Taste Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s Farm-to-Table Food Scene

As a chef at Porch & Proper and Mercato BYOB in Philadelphia, Ryan McQuillan sourced many of the products in his kitchen from farms in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. So when he started thinking about leaving Philly, his next destination seemed obvious.

“I thought of Lancaster’s growing food scene and the fact that all the best ingredients I was getting in Philadelphia came from those farms,” says McQuillan, who moved to the city in 2018 and is now the executive chef at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square. “It’s like a chef’s playground here.”

About 70 miles east of Philadelphia, Lancaster City comprises a historic downtown, with charming Penn Square, and streets lined with cafes, art galleries, and restaurants. The city is surrounded by nearly half a million acres of rolling green farmland — and the produce, dairy, free-range poultry, pasture-raised pork, and myriad other products grown and cultivated on these farms has long fueled the city’s thriving culinary scene.

To best explore it, McQuillan suggests starting at the nearly 300-year-old Lancaster Central Market, with stalls selling a trove of treats every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, including Pennsylvania Dutch doughnuts, empanadas, and falafel. Across the road at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square, the menus at Plough restaurant and The Exchange rooftop bar highlight the seasonal harvest from nearby farms, as well as foraged ingredients like chanterelle and morel mushrooms, plus pawpaws. McQuillan transforms the indigenous, tropical-tasting fruit — which grows wild along the nearby Susquehanna River — into jam for a local cheese plate, or paw paw pudding, a play on banana pudding with fresh chantilly cream and homemade wafers.

Lancaster is known for its strongly rooted Amish farming community that dates back to the early 17th century, but the city also has a longstanding history as a welcoming destination for immigrants and refugees. As a result, immigrant communities with residents from countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and beyond have enriched the culinary scene. 

Get a taste at Chellas, the award-winning Venezuelan food truck slinging arepas stuffed with honey barbecue-roasted pulled pork or black beans with sweet plantains and cotija cheese and housemade chimichurri sauce. At the third-generation, family-run Rice and Noodle, feast on steaming bowls of pho, spring rolls, and banh mi. And at Issei, find both pho and ramen that reflect the proprietors’ Vietnamese and Japanese heritages. The noodle bar recently moved to a bigger location where they’ve also opened Hi-Fi Izakaya, serving street food like beef gyoza and katsu sandos, as well as cocktails infused with ingredients like yuzu, plum wine, and shiso liqueur.

Tortas, tacos, and other Mexican specialities are on the menu at market and restaurant El Pueblito, and Himalayan Curry and Grill is home to a bounty of Nepalese and Indian dishes, including fiery curries, tandoori, and momos, which you can sample during the lunch buffet.

In 2022, Southern Market opened in a historic building dating back to 1888. Once a farmers market, nowadays it’s a food hall and community space where vendors serve up schnitzel, sushi, pizza, and more. Luca was nominated for a James Beard Award for its menu of Italian classics made with Lancaster ingredients, like autumn vegetable fritto misto with squash and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, and heritage pork slow-roasted in a wood-burning oven. Don’t miss Cabalar — a modern butchery that also serves one of the best burgers in the state. Try the house special, with aged cheddar and made-from-scratch aioli.

One of the city’s newest restaurants, Passerine opened in the spring of 2023 with a seasonal menu and bottle shop. Reserve a table inside the cozy, brick-walled dining room to try dishes like roasted duck or stracciatella with perfectly charred Jimmy Nardello peppers from the nearby Field’s Edge. To experience one of Lancaster’s longstanding classic restaurants, head to Horse Inn for upscape pub fare in a warm, rustic space; Belvedere Inn for a well-made cocktail in a restored Victorian mansion; or John J. Jeffries, in the Lancaster Arts Hotel, for fine dining focused on sustainability and locally sourced ingredients. Wherever you land, finish the night at Lancaster Sweet Shoppe with Stroopies, i.e., Dutch stroopwafels made on site with cinnamon waffles sandwiching homemade caramel. 

For ice cream worth a detour, stop by Fox Meadows Creamery on the way in or out of town. Also just outside of town, Shady Maple is the largest smorgasbord in the country with a 200-foot buffet of Pennsylvania Dutch favorites. Wind through platters of smoked beef brisket, kielbasa, salads, and homemade breads as far as the eye can see. Don’t leave without snagging a slice of shoofly pie, a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty made with molasses and brown sugar.