Few things are better on a warm, spring afternoon than dining al fresco in the tiny town of Irvington in Lancaster County.
On such a day a few weeks ago my friend Darlene and I set out to enjoy a late lunch at The Office Bistro, one of several restaurants in Irvington which offer outdoor dining. We thought with our 1:30 p.m. arrival we’d miss the lunch rush. Au contraire! The cafe was buzzing with patrons, inside and out. While waiting, we admired the recent interior changes including expanded seating, partitioned booths, new lighting and the main attraction of a recent remodel—a full-service bar.
Owners Julien Patterson and Terri Wesselman joined forces with restaurant manager/chef Michael Knapik in 2018 to create The Office Cafe. In 2019, the restaurant was rebranded as The Office Bistro with an updated menu, new logo and an interior remodel and expanded outdoor patio.
“I like refer to our atmosphere as snappy casual,” said Knapik, who spent over 20 years in the restaurant industry in Florida before coming to The Office. “We’re still family oriented and we’re not pretentious. If you show up in flip flops we won’t turn you away, but we’re a little more refined,” than we were with the cafe.
Knapik’s initial concept “was more like a Five Guys kind of thing, but it morphed into a cafe.” Then after clientele feedback and the call for more dinner options, the menu changed. Last year, a month and half remodeling project included the construction of a bar, enclosing the former patio and extending the footprint of the building to make a larger patio. The Office Bistro reopened with a tapas fare menu in February 2020 and “literally, a week and a half into our reopening COVID shut us down,” said Knapik.
The menu changed again slightly and “landed us where we are today,” he added.
The Office menu has staples from its original menu like fresh salads and flatbreads but now includes artisanal sandwiches and farm-to-table entrees along with signature cocktails and craft beers from its new full service bar.
Since it was after noon and 5 o’clock somewhere, Darlene and I decided to splurge and imbibe. I chose a rose mimosa with malthilde rose and grapefruit juice. It was tart and sweet at the same time. Darlene had a blackberry hopper with vodka, fresh lemon, wildflower honey infused with sage, blackberries and soda. It was almost too pretty to drink.
We decided on a shareable appetizer of Pow Pow shrimp. Neither of us do spicy so the Pow Pow part had us skeptical. Our waitress, Rhonda, suggested instead of tossing the shrimp in the spicy sauce use it as a dipping sauce on the side. That was good advice and a good choice. Although the sauce hits your palate with a sweet taste at first, it definitely finishes with a little pow. The shrimp were flash-fried and were light and hot with just a tiny bit of breading. The Pow Pow appetizer can be ordered with either shrimp, chicken or oysters.
Although we didn’t order one of their speciality flatbreads, including shrimp and goat cheese, artichoke or margherita, I’ve had them in the past and highly recommend them as a shareable appetizer or a light lunch.
For lunch, Darlene chose one of the Bistro’s three signature salads. The Country Cobb is a diner favorite, according to Knapik. It’s a generous portion and piled high in a deep bowl with bacon, cheddar-jack cheese, pecans, roasted corn, corn bread croutons, tomato, cucumber and topped with hand-breaded chicken tenders. The tenders’ breading is light and crispy, not greasy at all, and the meat is tender and moist. The salad is tossed in a sweet honey dijon dressing.
I went with one of the day’s specials, a French dip sandwich with a side of curly fries. The prime rib on the sandwich was shaved thin and was melt-in-your mouth tender and moist. It was served topped with cheese and grilled onions—I passed on the onions—with a side of au jus and horseradish.
I was tempted by a few of the other sandwich offerings including the mahi bruschetta and the southern gentleman, which includes the chicken tenders topped with pimento cheese.
And although we were stuffed, Darlene and I decided we couldn’t pass up trying the culinary team’s flourless chocolate torte. With a cheesecake consistency, the gluten-free torte melted in our mouths. It was smooth and creamy and the raspberry drizzle brought another element of sweet-tart flavor to the party. A piece of the torte, dredged in the drizzle and dipped in the homemade whipped topping on the side was the perfect trio. And it made for the perfect ending to a filling lunch.
