A table by the tracks, please
SEPTA's train stations, home to coffee shops and small eateries, are attracting restaurateurs.
...Joseph, whose Souderton restaurant resembles the Whistle Stop Cafe in the 1991 hit movie Fried Green Tomatoes, said she had become a celebrity of sorts who oversees a "neighborhood hub." She especially enjoys meeting elderly patrons who have a personal history with the station. "They come from all over just to see the station again," she said.
The Philadelphia Inquirer July 6, 2003
Tiny spot keeps charm on track
Casual cuisine thrives in a vintage train station. Somewhere there is a cardinal rule about using a movie reference in a restaurant review, the idea being to avoid confusing readers who didn't see the movie.
Yet it's easy to compare the Caboose Grille - a tiny BYO housed in a vintage train station here - to the Whistle Stop Cafe in the 1991 hit Fried Green Tomatoes.
I thought of the movie, which focuses on friendships and family, mainly because of the down-home informality of the Caboose Grille.
The grille might be the only place I've seen in a while where you can eat filet mignon while sitting on a stool and dabbing your mouth with paper napkins.
Perhaps more to the point, there is a counter, complete with old-fashioned stools, and a large Coca-Cola icebox right near the front door.
During my Saturday night visit, I was greeted by not one person but the entire waitstaff. ...
Still, that warm night, it was easy to envy the diners sitting outside on a patio overlooking the railroad tracks. I discovered later, when people went home and we moved outside for dessert, that they also had a painterly view of downtown Souderton.
(A freight train comes by on occasion, I was told, but mostly it's fun to sit on the patio because of the small-town atmosphere.)
The 1927 building is a rustic but charming place with narrow windows and wood floors.
Nothing separates the counter from the main dining room, although two small rooms in the rear of the 50-seat restaurant provide more privacy.
It's a wonder that the restaurant, considering its size, caters to a full-blown dinner crowd (as well as the lunch and weekend breakfast contingents).
Full-blown, meaning diners who favor enormous plates of pasta, the soup du jour, daily specials and entrees served with salads and, lastly, dessert.
...
The menu features a number of classic American bar-and-grill-type appetizers, including "Chicken Zingers," a refined version of Buffalo wings - without the bones or wings.
Joseph, a Harleysville native, said by telephone that she nearly doubled the size of the kitchen when she opened her restaurant, a former luncheonette, nearly four years ago.
It has been her dream to be a restaurateur, Joseph said, since she first went to work at age 14 at the Mainland Inn, an old landmark near Lansdale.
I enjoyed my meal, which included a nicely seasoned tuna steak with raspberry teriyaki sauce.
Restaurant Row
Caboose Grille is a brightly-lit fun and festive place for lunch and dinner. American cuisine is the theme but a variety of sandwiches are featured in many delicious ways. Seafood entrees are served piping hot. Italian foods, traditional and signature are on the menu. The ambiance is casual and fun.
