CENTRAL PA MAGAZINE – MAY 2000
The Phantom Diner – Dream Cuisine
In what seems like the middle of nowhere—about 17 miles east of State College—sits a huge and gorgeous Victorian house-turned-restaurant where the French food is go good, and the location so unlikely, that you'll probably think of the film Field of Dreams.
What in the world, you'll wonder, is this amazing gourmet eatery doing in the middle of the state on an old two-lane country road as rural as any part of Pennsylvania? And how does it survive? Then you'll think, of course, build it and they will come. And they do.
The Hummingbird Room in Spring Mills on Route 45 is coming up on its fifth-year anniversary. It's not east to get to and not always easy to get in. But it's as good as a French restaurant as The Phantom has experienced anywhere.
The solver domes covering entrees as actually from Le Bec-Fin, as is the Villeroy & Boch china, as is the custom of wait staff pulling domes off the entrees at the same time and actually saying, “Voila!”
The house is beautifully decorated and maintained. It's appropriately Victorian—hardwood floors, Oriental rugs—without being overdone. Claudia Sarnow, wife of the chef, helps run the place. It draws staff and patrons from two university towns, State College and Penn State University, of course, and also Lewisburg and Bucknell University. It's roughly the same distance from both.
There are small dining rooms throughout the house, including a one-table dining room upstairs. There's a roadside parking lot and an upstairs smoking area. An upstairs bar is to be built. It used to be BYOB, but it got a liquor license last year. Cocktails are well-made and generous. There is an impressive wine list, though wines by the glass are few.
Dress can be as dressy as it gets, or not. Because the area is a sportsmen's draw—hunting, fly-fishing, Penn State football, golf outings—it's not unusual to see very casual diners.
The food? It is simply extraordinary.
Prices are high for the region but not for the fare. And there is a fixed-price option that is more than fair. The menu is somewhat limited but understandably so. The choices are remarkable.
Appetizers include a soup of the day for $5, in this case a luscious lobster bisque, both light and substantial at the same time; a warm pate' of chicken and vegetables in a port wine sauce ($6.75); grilled shrimp in puff pastry with fresh tomato coulis ($7.25); and Hudson Valley duck foie gras with apple, pear and cherry chutney in a sour cherry sauce ($12.50).
All entrees come with veggies, excellent homemade bread and a salad of fresh seasonal greens. Entrees range from $18 to $25.
There are vegetarian choices; couscous, steamed with grilled eggplant and fresh vegetables in a red bell-pepper sauce ($18); a potato-celery root turnover in a mushroom ragout ($19.75); and homemade three-cheese pasta with a fresh spinach sauce ($18.50).
Seafood entrees include seared monkfish with crayfish over homemade fettuccine in a champagne sauce ($21.25); seafood chowder with shrimp, scallops, fresh fish and chorizo sausage, garnished with pesto and garlic oil ($22); salmon baked in parchment with rice pilaf, olive oil and mango sauce ($19.50); lobster risotto ($25.25); and orange roughy in a macademia nut crust with rice and a lemon-coconut sauce ($23) that is so rich and flavorful, you'll think they are serving fish for dessert.
There is a filet in black truffle sauce ($23.50), roasted boneless duck breast with sour cherries ($22.75) and a saddle of rabbit served with homemade rabbit sausage in a Dijon sauce ($20.75).
Perhaps the best choice is the chef's prix-fixe offering, which includes an appetizer, a salad, and entrée, dessert and coffee.
For $36, The Phantom dined on homemade wild mushroom ravioli, a house signature dish, exceptional, in a light and lovely thyme-butter sauce, a fresh salad and roasted goose breast with burgundy poached pear over excellent basmati rice in a pear William sauce. It's called L'Oie aux Poires Williams. But the only word that came to mind was “succulent.”
Desserts are large and better shared. A hot, baked whole apple in pastry was swimming in a caramel sauce, thick and sweet, impossible to resist.
The menu changes. There is a Russian caviar for $50 an ounce. There is sometimes roasted quail stuffed with wild rice, and sometimes sweetbreads. But no matter what's being served, the Hummingbird Room is not to be missed.
Start now. Think of any reason to get to the geographic center of the state. Don't wait for football season. The elegance and urbanity of the Hummingbird Room stands in stark contrast to its rural surroundings. It offers food just not found outside big cities. Yet there it is. Like a field of dreams. A little bit of culinary heaven well worth the visit.
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