cd's place: rock and roll's delicious rumble with breakfast, lunch, & dinner

Nearly everyone resembles regulars at Boyertown's CD's Place—whether you casually waltz in for brunch, or if you are embracing your obsession with above-par diner food displays. The small town café, peeking from a corner of North Reading Avenue, comfortingly resides in one of three once-notorious “cup” ice cream stops assembled in Berks and Montgomery counties in the early 1940s. However, if you speed indoors, the illusion of a soda, milk-heavy spot is shattered—but only for something better.

Chris Dietz, owner & chef of CD's Place, unleashed his breakfast, lunch, and dinner café to the local dining scene eight years ago, come February, offering closeby empty stomachs simple, comfort cuisine that doesn't cut corners to affect the integrity of his food. From slapping fresh, never frozen slabs of beef and scrapple on his flat-top, to preparing his own 20-ingredient rub for his jerk chicken, Dietz tackles all the eatery's tasty concoctions himself, all while socializing and talking shop in an always-booming dining room.

Confessing that he knows over 90 percent of his everyday clientele, the local haunt also celebrates other small businesses doing simple stints, including supporting Bally-based Butter Valley Harvest, which provides the owner with fresh produce, even through winter. While he regularly trots specials that do include locally-produced goods, the standard CD's Place menu marvels in some of the area's best brunch bites, including the generously-sized Jamaican omelet that packs the New Hanover-native's jerk chicken cozily aside sautéed onions and the dutch-inspired three-egg beauty, the country-style potato, and onion roundup.

Of course, Dietz would be amiss to omit appropriate accompaniments for your morning platters, including his crinkled cottage fries, homefries, all necessary meats (bacon, scrapple, etc.), toasts and, if you live in hungry man's delight, short flapjack stacks, and even full stacks, done in regular, blueberry, or chocolate chip. His endless array of fresh, from-scratch soups, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, and baskets will please all variations of personal taste preferences, and we hear that his “slaw dog,” made with mustard, onion, and the namesake, is a favorite amongst many.

The mouth-watering, guilty pleasured lineup is what keep patrons repetitively revisiting, but the dining room flooded with memorabilia from Dietz's other obsession—music—is what keeps CD's cushioned on being named one of the best decorated hub's in town. With black-and-white photograph-lined tabletops sourced from his own album collection, ticket stubs, concert posters, musical instruments situated on the walls, and even, a rock-and-roll mural painted by his daughter, Aleah Dietz, the whole eye-catching package of the past “cup” shop is successful in being a necessary, must-visit addition to the borough of Boyertown.

Find CD's Place at 237 North Reading Avenue or online at www.cdsplace.com (he does catering, too).

Hours of operation are as follows—Tuesday & Wednesday, 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Thursday & Friday, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Saturday,  7 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m. – noon.

( This post also appeared in print and on news, not blues. Enter a contest to win a $20 gift certificate to CD's Place, by clicking here. )

the hidden pleasures of the corner pantry

As a fresh sophomore at Arcadia University years ago (in 2004, to be exact), I was assigned to interview and shadow a business owner going through the motions of what made them a success. Now thinking about it, I immediately chose a small-town, newly-established eatery, in comparison to any other business. Such a decision, may have then been telling of what would become of me and my sole efforts in writing, yet then, I was just ready to immerse myself within the world of one-on-one storytelling.

Either way, my first interview in the world of food was with Kim Nein of the Corner Pantry of Limekiln, Pennsylvania. Spunky and eccentric, Nein is a creative chef and energetic entrepreneur who reflects her rural setting and home styled tastes perfectly in her fancy foods and darling decor.

While managing the breakfast and lunch hot spot for a handful of locals, in addition to an active catering business, Nein swirls her styles through heartily stewed soups, chunks of savory meat loafs, delicious bowls of chicken pot pie and daily changing concoctions of quiche.

Recently, I revisited the Corner Pantry, which is attached to the Limekiln Post Office, and delved deep into a heaping plate of chicken salad atop some gorgeous greens (seen below). The hyped salad, pumped with cranberries and walnuts, was savory and sweet, and a bit more interesting than the typical poultry salad you find at many lunching locations.
Although she previously reported to me that she adores cooking in comparison to baking, she sure as hell does not show it, boasting a handful of traditional treats throughout her petite shop, including classically crafted apple pies (seen below), lemon bars and the ever-changing selection of fresh cookies.
However, she is openly fond of antique collecting, and has an impressive knack for locating the must-haves from area thrift shops, estate closings and yard sales. My favorites of any antique collection are always those that are kitchen-inspired, and Nein not only fittingly displays those that she loves the most, but she also graciously offers them up for sale.

Below, I close with a series of the items I found, most adoringly. There are a ton of aprons up for grabs. I personally liked this garden-inspired design, even though I haven't a clue how to garden.

The salt-and-pepper shakers enclosed in a retro television was probably the coolest grain set I've seen. The ladle set with a embroidery pouch was rustic, yet adorable.
Nein swears these are not for sale, but how cool are they? They're a stack of olden half pint paper containers used once at a dairy for ice cream.