Oregon Dairy

Our first "real" stop on our Pennsylvania food adventure was Oregon Dairy, a popular restaurant in Lititz which has both a large buffet and an a la carte menu. We got there a couple hours later than we planned, but luckily still made it in time for lunch.

After we ordered, they brought over a small plate with rolls and butter, which was appreciated but nothing very remarkable.

A opted for the buffet since it was late and he was really hungry, while M looked through the menu for Pennsylvania Dutch specialties that we couldn't get at home. (One of our goals on the road trip was to try lots of local specialties in different areas of Pennsylvania.) Although not a big meat eater, she was really intrigued by the sweet and sour ham balls, which sounded a bit like ground meatballs but with ham. The menu described them as, "Lancaster County Gene Wenger's ham loaf mix topped with our signature sweet and sour pineapple sauce." Can't get more local than something developed in Lancaster County!

The ham balls came in orders of 2, 3 or 4, and M opted for 3, not knowing how large they would be. The meal also came with 2 sides, and M picked sweet kernel corn and stewed tomatoes. Both vegetable sides tasted very clean and healthy. Simple recipes, but full of the flavors of corn and tomatoes, letting both vegetables and their natural sweetness shine.

The ham balls were excellent. Giant soft meatballs topped with sweet pineapple glaze. The first bite was like a combination of honey ham, hot dog, meatball and meatloaf all in one. It was really, really good. The sweet and sour pineapple sauce was good too (and exactly as described), but wasn't even necessary. That's how good the ham balls were on their own.

Since A got the buffet, he got to try many different items. For his first plate, he got a ham ball, fried shrimp, baked corn, mixed vegetables, red skin mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. The ham ball was the same as the one M got but a little smaller and more well done and without all the sweet and sour sauce. He mixed one of his ham balls into the sauce that M had so he could taste the sauce. It was sweet, and ham meatballs fit perfectly with it like a good honey ham. Most of the rest of the food was fairly standard fare. While the mashed potatoes weren't instant and the mac and cheese were fresher, they were still, in the end, just mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. The fried shrimp was a fried shrimp, the corn was corn, and the vegetables were vegetables. It was nice to have the vegetables and corn, though, as they certainly helped balance out the richness of the rest of the food. Also, A just really likes corn.

On his second plate, A got chicken pot pie, stewed tomatoes (the same ones M had), smoked sausage, potato filling, and pork and kraut. A really liked the stewed tomatoes because they were so fresh and so sweet. The potato filling was a bit odd as it was really stuffing with potato in it. It was a bit dry and very dense/heavy. The chicken pot pie was tasty even if it wasn't a pot pie that A was accustomed to. Sadly the smoked sausage and pork & kraut were a little dried out from the steam tray buffet line so they were a little tough. The kraut was tasty, though.

For his last savory plate, A got some of his favorite items from the buffet - ham balls, stewed tomatoes, chicken corn pie and mixed vegetables. The chicken corn pie was delicious and tasted like chicken corn chowder.

On his dessert plate, A got an eclair cake, Watergate and whoopie pie. The eclair cake was basically cream with a swirl of chocolate and maybe some cake-y pieces mixed in and not an actual eclair. The Watergate he got because it looked weird, and he wanted to see what it was. It was creamy and sweet and had pineapple pieces and shaved coconut in it. The whoopie pie was moist and dense, but it was just too sweet.

The buffet also included a cup of ice cream from the ice cream shop next door (called the Milk House). A got birthday cake ice cream since he knew it was one of M's favorites and we could enjoy it together. It was rich and creamy and full of sprinkles. The frosting aspect gave the ice cream itself a wonderful flavor, and the bits of mixed in cake were perfect.

Oregon Dairy also has an adjacent playground, which we found lots of fun and a good place to walk off some of our lunch before heading back out on the road. There's also a supermarket on the other side of the restaurant that we wandered through. The produce looked good, but other than that, it was pretty much a regular grocery store.

We were really happy with our lunch at Oregon Dairy. The food was prepared well, the buffet had a lot of good options, and we got to try a local specialty in the ham balls. We would definitely go back to Oregon Dairy.

Oregon Dairy is located at 2900 Oregon Pike in Lititz, PA.