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Friends agree on 'Finney's Corner'
DIANA R. BOWEN
DINING WITH DIANA
Eating in Holland, Northampton Township, was once a
choice mostly of two restaurants - The Mill Race and
Holland House, both on Route 532 (Buck Road), near the
creek. Sadly, the Mill Race closed after horrendous
flood damage, but the former Holland House, then
Watering Hole, is now alive and flourishing as Johnny
Apples.
Finally, after several snow postponements, Clare, my
next door neighbor for many years, and I arrived for
lunch at Johnny Apples. We spent some time trying to
figure out the changes made to the eatery. "Didn't the
bar extend further?" "Weren't there tables at that end
of the bar?" "Wasn't there an opening instead of a wall
there?" Whatever, the changes and decor are certainly a
pleasure to enjoy.
The soft forest green walls and white ceiling, two
working fireplaces 0 one as you enter the foyer and one
in the small dining room at the side, set the tone for a
cold winter day. Square and round tables of tan wood and
green seats on the chairs, broad window sills and gold
grapes, a stone wall to match the stone fireplaces is
near a stairway leading to a second floor 0 they all add
to the ambiance. One large painting in the main dining
room shows a woman bent over her flowers in a lovely
garden.
In between the bar area and a small dining room is a
large aquarium with lavender and pinkish colored fish
swimming about. You can see the aquarium from both sides
- a real delight.
Inside the small dining area (with only four tables) are
poster type
wall hangings of Big City Jazz, New York Jazz, and
scenes of nightclub life years ago. A pictorial
history of the building, which dates from 1725, is shown
on a wall near the entrance.
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Interesting to look back and see
how the area had changed from a covered bridge over the
nearby creek - mainly a stop on the roadway between
Newtown and Feasterville - it is now a major
thoroughfare. Horses could be seen along Buck Road as
recently as the late 60s and 70s.
Some of the history is listed on the front of the
restaurant's menu with the building being used as a post
office, general store and gas station prior to becoming
an eatery. One item was questionable, it states the area
was known as "Feeney's Village." Having lived in the
area for many years and speaking to other longer time
residents, they all agreed it was called, "Finney's
Corner" at Buck and Chinquapin Roads.
The luncheon menu lists most of the standard offerings
of soups, sandwiches, burgers, reuben's, cheese steaks,
wraps and melts. So if you are looking for traditional
fare American style this place is for you.
Soup or salad comes with all entrees. Clare opted for
one of the specials of the day - the Shrimp Basket with
large fries and cole slaw ($7.95). We were both
delightfully surprised to see how many shrimp there
were. I tasted one just to make sure. Clare said the
only drawback for her was she would have preferred less
breading on the shrimp. Not a devotee of cole slaw, she
liked the style at Johnny Apples. The fries were fat and
tasty, not greasy. She didn't need to say she would come
back because she and her family do eat there anyway.
I chose the soup of the day, New England clam chowder
along with the deviled crab cakes - Johnny Apples style!
(with cole slaw and fries) ($8.95). The thick and creamy
soup had a more potato flavor than clams, but that was
fine with me. The crab cake was a generous serving and
very filling. I agreed with Clare about the fries and
cole slaw. The crab was good, and, like Clare, I thought
the breading a little much, but the inside was very
tasty.
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Too stuffed for
dessert, we did take a peek at the dessert tray, which
held several kinds of cakes, including a dark chocolate
and a carrot cake.
Seafood lovers will be pleased with the many "seagoing
fares" on the menu. A couple that caught our eyes were
the pan seared sea scallops ($8.95) seared or blackened
with pesto cream sauce, the crab au gratin ($9.95) - a
mystic blend of crab mushrooms with a satiny cheddar
cheese bubbling in a casserole (my choice for my next
visit).
And last, but never least, another surprise with people
from the past. As we studied our menu, suddenly a voice
said, "Diana, how are you?" It was Barbara Dengler, now
of Middletown Township, along with a group of retirees
from the Neshaminy School District, including Aaron
Belitsky, and Bill and Romaine Macht of Langhorne
(featuring in "I read the Advance every week" years
ago). They meet and eat regularly with anywhere from 11
to 16 people.
So, for awhile, it was "Do you remember (so and so)?" as
the names of people from the District flowed and
memories erupted. Every once in a while Barbara or
someone else would say to Clare, "I bet you wish you
hadn't come today. We're hogging the conversation."
Clare didn't mind at all. That is one of the great
things about dining in and around Bucks County and
environs. You never know who you will run into and that
makes living here even better.
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