LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. — Can't make your mind up for dinner?
It's a good thing a handful of restaurants scattered across the region have options — and plenty of them. A variety of food flights have proven success in entree form.
For some, it's an opportunity to stand out, and for others, it allows new and old customers to branch out and try something different.
At the Grille at Bear Creek, it's the latter, according to executive chef Anthony Distefano.
As part of its new menu, the Bear Creek Resort restaurant is offering a prime steak flight after a successful debut from East Penn Restaurant Week in late February.
“As a chef, you know, I'm always trying to give the guest a different dining experience,” Distefano said.
“ … But as a chef, things can get monotonous after a while because you're just cooking one thing on the plate. So, in the mind of a chef, I'm thinking 'how can I put three different choices on a plate?' — I know that I know that diners love choices.”
It's a point Northampton Community College chef Will Rufe previously told LehighValleyNews.com is key to adding food flights to a restaurant menu — experience for the customer and the chef.
“I think we're probably gonna get this plateau for a while,” Rufe said. “I think it's a really good thing too, because I think it provides options for the consumer. And it also allows options for people in the back of the house.”
Starting at $38, customers can get three prime steaks with “traditional steakhouse accouterments” the menu said — which “took off like wildfire,” with consistent positive remarks from guests. He said he even heard of some guests returning several nights in a row just for the steak flight.
"And that maybe what we did here stirred some other chefs at another restaurant to do something above and beyond — then I think the goal has been reached."Anthony Distefano, Executive Chef at the Grille at Bear Creek
He's also heard the portion sizes are small, but added that the cuts are so guests can enjoy and appreciate the flavor, texture and presentation of the meal rather than feeling uncomfortably full afterward.
As a chef, Distefano also said he hopes the prime steak flight's success inspires other culinary experts in the area.
“I'm super competitive, but in a very team-oriented way, I want to succeed and I want everybody with me to succeed,” he said. “And that maybe what we did, here stirred some other chefs at another restaurant to do something above and beyond — then I think the goal has been reached.”
Getting your piece of the pie
If meat isn't your thing, Colonial Pizza in Easton has you covered.
Customers can order up to four variations of Sicilian pizza for the restaurant's $27.95 four square flight. Managing partner Melissa Lozada said the Pink Pie — a white pie with vodka sauce, bruschetta and balsamic reduction — “always ends up in one corner.”
Other fan favorites include the German and veggie pizzas, but Lozada admitted she's partial to the Pink Pie, too.
Like the Grille at Bear Creek, the Sicilian flight also started at a restaurant week celebration. Lozada said sometimes new customers come in and don't understand all that Colonial Pizza has to offer.
"I mean, the chef always needs their palette to create something with right? So, yeah, it's all about inventing something new, for sure — and people like to see new things."Melissa Lozada, Managing Partner of Colonial Pizza in Easton
Having the option to explore the restaurant's taste palette allows guests to learn more about what food options they have to offer, she said, like organic free-range chicken. For returning customers who know the menu inside-out, it's also an opportunity to try something different, while mixing in a pizza they know they like.
“I mean, the chef always needs their palette to create something with right?” Lozada said. “So, yeah, it's all about inventing something new, for sure — and people like to see new things.”
Branching out and exploring culinary possibilities has also opened doors for creativity from customers. Most recently, Lozada said Colonial Pizza at 136 Spring Garden St. created a pizza with the help of a regular customer's suggestions.
But wait, there's more!
Looking for more options?
In Allentown, the Fairgrounds Hotel offers a lobster flight. For $55, customers get a trio of 4-ounce lobster tails, which includes a Maine lobster tail, a South African lobster tail and Brazilian lobster tail, according to its online menu.
Pat's Pizza and Bistro in Bethlehem is still selling its infamous pasta flight for $45.
Less than a mile away, the Twisted Olive offers a soup flight called the “three soup sampler” for $10.50 pretax. It features french onion soup, crab bisque, and soup du jour.
The Bayou in Easton and Bethlehem showcases two food flights on two days out of the week.
Fat Tuesday's give way to the southern-style restaurant's mac and cheese flight. The following day, named “Waffle Crush Wednesday,” serves up — you guessed it — chicken and waffle flights.
EDITOR'S NOTE: LehighValleyNews.com will be visiting some food flight spots across the Lehigh Valley. If you have a recommendation, contact Makenzie Christman at makenziec@lehighvalleynews.com or on Instagram at makenziemchristman.
