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See what’s fresh and local at Eat’n Park this week, courtesy of FarmSource, our local purchasing program.

Western Locations:

Radishes
Holthouse Farms - Willard, OH
KW Zeller – Portage County, OH

Yellow Squash
Wexford Farms - Butler County, PA
Holthouse Farms - Willard, OH

Green Cabbage
Wexford Farms - Butler County, PA

Zucchini
Brenckle’s Farms – Butler County, PA
Harvest Valley Farms – Butler County, PA
Wexford Farms - Butler County, PA
Holthouse Farms – Willard County, OH

Cucumbers
R.O. Apelt – Ohio
Holthouse Farms – Willard County, OH

Eastern Locations:

White Mushrooms
Basciani Farms – Chester, PA

Portabello Mushrooms
Basciani Farms – Chester, PA

Tomatoes
Steve Groff – Cedar Meadow Farm

Green Cabbage
Bob Musser - Lancaster

Yellow Squash
Leola Produce Auction - Lancaster

Green Peppers
Leola Produce Auction - Lancaster Share

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Check out where our fresh, local produce is coming from this week! You’ll find these items not only on our salad bar, but also as components of our menu items.

Western Locations

White Mushrooms
Creekside Mushrooms - Butler County, PA

Portabello Mushrooms
Creekside Mushrooms - Butler County, PA

Radishes
Holthouse Farms - Willard, OH
KW Zeller – Portage County, OH

Yellow Squash
Wexford Farms - Butler County, PA
Holthouse Farms - Willard, OH

Zucchini
Brenckle Farms – Butler County, PA
Harvest Valley Farms – Butler County, PA
Wexford Farms - Butler County, PA
Holthouse Farms – Willard County, OH

Eastern Locations

White Mushrooms
Basciani Farms – Chester, PA

Portobello Mushrooms
Basciani Farms – Chester, PA

Round Tomatoes
Steve Groff – Cedar Meadow Farm

Green Cabbage
Bob Musser - Lancaster

Yellow Squash
Leola Produce Auction - Lancaster

Green Peppers
Leola Produce Auction - Lancaster

Click here to read more about FarmSource, our local purchasing program, and to get more information about each of these suppliers.

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I was a waitress at the Eat'n Park in Avalon during my junior and senior years in high school. The years were the early 1970's. Several of my girlfriends worked there with me. We had great times there under the management of Chuck Zuzac. He was the best! I will always remember him as my first real boss. He was strict and professional but yet helpful and caring too. We were young and inexperienced as workers, and he made sure we were taught well by the seasoned waitresses.

However, I attended high school in the North Hills area and that meant that everybody that was anybody "hung out" at the Eat'n Park on McKnight Road. In those days it was right below Northway mall and it had car hop service. My girlfriends and I would get our dads' cars and we had to get there as often as possible --several times a week. Everyone got the "89er" in those days! What a deal that was--a Big Boy, fries and a coke for 89 cents! And if we had extra money we would upgrade the 89er to have onion rings! Yum! That was a treat back then. And dessert was meeting and hanging out with all the cool guys that came in their really cool, almost flourescent-colored cars. In those days, brightly colored cars were hot! Eat'n Park meant great food, great guys, great cars back then. I have many colorful, happy memories of those years.

Over the years I have evolved just as Eat'n Park has evolved. Today, it is more of a family place to eat. And I am more of a family person now that I am a Gramma. So, I am just as happy today to take my grandson there with me. And I'd say it is still a great place to eat !

Margaret
Pittsburgh, PA Share

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Back in the early 1950's, my parents owned and operated a small grocery store. My sister and I were teenagers, her being almost three years older than me. We took advantage of the fact that mom was always so busy. When we got hungry, it was, "Mom, can we go to Eat'n Park?" She always said yes. She'd give us money and away we went. It was "Big Boys" and "Milkshakes". We also went there with our friends every chance we got. It was always Eat'n Park. It was the place to be. Naturally we ordered other things but the Big Boys and milkshakes were the main course for us. As I remember, the Big Boy cost .50 cents and they were BIG.

As time went on, we took our mom to Eat'n Park many times. It was part of her life too. Getting married and having children didn't change a thing. Eat'n Park became part of their lives also, only now, daddy paid the bill. When getting together with old friends there was no dicussion of where to meet, it was always Eat'n Park. It's a part of who we are. It's coming home. We never stopped going to Eat'n Park. Any time we met to eat, it was Eat'n Park, at the same location. Mom passed away in 1993, my sister in 2005 and Eat'n Park is still part of my life. When walking in, I still get that "at home" feeling and think of my mom and sister and all the good memories. It will always be special to me. No one can steal that away.

Lillian
McDonald, PA Share

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You asked where I was when Eat n Park opened its doors 60 years ago. I was 6 days old, being born on May 31, 1949. Eat'n Park and I celebrate our special birthdays together.

My first recollection of Eat'n Park was the one on Rt. 51in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. We were on our way home from a family outing and stopped there for dinner. I could not have been more than 4 or 5 years old at the time. My dad and 2 older brothers ordered Big Boys. I can remember almost being in tears because I thought only boys could order that. After much consulation by my mother, I too had my first Big Boy and thought that was the best sandwich in the whole world and now 60 years later, I still order the best sandwhich in the whole world. Thank you Eat'n Park for 60 great years.

Diana
Pittsburgh, PA Share

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I haven't seen any stories posted yet about the Avalon location, so I have to share my fond memories of a great place to eat and meet your friends.

Back in the 60's it was still a drive-in restaurant with a counter if you wanted to eat inside. The fabulous cars that rolled through that location were a treat to observe every night. I remember one particular car hop that worked there for years, and her name was Billie - she was a great waitress and a lot of fun. She knew all the people that were regulars and would automatically bring out your order after you pulled in.

Another personality I remember was "Mike" from Avalon who had a coral and cream white Ford convertible ('56 or '57 if I remember correctly) with white fake fur interior. Sharp guy, sharp car - the girls all had crushes on Mike. Then there was "Bill" who had a '58 black chevy with red interior - another cutie. For a couple of years I spent all my spare time at the place and made many friends and lots of memories.

I still stop in at this location in my travels to the north side of town (I live in Scott Township now), and of course I frequent the Bridgeville restaurant and the Banksville Road location. LONG LIVE EAT'N PARK. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GREAT PLACE WITH GOOD FOOD AND GREAT EMPLOYEES.

Judy
Scott Township, PA Share

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As a child, it was a treat when Dad would say, "Let's go to Eat'n Park". That was when we would get hotdogs on Texas toast and milkshakes and, of course, strawberry pie for Dad. When I became a teenager, it was the favorite meeting place. It was always a competition to see who could collect the most trays and get out of the parking lot!! Of course, we eventually returned them. Strawberry pie was always a biggie, especially when you were running late for curfew -- it provided a good diversion and excuse for being late to Dad. It remains one of his favorites at age 84! Here's to 60 more years of memories and good food.

Nancy
Gibsonia, PA Share

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What’s all the excitement about at Eat’n Park? It’s our new and improved soup and salad bar! We have reinvented, refreshed, and re-introduced our salad bar with more fresh and homemade selections than you can find anywhere else.

We’ve added some great new items like crumbled bleu cheese, green olives, sweet red peppers, black beans, and pickled eggs. And of course, you will still find our fresh and bountiful selection of more than 25 salad toppings, five of the freshest fruits available, four homemade salads (yes, we make them all ourselves), fresh-baked breads and even more. You will also find our famous chicken noodle soup and chili every day along with our special soup of the day. A little Eat’n Park trivia for you is that Wednesday (Potato soup day) is the most popular day for soup (Potato soup is now also available on Sundays).

To make room for all the fresh new goodies, we did have to remove the “hot spots” at the end of the bar. Overall, we felt that it was difficult to maintain the quality of these items over the hours the salad bar was open, and feedback from many guests told us you preferred more fresh salad options to choose from.

We take pride in making sure our soup and salad bar has the best quality ingredients around. While salad bars at other places are often filled with items that aren’t fresh-made, we make our prepared salads from scratch, and we use produce direct from local farms when it’s in season through our FarmSource program. In fact, if you read the FarmSource signs posted on the salad bar daily, you can see exactly which items were grown locally and what farm they came from. Our FarmSource program allows our guests to enjoy fresh, wholesome foods while supporting the local agricultural community. Just click here to read more about it.

We’re also proud of the value of our soup and salad bar. While other places charge by the pound, we still offer our entire endless selection of fresh salads, fresh fruit and homemade soups for only $6.99, or you can add it to your meal for $2.00 in place of a side. And, you can even get it to go for that same price!

So next time you’re in, give the new and improved salad bar a try, and then come back here and let me know what you think.

Regis


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