian special of chicken parm and the turkey croquettes, which we had never heard of but, based on the recommendation, we figured were a local treat. The chicken was a total bust, a wimpy soft breast covered in watery tomato broth. The croquettes were gross, some kind of mash of plate scrapings and dryer lint, and grosser still was the gray mystery gravy that covered them. The kids did OK with hot dogs and burgers. We thought pie might save the meal, and indeed the lemon meringue was delicious, but sadly they were all store-bought. Even I know to hide the package when I'm dealing store-bought pie!

Overall a disappointment.

Overall Rating

shoofly pie

turkey dinner

chicken and turkey pot pie

salad bar

Turkey and Waffle Special

Pumpkin Pie

11 out of 17 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Michael Shelley on February 3, 2008 5:43 PM

Our meal at Dutch Kitchen (which we didn't really enjoy) led us to a long discussion about what Roadfood is. There are plenty of restaurants in my town that I enjoy regularly (and are right off the parkway), but I would never say "If you're passing by exit 148 you must try this restaurant."

I think Roadfood restaurants need to offer the quintessential version of a dish or cuisine, or a truly original spin. They're places to look forward to, offering a unique experience. The Dutch Kitchen was not that on our most recent visit.

Here's what we had: chicken pot pie with the salad bar and applesauce, and eggs with potatoes and scrapple. The salad bar was a disappointment. Most of it did not appear to be made here; there was just the usual macaroni salad, canned beets, chickpeas, etc. There was some chowchow but it didn't taste any different from the supermarket kind. There was homemade bread, which was fine but nothing special. The pot pie (which has no crust) was lacking in chicken and vegetables; it was mostly a dish of gelatinous sauce and dumplings. The applesauce on the side was regular supermarket applesauce.

The eggs, potatoes, and toast were all normal diner variety, nothing worth going out of your way for, or worth recommending this place over the thousands of other places that do a fine job with those standbys. This was my first experience with scrapple; I guess it was good. It kind of tasted like a slightly livery finely minced corned beef hash.

The bottom line is we thought the Dutch Kitchen was the kind of place you might go to if you lived nearby and found something here you liked, but not the kind of place to satisfy Roadfood expectations.

Overall Rating

10 out of 16 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Jim Balcom on January 29, 2004 3:32 PM

I discovered this place in the very early spring of 2003 when I got forced off of I-81 because of heavy fog while traveling from Syracuse, NY to Alexandria, VA.

I have since been back several times (and, this is about a 250 mile trip for me). I now route my trips to upstate NY so that I can be in Frackville at meal time.

They have a terrific salad bar which always has terrific homemade bread on it. (I've tried to get the recipe for it, but can't. There is a fantastic bakery in town that makes fabulous bread, though.)

All of the food on the extensive menu appears to be homemade and none of it is brought in frozen from elsewhere.

I've eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner here and I've never been disappointed!

Overall Rating

6 out of 7 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes