Review: The Anthracite in Wilkes-Barre, PA

This is a bar/restaurant on Scott Street, about a quarter mile off Kidder Street towards the Parsons section of town. Wilkes-Barre is in northeastern Pennsylvania, for those who can't look it up on the internet.

With three meals under our belts there I think we have a handle on the place. the Anthracite is a down home neighborhood restaurant; it's what Applebee's pretends to be. You know, these days it's hard to tell with this type of food, in this type of establishment, if it's made fresh or if it comes vacuum packed with instructions for reconstitution. That's not so much a condemnation of modern restaurants as much as it is a compiment to modern food science, that the best available through restaurant supply companies is truly good. By my judgement there's a mix here, but in the end how the hell could I really tell? All said and done, what matters is taste.

Once inside, you can turn to the left and head for the small, cozy bar area, or proceed straight ahead to the dining room, which has been "seat yourself" on three successive visits. The ceiling in the dining room is high, and the walls are covered with local history; photographs of old buildings and coal tipples and past baseball teams. On each visit we were greeted promptly with a smile. Each night the dining room was operating at about 65% capacity.

There is a [i]very[/i] extensive beer list. I can't drink beer any more, so I had to pass, but really you can get anything you wish, from Coors light to kriek lambic; the list covers an entire side of a menu, single-spaced. The menu items range from reasonably standard pub fare (potato skin appetizers and burgers) to the more adventurous (pesto bruschetta and stuffed pork tenderloin). Dinners come with a choice of soup or salad, and a starch; either potato, pasta, or rice. On each visit we opted for iced tea instead of alcohol (with one exception).

On the first visit MJ had the crab cakes and I had the pork tenderloin, and we split an order of the bruschetta for an appetizer. The bruschetta was good; [i]really[/i] good. It is served as a half-round of fresh flatbread cut into quarters, with black olives, pimento pieces, and garlic oil sprinkled and brushed on top, with tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella slices spread in layers around it and covered in basil pesto. It was really awesome, maybe the best bruschetta we've ever tasted.

The salads were salady.

Our entrees arrived. The crabcakes looked to be close to a half pound each with lots of meat, and the pork tenderloin was a good-sized fist of pork with a sausage and bread stuffing and served with a gravy reduction. MJ enjoyed her crabcakes very much, enough that she ordered them again on one subsequent visit. My pork was very flavorful but dry, and the gravy reduction was way too salty; it was good, but flawed. (As an aside, it was the most expensive item on the menu at $15.95, and I would have expected better; not for the money, but as a signature menu item.)

Desserts at The Anthracite are very good, and sweets lovers won't be disappointed in portion sizes. If you've ever been ticked off at a $5 sliver of cheesecake this is your redemption. I had a slice of banana cake that was killer, and MJ took home a slice of cheesecake about the size of a piece of layer cake.

Total... appetizer, 2 desserts, tax and a 20% tip, was just a tick over $60!

The second trip we took my dad. I started off with a cup of chili and ordered the pulled pork platter, MJ had as an appetizer 4 langostinos (at $1 per tail, what a bargain!), and pops had the chicken francaise, which came on a bed of white rice.

This time the salads were much better; this time they had crumbled bacon, olives, and croutons (and we also had a different server). Dressings are bottled though, even the house honey-mustard.

The chili was "eh"; good but not great, nice and cuminy but clearly made for the masses. One of the concessions one makes to commerce, I guess. The pulled pork was very good; not smoked but very tender and served in a very meaty au jus. It just oooozed porkiness! The chicken francais appeared hand-made, but again; who can tell these days? I tried a bite and it was really good. This time for dessert we tried the chocolate cake. One piece is enough for two people, and the cake had a cherry chocolate cordial flavor to it; it was very, very sweet, and I'd say very much an acquired taste. My dad loved his piece, I liked it but my teeth were hurting after 3 bites.

Price for the three of us, with 2 appetizers, 2 desserts, tax and 20% tip, was a tick under $80.

On the 3rd trip, we had the bruschetta again, and pronounced it the king of all bruschettas. This time I did have a beer, a Smithwick's ($2.50). Salads, with the same server as our last trip, were equally good. MJ tried the parmesan encrusted shrimp on linguini pesto, and I had chicken curry with potatoes, carrots and celery over rice. MJ's shrimp were very tasty but she thought they were cooked too long; she liked the pesto tremendously, but thought it had too much pesto! ("A little pesto goes a long way," she said.) I really really liked my chicken curry. It wasn't spicy enough for my taste, but that didn't keep me from loving the texture of the vegetables and the nice balance of the other spices. Next time I get this dish I'll ask for the curry to be bumped up... assuming that is was made in the kitchen (I'm pretty sure this one was, it was pretty dang good and frozen carrots and potatoes are distinctive in texture). No desserts this trip.

Total bill, with 1 beer, bruschetta, no dessert, tax and 20% tip, was $51.

By reading this, you might be led to believe that we don't care for the Anthracite, but nothing could be further from the truth. We LOVE it. The servers are friendly. The atmosphere is homey. The other patrons were laughing and having a good time and enjoying themselves. It's unpretentious. The food, while not perfect, is good, and it's inexpensive. It tastes like someone cares about it. What it tastes like is Mom trying to stretch her menu, like when you came home from school expecting spaghetti for dinner... but mom crossed you up and made cajun chicken instead!

NEPA Stan has written somewhere about The Anthracite having Mexican Night on Tuesdays, and he says that it is very close to authentic; I wouldn't doubt it at all. I'll try and get there on a Tuesday to substantiate his report. Stan, if you read this and have an update, could you comment?

Tom

Mosca in Pennsylvania