By Sarah Celone
Christopher’s offers a wide variety of appetizers, including these nachos, made with fresh ingredients.
Inside the modest yellow exterior and a maroon awning, Christopher’s in Wayne is an unassuming restaurant with a small-town feel rivaling big-city flavors. Situated just off Lancaster Avenue on N. Wayne Avenue behind Clearview Cinema, Christopher’s is a cozy all-American restaurant. The aromas from the kitchen drift outdoors, inviting passers-by to dine outside during the warmer months and welcoming them out of the raw winter air as temperatures drop. The interior allows for a sociable environment with booth-seating lining an entire wall.
At first glance, the Christopher’s menu might feel a bit overwhelming. With a wide variety of restaurant standards such as burgers, pastas, soups and salads, the menu also features several fresh seafood options and brick-oven pizzas.
Turning to our waiter for advice, we opted for a crowd-pleasing appetizer of nachos. The chips were piled high with the usual fixings, and were topped off with fresh guacamole and jalapenos at no additional cost. Following the recommendation of a former Christopher’s diner, our next course was decidedly the grilled chicken breast salad. Our waiter split our salad between two plates before bringing it out to us, which is always a great indication of impeccable service. With mixed greens, avocado, smoked gouda, crispy onions and a light pine nut dressing, the salad was surprisingly filling despite the low price.
Just after placing the order for our second entree to share, the southwest burger, a flatbread pizza passed by on its way to a neighboring table and I immediately had food envy. However, shortly after my first bite of burger with corn salsa, pepper jack cheese and crispy onions, I forgot all about that. While the sweet potato fries accompanying it had an old bay-like seasoning that over-powered the flavor of the starch, they weren’t enough to deter me from enjoying the entree.
For those of you in the over-21 club, Christopher’s offers a selection of beer and wine as varied as its food menu, in addition to a fully-stocked bar that fills half the establishment and stays open until 2 a.m. every day.
In addition to its regular breakfast, lunch and dinner options, as well as dining hours until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, Christopher’s also features a “late night” menu until 1 a.m. daily, making it clear that the main concern at Christopher’s is the customer.
With special events each month supporting local companies and organizations, Christopher’s truly lives up to its motto of being a “neighborhood place.” Priding his menu stocked with healthy and quality ingredients, Chef Christopher Todd reaches out to local farms throughout Lancaster County for the freshest selection of produce, poultry and dairy for each season. Todd is more than happy to accommodate every dietary need, offering a wide selection of gluten-free and vegetarian options on his menu, in addition to welcoming substitutions to orders, pleasing even the pickiest diner.
Overall a pleasant experience from start to finish, my only real complaint with dining at Christopher’s was that I was too happily full at the end of my meal to enjoy the selection of delicious-looking desserts. A trip back will undoubtedly be in my near future. (And, if it were more socially acceptable, it would likely be later tonight for the late-night menu and a dessert or two.)
The Villanovan 