Running around Bucks County this festive season can make one ravenous, so make sure to stop by the Yardley Inn (82 E. Afton Ave., Yardley) for some of the area’s best sustenance to get you through your holiday adventure.
Chef Eben Copple crafts the inn’s menu of contemporary American dishes utilizing ingredients sourced by local organic farmers and other food producers, as well as the inn’s own 2-acre farm — to ensure that every dish is fresh and free from chemicals and preservatives.
Diners can ease into their meal with the inn’s taste menu, featuring small plates that can be ordered individually ($7 each) or in a trio ($19). The devils on horseback — chorizo-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon — were sublime. We expected the chorizo or the bacon to take over the dish but the stars of the show were the dates, with a warm and sweet cake-like texture that complemented the fatty, decadent flavors of the meats. The fried calamari distinguished itself from the standard version, delivering a spicy and sweet rustic quality that was hard to resist.
The salads at the Yardley Inn are as diverse as they are complex. The marguerita salad ($8) was bright and fruity with field greens, grapes, melons, walnuts and bleu cheese. On the other end of the spectrum, the kale salad ($8), while not as visually engaging, was hearty and bold with adventurous levels of spiciness.
The full scope of the bounty offered by the Yardley Inn’s nearby farm comes into focus on the entrées, especially the vegetarian gnudi ($17), a gnocchi-like dish that will have you marveling at how the pasta dumplings can be both large and light at the same time. The dish had harvest-like charm and showcases seasonal vegetables like roasted butternut squash and pumpkin seeds, bathed in sage brown butter and ricotta salata. The spaghetti with clams ($15) had a very fresh flavor profile that included mint, which sounds like it shouldn’t work but gave the dish a surprising depth.
One of the specials the night we visited was the chicken, bacon and mushroom stew ($18), which was as homey and delicious as it sounds. Another comfort dish was the franks and beans ($22), an earthier-tasting and more refined cousin of the familiar dish.
The Yardley Inn’s crab cake ($21 for one, $32 for two) is hands-down one of the best crab cakes you will find in the region. The cake, almost all meat with a minimal amount of filler, is massive, lightly fried and fluffy, with a fresh flavor that will have you thinking it was just plucked from the sea.
Dessert at the Yardley Inn was an fancy affair. The apple cinnamon tiramisu ($8) was elegantly presented, layered beautifully with chilled, silky and delicate flavors. The bread pudding ($8), with dark chocolate and coconut, was delightfully decadent and velvety, without coming across as too rich or too sweet.
If you are looking for the perfect picture-postcard dining experience to cap off your trip to Bucks County, make sure to schedule a stop at the Yardley Inn.