Thursday, June 22, 2017

My Gluten Free Dinner and trip to New Hope, Pa

Have you heard of New Hope, Pa? We recently visited  and I had a great gluten free dinner in the area.

New Hope is a tourist town in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with street-side shops, interesting restaurants, antique shops, boat rides, the famous Bucks County Playhouse Theatre, and many outdoor cafes for coffee and ice cream.- a real tourist attraction.

It is on the banks of the Delaware River on the Pennsylvania side.


On the other side of the Delaware River is the  New Jersey side where there is another tourist town called Lambertville that also has interesting restaurants with music on the weekends and other events in the area.

There is a pedestrian and automobile bridge that connects the two tourist areas.

People walk back and forth across the bridge to enjoy the restaurants and other attractions in the two cities. 




People walk across the bridge and enjoy the fun on both sides of the river.

The Delaware River in the late spring/early summer


The car ride to New Hope from our house is beautiful.




We drive about a half hour along the Delaware River viewing beautiful foliage, magnificent homes, picturesque scenery, farms, bed and breakfasts, shady paths, flea markets, antique stores,  and popular restaurants.



Home of The Famous Bucks County Playhouse



Although we only went for the evening, many tourists from distances spend the weekend in area hotels and quaint bed and breakfasts. From the hotels, they can walk to restaurants, the famous and old Bucks Country Theatre where many famous actors got their start  ( Dick Van DykeTyne DalyGrace KellyAngela Lansbury, Imagene Coco and Walter Matthau to mention a few ) .


Dick Van Dyke



Grace Kelly

We Ate Dinner in Historic Lambertville on the
New Jersey Side of New Hope

We ate at Caffe Galleria which has indoor and outdoor seating. The restaurant is in an old
house.  The rooms are charming and the outdoor wraparound porch is delightful on a sunny 
day or pleasant evening. Sometimes on the weekends they have live music outside near the 
porch. The restaurant likes to promote artists in the area. They often have a local artists work 
displayed or a local band playing.

Lots of Gluten Free and Vegetarian Choices
The restaurant had gluten free pasta on the menu and other gluten free and vegetarian 
options.  In addition they also serve many fish, seafood, chicken and meat dishes. 

I was deciding between the eggplant rollatini and the Zorba Tofu eggplant. ( I find no matter 
I eat, I make sure the wait person knows I'm gluten free and double checks the prep of the
food.) 

I finally decided and enjoyed my generous portion of their eggplant rollatini served with gluten free
 pasta in a marinara sauce which was delicious. They also served me gluten free flat bread which was sort of hard
thin and not particularly to my liking. 

My husband ordered regular pasta primavera that he said was very tasty and he enjoyed his
 regular bread that was served in a basket.

We sat in the indoor front dining room near the windows and had a pleasant view. 
The service was good and all in all we enjoyed the meal. 
It's probably best to make a reservation as they do begin to get busy on the weekends.
Did I mention that it is a BYOB? 

After dinner, we walked from the New Jersey side of Lambertville  across the bridge to the 
Pennsylvania side to New Hope, Pa and browsed in the many different stores,
including a very interesting old bookstore ( Farley's Bookstore) which carries a large variety of books in other
of books including many in other languages. 

 We bumped into four different people that I knew but hadn't seen in years
The warmer sunny weather must have brought out all the locals.

 Ice Cream is a Must in New Hope

New Hope has always been popular for it's many choices of ice creams. When I was a little girl, my father used to take us to New Hope just to get some ice cream on a hot summer day. I remember how it melted so quickly and would drip down my arms. I learned to lick the cones on all sides and eat
quickly.




Fireworks on the 1st Friday

We intended to stay for the fireworks, but we had done a lot of walking and we  started to 
get tired out by 9:00 PM We just didn't feel like hanging around another half hour.




The first Friday around 9:15-  9:30 PM there are fireworks! You can stand on the bridge to 
watch or stand on the banks of either side of the river. The fireworks last about 10 minutes. 

We had such a wonderful evening. 

If you are in the Bucks County area- New Hope is a great place to visit. It is about 40 minutes from Princeton, New Jersey and about 50 minutes from Philadelphia, Pa.

By getting there early around 5:30 , we found metered parking on the street for just $1 /hr. 

We had a great meal, a beautiful walk across the bridge over the river, fun browsing the touristy shops, and some darn good ice cream.

Have you ever been to New Hope? Where do you go? 

Shared on West Metro Saturday Snapshot Linky

8 comments:

  1. My daughter in law grew up in Philly and most of her extended family still lives there. The next time we go, I'm taking time to go to New Hope and Lambertville. Your trip sounds like so much fun! I'd love to visit that bookstore and check out all the other places you mentioned.

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    Replies
    1. Vicki,
      Yes, New Hope is a great place to visit in nice weather and it's not too far from Philly area. Another fun place in the kind of area is Peddlers Village in LaHaska, Pa which is fun to visit too.

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  2. Thanks so much for your post. It sounds like a wonderful summer evening. We live near these towns as well and we will have to try that restaurant!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. New Hope is wonderful in the late spring, summer, and early fall. I hope you do get to try the restaurant - but remember to make a reservation as they fill up

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  3. Wow this sounds like a great place to visit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a great place to visit. If you are ever in the area, you would enjoy it.

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  4. Enjoyed the cyber tour of this area. Would love to see that book store. Glad the restaurant provided gluten free food.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it was a great evening. thanks for your comments

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Your comments are appreciated. I love knowing who is stopping by to read my posts! Have a great day.

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